Have anyone of you tried the msi cubi?

My old HTPC died on me, so looking for something to replace it.

And the cubi seems to ticks all for boxes for me. But Im wondering about noise. So if anyone has it, and can comment on how loud it is, I would appreciate it.

Its the i3 broadwell version Im considering.

I can't praise the desktops but I've had a MSI gaming laptop since 2011 and it's still going strong, had no problems with it.

I have a MSi Intel i7 Gaming Laptop...Don't know about other models though

Noise?

I don't have any, except I can increase the speed of the fan manually when I feel its getting hot

Is this what you mean?

And the cubi seems to ticks all for boxes for me. But Im wondering about noise. So if anyone has it, and can comment on how loud it is, I would appreciate it.

 

 

 

If you’re concerned this CPU cooler might make the Cubi noisy, don’t be. Eugene Kuo, AIO marketing specialist at MSI, says, “To ensure minimal noise, we utilized a two-ball heatsink fan to cool the Cubi. Tests reports show that only 20.1dB of noise is produced.” By comparison, that’s quieter than the ambient noise in a library.

 

 

http://www.computerpoweruser.com/article/17373/meet-the-cubi

 

I've no personal experience but the above implies that it's quiet. If you can ensure that the airflow around it isn't impeded that should help as well, I'd guess that the fan will have a couple of speeds and the 20dB rating will be the lower one so you probably don't want it to kick up like Delta fans of old.

 

Might also be worth taking a look at the Intel NUC and the newer Intel Compute Stick - http://www.ebuyer.com/707104-intel-compute-stick-boxstck1a32wfcr

 

These micro PCs are becoming popular now that the cheap Atom chips can handle a full OS. I'd expect a lot to be released soon.

Edited 25 August, 201510 yr by Aspman

The compute stick will be abit too weak I think.

In planning to do steam inhome Streaming, so a Gfx card with hardware decoding of the stream is needed.

I have been looking at nucs as well, but Im lazy to order components. The cubi is complete, just lacks os.

So if it is as quiet as reviews state, I will get one and install win10 on it. Hook it up to my plasma, set it up with xbmc, netflix and a Vpn client for access to all netflix regions and be ready for a long, cold winter

Something like this?

 

http://shop.transtec.co.uk/GB/E/products/workstation.html?mod=prod&name=WS-1830C-A&cookies=accept&do=Continue

 

Otherwise if you're looking for something tiny, then it's going to be an ITX board and a suitable case of a NUC if you didn't want to do too much on the graphics side of things.

Edited 26 August, 201510 yr by cheezemonkhai

The compute stick will be abit too weak I think.

In planning to do steam inhome Streaming, so a Gfx card with hardware decoding of the stream is needed.

I have been looking at nucs as well, but Im lazy to order components. The cubi is complete, just lacks os.

So if it is as quiet as reviews state, I will get one and install win10 on it. Hook it up to my plasma, set it up with xbmc, netflix and a Vpn client for access to all netflix regions and be ready for a long, cold winter

 

You only need something with hardware H264 decoding which all the Intel cpus support. The compute stick will be more than powerful for everything you describe. It also comes with Windows 8.1 which you can upgrade to windows 10 for free.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/20/intels_compute_sticks_stick_it_to_windows_to_go_chromecast/

 

El Reg try it out for streaming video.

 

Can handle 1080p fine but only over copper so it needs a CAt5 adapter.

 

 

Your experience of the ICS will depend on how you use it. One of the most obvious use cases is to shove the stick onto your TV, and start streaming shows. The CPU is surprisingly decent, despite its Atom name - it didn't miss a beat playing 1080p videos locally. This changed when testing over Wi-Fi - 720p videos played fine running from a SMB share; but 1080p was completely unplayable.

The fix was to use a USB2 100mb network adapter, which resulted in those 1080p videos working perfectly again via SMB. I don't believe this is a shortcoming in the ICS, which is tucked away with little room for an aerial or three - Wi-Fi isn’t the most reliable method of transport for streaming data anyway.

As a media box, my personal requirements are to use Kodi (formerly XBMC) as a media center, and Netflix for online streaming. I'm happy to report that both ran very smoothly, with no noticeable lag or buffering issues. Sound was also delivered seamlessly, which runs over the same HDMI output.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/20/intels_compute_sticks_stick_it_to_windows_to_go_chromecast/

 

El Reg try it out for streaming video.

 

Can handle 1080p fine but only over copper so it needs a CAt5 adapter.

 

Similar Specs to Linx 10 tablet and that streams OK and I have had a Steam game (Bioshock Infinite) streaming over it as well (I tried others but have failed with a controllers - keyboard and mouse seem fine,)

 

Talking of KODI (or XMBC as it used to called) I've just sideloaded that on to a Fire TV Stick (£30)- not done too much testing yet but looks promising to access the media on my NAS. The fire Stick is quite good but needs a decent WiFi signal (it doesn't work to well at the back of the house -15ft through walls away from router but works well in the front of the house - 3ft away from router).

You only need something with hardware H264 decoding which all the Intel cpus support. The compute stick will be more than powerful for everything you describe. It also comes with Windows 8.1 which you can upgrade to windows 10 for free.

Im not so sure the ICS will have the all the hardware required to smoothly run steam Streaming. I think a HD 4000 is minimum for 100% hardware decoding.

And I forgot to mention that I also want to use to run emulators for older systems.

I used to run an i3 1,4ghz, and it was abit on the weak side for my use.

I have an Intel i3 Haswell NUC running my media server and for most things it is perfect.

 

the only things it doesn't like is transcoding or video editing (converting large 720P or greater files from 1 format to another)

I have an Intel i3 Haswell NUC running my media server and for most things it is perfect.

the only things it doesn't like is transcoding or video editing (converting large 720P or greater files from 1 format to another)

I wont be doing much transcoding, if any at all, so that bit doesnt worry me much.

The cubi has a broadwell i3, so it should have the muscles I need.

My cubi arrived today. Surprised how small it really was. So next step is to install win10 and see what the little bugger can do.