Intel D54250WYKH Haswell NUC Kit with 2.5" Drive Slot Mini-Review
by Ganesh T S on May 18, 2014 10:15 AM ESTConcluding Remarks
Coming to the business end of the review, we can say without doubt that the Haswell NUC kit with the 2.5" drive slot presents much better value for money compared to the pure mSATA version. Not only are 2.5" SSDs cheaper than mSATA for the same capacity, they also don't create a point of thermal concern near the Wi-Fi module. Pretty much the only downside of the unit over the mSATA-only NUC is the thicker chassis. Our choice of a faster DDR3L memory also improves quite a few benchmark numbers, but not all workloads.
Haswell UCFF PC Options
(From Top Left / Clockwise - Intel D54250WYK, BRIX Pro, BRIX - H, Intel D54250WYKH, BRIX)
The only aspect that Intel could improve from a board perspective is the replacement of separate SATA data and power ports on the motherboard with something similar to what Gigabyte has done for their BRIX boards. In that way, the complicated contraption put in place to support placement of the 2.5" drive slot could have been hugely simplified. They could also include the horizontal SATA power / data cable with the pure board kit so as to simplify things for chassis builders as well as DIY consumers. It is obviously too late to do anything for the Haswell NUCs, but something to consider for the future generation.
In another minor detail, Intel also provides a power cord with this version of the NUC, something that was absent in the D54250WYK and previous generation NUC kits. Given all this, consumers interested in a Haswell NUC would do well to opt for the D54250WYKH with the 2.5" drive slot compared to the D54250WYK unless chassis height or availability of a spare mSATA drive is a major factor in the purchase decision.
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AgeOfPanic - Monday, May 19, 2014 - link
I use a Haswell core i3 version of the Gigabyte Brix with a OCZ Vertex SSD and I really like the system. Great form factor and mounting it behind the monitor makes for a very clean system. I don't think I'll go back to a different form factor for normal desktop systems again.To reply to the issue with the Intel AC760. I replaced the standard wifi card in the Brix for a Intel AC760 version. I use the standard drivers from Windows 8.1. I cannot reliably connect to the 5 GHz network of my Asus AC66u router. It works OK on the 2.4 GHz band, but I'm a little disappointed in this. Seems the drivers definitely need to mature.
Laststop311 - Monday, May 19, 2014 - link
This nuc is only good if u want to turn your dumb tv into a smart tv that's smarter than all tv's with built in smart functionalities. Gaming on ULV graphics = boooooooo. If you want to game in this tiny form factor you should get an amd apu. 5000 blowsdblagent - Monday, May 19, 2014 - link
Quick question that I assume I already know the answer to, these will support dual video output correct? I assume they will, and if so then I could see moving my entire office over to these in the future. I just built 40 desktops and building these would be a world easier.They all have Samsung SSDs so this new 2.5 form factor support will be a savior, though I'm set for several years now. Maybe as I get some more users I will build these over my custom built solution. Would save me some grey hair!
ptmmac - Monday, May 19, 2014 - link
Am I the only person who would like to see a single slot Pci for the 750 ti from nvidia in something this size?. I realize it would increase the power envelope, but it would also make gaming practical. AMD is supposedly working on a competitor for the 750 ti and this would give the purchaser a better set of options.run - Monday, May 19, 2014 - link
The hard disk is where the operating system and all software applications are stored. Because of this, a properly working drive is essential in the operation of any computer or laptop.CSMR - Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - link
Questions:1. How well damped is the 2.5" hard drive cage? I think this is mainly for regular HDDs (since you get mSATA for SDDs) so I am interested in how noisy HDDs are in this case.
2. The TrueCrypt benchmark doesn't look so good. Does this suggest that with native Windows whole-drive encryption, that encryption will limit read/write speed? I would have expected with AES-NI to get hardware encryption and decryption at closer to the SATA limit of 6Gbps.
darckhart - Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - link
ganesh, have you tried installing windows 8 via uefi msata gpt on this intel nuc? i updated the nuc bios to 25, but the msata (crucial m550 256gb) is still undetectable via uefi. shows up just fine in legacy bios. wondering if this is a nuc issue.prophet001 - Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - link
It was a mission to find out what NUC stood for. Might want to include that in the future.:)
kaymack - Wednesday, May 21, 2014 - link
This article seems to imply that the D54250WYKH model has only the 2.5" drive bay available for storage and no MSATA slot. Based on info I've seen elsewhere, I was under the impression that the D54250WYKH model will accept an MSATA drive on the board AND a 2.5" drive in the bay...so one could have say a Crucial M550 MSATA as the boot drive for OS and programs and also contain a 2.5" HDD or SSD for additional storage of data, music, video, etc. Can anyone confirm this?Jas448 - Saturday, May 31, 2014 - link
I have installed windows 8.1 to a Crucial 240 M500 msata and using a sanDisk SSD250Gb as a 2nd drive in the 2.5 inch bay. No problems at all. The only problem I had was Windows would not install from a USB3 flashdrive but would from a USB2 Flashdrive