Coffee Lake i5 NUC Review (NUC8i5BEK / NUC8i5BEH)
Fan noise, Power consumption, Conclusions
Previously I discovered that the heat pipe and the fan of the i3 Coffee Lake NUC were much improved when compared to the previous generation. The TDP increase from 15 watts to 28 watts required Intel to update it and they did a reasonably good job with it. The 80 mm fan is significantly bigger than the previous generation NUCs had and it’s also more quiet. The noise it makes sounds also more pleasant than that of a smaller fan.
While using the NUC for standard desktop tasks the fan was relatively quiet but not inaudible. For most of the times it was also a bit noisier than the i3 NUC which is not that surprising considering that it’s manufactured using the same 14 nm technology and that it contains 4 cores instead of 2. All in all, I’d say this NUC was still quiet enough for me to keep on my desktop.
The results below are obtained using a UNI-T UT353 sound meter being kept 50 cm away from the front panel of the NUC. Due to the unscientific nature of my testing the results are not comparable to any numbers obtained by anyone else and I’m sure the numbers might be some dB off.
| Task | Sound level |
| Noise floor | 33.2 dB |
| Windows 10, idle on desktop | 35.4 dB |
| Playing a 4k HEVC video in a MPC-HC | 35.6 dB |
| Prime95 running stress test on all cores | 38.0 dB |
| Prime95 running stress test on all cores, XTU overclocked | 43.8 dB |
| Playing FIFA ’18 | 37.8 dB |
Power consumption
The NUC of course doesn’t go without power. The following power consumption figures were taken with a simple Brennenstuhl EM240 watt meter.
| Task | Power |
| Windows 10, idle on desktop | 5.6 W |
| Playing a 4k HEVC video in a MPC-HC | 23.2 W |
| Playing a video in LibreELEC | 14.9 W |
| Prime95 running stress test on all cores | 74 W initially, after 45 seconds drops to 47.4 W |
| Prime95 running stress test on all cores, XTU overclocked | 70.0 W |
| Playing FIFA ’18 | 49.5 W |
Linux
Sometimes when you get the latest NUC the Linux kernel drivers aren’t quite up-to-date with your new hardware. This time that wasn’t the case luckily. I tried the very fresh Ubuntu Linux 18.10 on the NUC8i5BEK and it was pretty easy to install. WiFi, Bluetooth, network adapter etc. were all working out of the box. In case you’re interested, here’s my boot log.
HTPC
Some of you might want to build a HTPC using the NUC8i5BEH/K. There are very few reasons to choose the i5 over the very similar i3 as a HTPC, but of course you might have a certain use case that just requires a bit more CPU power than the i3 can deliver. Of course the i5 does everything that the i3 can do, so you can check 4k, 10-bit HEVC HW decoding and HDR in Windows from your list.
I did try playing a certain test video at 4k resolution and 60 Hz refresh rate using MPC-HC and MadVR renderer. This does consume a lot of GPU/CPU resources and when playing in a window, there are some packet drops. However, when played full screen it’s much better. The power consumption during video playback using MadVR was 49 watts.
Also, when tested, audio passthrough to my AV receiver was ok for all sound formats including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD. The reason I’m mentioning this is because there were issues in 2017 with the LSPCon chip used and some audio formats did not work properly.
Of course decoding of VP9 and HEVC videos are fully supported by the HW. Here’s the DXVAChecker output still for the GPU.
LibreELEC 8.90.006 runs smoothly on the NUC. HEVC decoding, 4k, audio passthrough, IR receiver, all seem to work out of the box.
Conclusion
This is probably the best desktop replacement NUC of this generation. Plenty of power in a small package. Based on what I’ve seen the i7 has only a little bit more power reserves compared to the i5 model. Then again compared to the i3 you get a significant boost in applications able to handle multiple CPU cores/threads.
The fan noise has been kept down to reasonable levels, even if it is a bit noisier than the i3 model. Other than that the same negative points go for the i5 as for the i3: there’s no native HDMI 2.0 port supported by the Coffee Lake U architecture, so an LSPCon is used to provide HDMI 2.0. And of course, it’s not a gaming PC even though it’ll be able to run some modern games at reasonable frame rates. I’ll publish a separate article on that topic soon.
Recommended Setup
For building the NUC8i5BEH or NUC8i5BEK I recommend you equip it with the superfast but still reasonably priced 250-gig Samsung 970 EVO NVMe SSD drive and 2×4 gig HyperX DDR-2400 CL14 RAM modules. Below you can find the prices of the various components on different Amazon sites.
If you’d like to have your NUC equipped with something else go visit the NUC Guru to build your own Coffee Lake NUC.
| Product | US | UK | DE | FR |
| Intel Coffee Lake i5 NUC NUC8i5BEK | Price not available | |||
| Kingston HyperX 2x4GB DDR4-2400 CL14 RAM (8GB) | Price not available | |||
| Samsung 970 EVO M.2 250GB NVME SSD drive | $54.99 | |||
| Check out the total price of the whole setup on Amazon.com! |
Again: Thank You very much for this great review!
Thanks again for your review. Very curious about the fifa18 benchmarks. Already have my nuc8i3 and 970 Evo, but still waiting for my ram…
Another solid review and much appreciated! Will you be posting a review of the i7 version? If so, when do you expect that to be done?
Much appreciated review! I find the performance with relation to power consumption very interesting. Especially when comparing to the i3 version, where the i5 perform more than twice the perfromance. I suppose the cinebench score of 779p is with power consumption equal the prime95 of 74W, i.e. with the higher power limit? What is the steady-state performance of the i5 version when consuming around 50W, which is also equal to the i3 version during the same load?
So if you’re looking to use the NUC primarily as an emulation machine, you can just go with the i3-version? Seeing how must emulators are not optimized for or don’t support a multi-core architecture.
Btw, have you heard anything about a possible passive, fanless case for these new NUCs?
Hi,
i think it will take some time until Akasa/??? comes up with a fanless solution for the NUC8. Maybe the fantasitc Cirrus 7 nimbini 2.5 is a solution for you https://www.cirrus7.com/mini-desktop/cirrus7-nimbini-v2-5-media-edition.html. I will finish my project https://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/f89/diy-cooling-head-intel-nuc-1211312.html this/next month. Take a look,if you’re interested.
cu,
omnium
Cirrus 7 looks very interesting, but also very overpriced.
In case of i7 version you need to pay extra 328€ for that case and 4GB RAM.
They need to reconsider prices and sell that case separately.
Akasa case for 7 Gen NUC cost ~100€
Ok, it is very niche product and because they made first passive case for 8 Gen it can cost more, so ~150€ would be reasonable, but 328€ sound like joke for that case +4GB RAM.
With an i3 and the prices here in Germany (NUC8i3 ~ 260€, 4GB RAM ~ 30€), the bare case costs about 210€ and I find that more than appropriate.
FYI:Fanless cirrus7 nimbini v2.5 cools better than original NUC8i7BEH
https://www.cirrus7.com/blog/cirrus7-nimbini-v2.5/
I’m speaking about i7 version and 328€ for case + 4GB RAM is ridiculous.
Also cirrus7 shop claims BT 4.2, but normal NUC have BT 5.0, I hope it is a mistype.
As usual, a great review. I bought my Skylake i5 NUC 2.5 years ago after reading your review of that model, and I still read your blog entries, just in case I decide to upgrade my little box.
I have a request, and I hope is not a weird one: as the CPU has 4 physical and 8 logical cores, could you disable hyperthreading, perform some tests and compare them to the “normal” (with HT enabled)? I’m mainly curious about temperaturas and power consumption.
Many thanks in advance.
Here’s NUC8i5BEK Geekbench 3 results with HT enabled/disabled: http://browser.geekbench.com/geekbench3/compare/8696390?baseline=8705551
Cinebench multi-core result was 575 with HT disabled. Graphics related tests (Cinebench OpenGL, 3DMark etc) show only a minor drop as the GPU is the likely bottleneck there. When running applications that handle multiple cores, the power consumption and fan speed seem identical. For example when running Prime95 there’s no difference in power consumption nor fan noise. I suppose that is because the CPU core frequency gets adjusted as high as possible before a certain power consumption (read: heat generation) level is reached. If you disable HT, there might be less load on the core, but that pushes the CPU core frequency a bit higher so the power consumption becomes identical.
Sorry for the very late reply. I just bought a new NUC 8i5H. The SOCs used in the brand new NUC 10 sports plain UHD GPU, and this is a big letdown for me. The 8th NUCs still are at reasonable prices, so I prefer this older generation.
It’s a know fact! But a careless buyer might think the “last” (10th) gen is the best one! Well, in the GPU department is FAR from it! https://www.reddit.com/r/intelnuc/comments/foxpjp/nuc_8_pro_vs_nuc_10_performance/
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28289/Intel-Graphics-Driver-for-Windows-10
Intel 25.20.100.6373 driver.
This driver does not match the NUC8 with Iris™ Plus Graphics 655.
I get an error message ‘The system does not meet the minimum requirements to install the software’ if try to install it on a NUC8i5BEK
https://downloadmirror.intel.com/28289/eng/ReadMe.txt
“Operating System(s):
Microsoft Windows* 10-64 – Fall Creators Update
Microsoft Windows* 10-64 – April 2018 Update
Microsoft Windows* 10-64 – October 2018 Update”
Are you using Win10 version older than 1709?
The driver only installs on Windows 10 1709, 1803 or 1809.
1703 and earlier versions of Windows 10 are no longer supported with this 25.20.100.6xxx driver branch.
https://ark.intel.com/products/135935/Intel-Core-i5-8259U-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3-80-GHz-#tab-blade-1-7
Intel ARK also says the 25.20.100.6373 driver is compatible for the 8259U CPU in the NUC.
I use 1809. Please, let’s talk about this review and not about a new driver. Thank you.
How about the included HDMI-CEC capabilities? Can the NUC automatically turn on a connected TV when cold booting? Or is this feature only available in sleep states?
It turns my TV on (when cold booting), but turning off is another thing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt…
I have a Samsung KS7000 TV
Thanks for the feedback. Does it also switch the HDMI input to the one the NUC is connected to?
Yes, you can choose the HDMI input in the BIOS of the NUC. So if you connect it to your TVs HDMI2 you should set HDMI2 in BIOS. Or you might be left wondering why the TV always goes to HDMI1 when you start the PC…
Great blog. Keep it coming! Looking to buy a NUC so this blog really aids my choices!
Great review as always, thank you.
If you find the time and means, I would be very interested in a performance review update for this machine (or the i3) with an external graphics card plugged in via the thunderbolt port (if these machine are compatible with such a setup of course…)
I ended up buying the i5BEK from Amazon US as it received a little price drop recently to $369. I was planning to wait for the Black Friday sales but the temptation was too great :)
Ordered yesterday and should receive tomorrow (US -> Japan, impressed with Amazon logistics). However I will buy the SSD and RAM locally as those parts may have a higher chance of issues. I’ll probably go with the popular Samsung 970 Evo 250GB NVMe. Not sure about the RAM but will get 4GBx2 for dual-channel.
Thank you for the reviews, they really helped me a lot!
the new NUC mounts a microSDXC reader with UHS-I support: what if I insert a microsd with UHS-II support?
Wonder how people feel about the Lenovo ThinkCenter M720SFF. With a coupon, i5-8400, 8GB RAM, 512GB NVME SSD, & Win10 for ~ $600USD. I get that it’s a bigger than the NUC (but a has a lot more ports), but for similar configuration (if you need WinOS), it’s about $100 cheaper.
I DON’T recommend! Noisy as hell at high CPU/GPU load! https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkCentre-A-E-M-S-Series/ThinkCentre-M920-Tiny-Intelligent-Cooling-Engine-ICE-annoying-INCONSTANT-speed/m-p/5028519
Also, the NUC 8 Intel processor comes with a better GPU!!! (IRIS 655!)
Do you know if there is any noise and cooling differences between the BEH and BEK versions? (with and without a 2.5″ drive)? the NUC8i5BEK (no 2.5″ drive) should, in theory have better cooling as the fan is not blowing directly into the 2.5″ metal cage.
I have some older 2.5″ SSDs and I am wondering if it is even worth considering buying the NUC8i5BEH or if it is better to get the smaller NUC8i5BEK and just sell my SSDs on ebay.
Thanks in advance everyone !
What do you think, why is there no NUC8i7BEK? In my theory, the cooling is better on the H models.
My gut feeling is that the BEH models have better cooling. I don’t understand your comment regarding the fan blowing into the 2.5″ cage. The fan is on the other side of the mainboard vs. the drive cage. I don’t think it makes a difference here…
Anyone with this or the i7 can tell me how many fps they get in world of warcraft Thank you
Could you by any chance be convinced to make a video where you can hear the fan noise at different load levels? :-)
Hi. I asked a question regarding USB C and Power Delivery (PD) in another article before. Additionally I read in an article of the current issue if the german magazine c’t (computer technology) that the USB C is capable to deliver up to 15 Watt. Now: As I understand USB C can deliver power in both directions and up to 100 Watt. Can the NUC be powered by a monitor? Or vice versa: According to the c’t article the NUC should be capable to power a monitor with up to 15 Watt. Maybe someone hat the possibility to test that?
The NUC cannot be powered via its USB Type-C connector. I just tested using my laptop’s USB Type-C charger, but the NUC doesn’t show any signs of life.
Guys, who can tell me about NUC8i7BEH –
Can i raise CPU frequency manually in bios?
I want to disable function “turbo boost” and raise manually base frequncy from 2.7mhz to 3.2mhz – it is possible?
It would be great – if anyone make a screenshot of the tab “Performance” in bios!
Hi, there’s one in my NUC8i7BEH review: https://nucblog.net/2018/11/coffee-lake-i7-nuc-review-nuc8i7beh/
I see they have limited overclocking. Really bad news.
By the way – I could not find performance tests – where would be disabled – “turbo bust”, “real-time performance tuning” and “Hyper-threading” functions.
Hello, I am looking to buy a small pc for Office mail internet and banking. Is a NUC like this fast enough to do al these tasks without having to wait a minute or so to open up like a big file on the internet?
I want it to be fast like a normal desktop would be or like a fast laptop.
As I do not understand those tests and benchmarks just asking here.
Thank you for the answer.
Great blog btw
Hi, it certainly is. It would be about as fast as a high-end laptop and certainly more than fast enough for mail, internet, office applications etc.
Hi,
I just want to know if the i5 version is comparable to a Hades Canyon i7 8705G (NUC8I&HNK) performance, specifically with cpu raw power not the iGPU (655 vs RX Vega). If the performance is similar, then this might be more economical than to spend 800 USD on that particular NUC. I have tried to install an GTX 1050 to its pcie and it’s performance is almost the same as the RX Vega GL.
I can tell by the benchmark results that the i7 NUC comes pretty close to an i5-8400 desktop cpu in multicore performance. Single Core performance is worse though.
But, it should be enough for a gtx 1050 or even a 1070ti.
Great article, thanks.
what I’ve learned, that some distributors like the german “Alternate” have listed the models NUC8i5BEK2 and NUC8i5BEH2 (for example here: https://www.alternate.de/html/product/1477109), but neither the distributor or Intel itself have more Information about it and the differences to the regular NUC8i5BEK/NUC8i5BEH models.
Does anybody know more about those 2 models?
BEH2 is with EU power plug, BEH3 with UK plug.
Hi! I’m from Italy so, please, excuse my terrible english :-(
I’d like to buy this i5 NUC as download station (torrent, etc) and multimedia (4k, etc). Could it be fine for a continuous use (24/7)?
Thanks in advance!!
I got an older nuc which runs for almost 2 years 24/7. It still works perfectly fine. Keep the Bios, Firmware, Drivers up-to-date and it will be fine.
Thanks for the great review. I noticed in the bios there was no cpu temperature but something called VR temperature. What is this VR temperature? Is it the same as cpu temperature?
Hi, thank you for this review. Currenty I use my Skylake i3 Nuc as a Server with 8+ VMs. The new i5 nuc would be a perfect upgrade.
The Skylake i3 nuc is most of the time totally silent. Does anyone know how the 8th gen i5 compares to it?
Addition: Both old and new will be the H version.
Hi,
I bought a NUC8i5BEH after reading your review. I know there are passive NUC-cases one can buy. Still it would be nice to see somebody to do a DIY passiv cooling of something like the NUC8i5BEH.
I have dozens of huge heat sinks that can easily deal with the maximum Watt-output the NUC delivers. It’s only a question of how do you mount it to something like the NUC? Maybe you got an idea?
It would be nice not needing to take the motherboard out of the original NUC case but somehow remove the top and fan and mount the heat sink directly on top of the CPU.
Alternatively one could take out the motherboard and attach it upside down with the naked CPU on the heat sink (the weight of the heat sink may crush the CPU if you place the heat sink on top)
What do you think?
Hi,
Is it possible to swap the blower fan with a Noctua (if ever needed)?
Many thanks – great review btw!
Will there be HLG support on the HDMI for this Nuc?
Would this work in this NUC?
I could replace my old Synology Diskstation and do lots more with the NUC.
https://www.delock.de/produkt/62850/merkmale.html
I am thinking about Akasa X8 case and external 3,5″ drives with SATA Raid 1.
Plus internal 2,5″ SSD.
My Synology uses 17 watts power which is way to much, also it is rather noisy.
I’ve tried two different NVMe cards (Crucial and Samsung) in two different NUC8i5BEK’s and while they show up under devices they do not appear in the boot order nor can anything see them. As a result I’m not able to load an OS. What gives? SATA is set to AHCI and the BIOS was upgraded to ver x.0071.
Hey, just got a nuc8i5beh. It constantly keeps spinning up the fan, even tough I have se it to silent and it sits in windows 10. Anyone has similar experience? I’m suspecting the thermal paste might be dry or poorly installed.
I had that problem with my LENOVO m920 (i7). Will return it and swap it for this NUC (8gen) because of the SFF and BIGGER fan. And let’s not forget the better GPU!!! https://www.reddit.com/r/intelnuc/comments/foxpjp/nuc_8_pro_vs_nuc_10_performance/
I hope i will not have these problems with the NUC.
The spinning of the fan is “inconstant”? I get that on the LENOVO… goes up and down every second… https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkCentre-A-E-M-S-Series/ThinkCentre-M920-Tiny-Intelligent-Cooling-Engine-ICE-annoying-INCONSTANT-speed/m-p/5028519
I am now completely puzzled about moving from LENOVO m920 i7 (terrible FAN noise in high load) after i’ve read this: https://community.intel.com/t5/Intel-NUCs/NUC8i7BEH-high-fan-noise/td-p/644343
Just found out there is a LINE of PRO 8 gen PRO BOARDS – that sell with cases that have expansion capabilities! (different that the 8 gen boards, with different intel 8 gen processors, much more efficient!!!) https://www.intel.com.br/content/www/br/pt/products/docs/boards-kits/nuc/nuc8-pro.html
The downside is the GPU… only HD 630 on those models.
**bleep**… technology is HELL!!!
INTEL NUC 8 gen
Intel® Core™ i5-8259U Processor https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/135935/intel-core-i5-8259u-processor-6m-cache-up-to-3-80-ghz.html
6M Cache, up to 3.80 GHz
Processor Base Frequency 2.30 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency 3.80 GHz
TDP 28 W
Configurable TDP-down 20 W
INTEL NUC PRO 8 gen: Intel® Core™ i5-8365U Processor https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/193555/intel-core-i5-8365u-processor-6m-cache-up-to-4-10-ghz.html
6M Cache, up to 4.10 GHz
Processor Base Frequency 1.60 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency 4.10 GHz
TDP 15 W
Configurable TDP-up 25 W
Configurable TDP-down 10 W
INTEL NUC 10 gen: Intel® Core™ i5-10210U Processor https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/195436/intel-core-i5-10210u-processor-6m-cache-up-to-4-20-ghz.html
6M Cache, up to 4.20 GHz
Processor Base Frequency 1.60 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency 4.20 GHz
TDP 15 W
Configurable TDP-up 25 W
Configurable TDP-down 10 W
So, the nuc8i5beh died within a month during compiling on gentoo linux, had to use warranty, this worked exceptionally well, the new one doesnt have the weird fan spinning issue either. i guess the first one was somewhat defective from the start.
Do you know if the CPU fan are interchangeable between these two models? I’m looking for a fan for the NUC8i5BEK but only can find one for the NUC8i5BEH and wondering if it will work in the NUC8i5BEK
There is one thing that boggles my mind, I have the short BEK one and it has a sata port. Why? Nothing would fit. Is it just because they wanted to save $ doing the same board for BEK and BEH?
Most likely the reason, yes.
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