Reusing your extra laptop parts - for a NUC?!

I recently upgraded my Alienware laptop - ram, new nvme, new wireless card. I wanted to reuse some of my old stuff!

With 2x 8gb 2400 mhz so-dimm, a 256gb nvme, and 2 tb ADATA SU800 SSD, I had a decent amount to hold on to. I couldn't sell the ram and NVMe because those came with the laptop. I have 3 years left on my warranty and would like to avoid complications.

So, since I'm keeping them I might as well find a use for them. I wanted to put together something that would be fun too use and not totally painful.

Enter the Eglobal NUC. Can be bought barebones with an i5 for around $300, an i7 for around $400, and i9 for around $500. Takes 2x so-dimm slots, an nvme/ssd slot, and a 2.5" drive slot. Checks all the boxes! Too bad it doesn't have a slot for the GTX 1080 I have sitting in an AGA!

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Egl...re-12-Threads-Mini-PC-Win-10/32959303503.html

I'm thinking about ordering this to have a desktop option for office work/basic tasks. I'm a bit disappointed in the Aurora R7 i7-8700k/RTX 2080 I have at the moment. I expected it to outperform my 13 R3 + GTX 1080 in AGA in real world performance much more, but RTX is (debatable) in a bad place. Not really powerful enough to do much with ray tracing, and not a big enough leap to justify costs.

This seems like a great lower power consumption option to reuse old parts and run a plex server. What do you think? Anyone have experience with these?

Some reviews:
https://www.techspot.com/review/1604-intel-core-i7-8750h/page4.html

edit: as an aside, thinking of buying this monitor with it. https://www.amazon.com/LG-29WK600-W-29-UltraWide-21/dp/B078GL93KG
Has a VESA mount separate from the built in stand, so I could mount the NUC to the back of the monitor... Would be a slick little media set up. Might even go big and get the i9 (not sure why, since I don't have an egpu)!

 

I don't use or run a Plex server, but I do have a lot of spare parts every time I upgrade my various platforms.

The (older) NUC's I build using these spare parts are often donated to the elderly. They are amazed that they can do 'computers' on their 65" TV and a wireless keyboard/touchpad and all with an effective 720p resolution to help aid their old eyes to see the details of what they're clicking on better.

Having a usable O/S, (Windows 10, of course), an 'out-of-sight' and gee-whiz ( wireless keyboard/touchpad) and more power then they'll ever use connected to a screen which they can actually see and use while in their favorite armchair is my small way of bringing tech and the elderly together.

For myself? NUC's have proven their worth since Gen2 versions from almost 7 years ago now. And, they just keep getting better.

The best part about NUC's? Of all the ones I have deployed for myself and customers (dozens...), only two are not functioning today.

This is what 'general' computing should be. Powerful, reliable, stable, useable and out-of-sight.

 

Wow! Good to hear.

I've read articles about the next series of NUCs. According to this article: https://nucblog.net/2018/12/2019-2020-nuc-roadmap-leaked/
the i9 series may have some options with a dedicated GPU slot! That would be amazing to harvest old AGA cards when upgrading, rather than selling off (and losing value) of an otherwise good card. I'd imagine a NUC with an i7-9750h and GTX 1080 (desktop) could game pretty hard! The GTX 1080 itself is bigger than the NUC, so the form factor would definitely lose its benefit.

 

Update:

This ended up being a disaster. The NUC I bought from AliExpress had terrible build quality, the USB-C Port and 2.5" hard drive port did not work. I'm just going to keep the parts on hand and not bother making another PC

So many defects and returns recently. I have a pile of boxes to bring to the UPS store tomorrow.

 

@gthirst do those Eglobal NUCs ever receive firmware updates? In my opinion even if they come with fancy new hardware, they're useless unless they are secure.

I personally favor business-class SFF mini PCs, e.g. Thinkcentre Tiny and similarly sized Dell Optiplex. With a vertical stand or VESA mount, they end occupying less space than NUCs despite being slightly bigger. They also typically are better in terms of IO & upgradeability, and have on-site support. While normally quite expensive, slightly used models can be sourced very cheap.

 

I couldn't find a page for my specific model, but Eglobal does have a site with downloads and such. It comes with a nice little VESA mount too, which I was going to put on the unused VESA spot on the back of my monitor. I received a fairly hostile reply when initiating a return, which was hilarious.

The USB-C port and 2.5" hard drive slot don't work. I tried with multiple devices. The rep replied, "why would you order barebones if you don't know how to work on computers?"

What a headache!

 

Wish you best of luck, hope Aliexpress will resolve it in your favor!