Any Thoughts on Kraken Mini NUC PC from BPC Tech?

LDauphin on 02/05/2023 - 13:22

Hi All,

Looking at getting a new gaming PC. Was thinking about getting an Intel NUC 12 Extreme but now came across the Kraken Mini NUC PC from BPC Tech with a RTX 4070.

https://www.bpctech.com.au/product/km-nuc110-4070-kraken-min…

Can't seem to find any user reviews online on this build online or any other Kraken Mini PCs. Interested in any experience people may have with Kraken Mini PCs, partiuclarly the NUCs. I like the idea of being able to just slot in a new graphics card in 3 years time, with a fairly recent Intel 12th Gen CPU.

At $1599 It seems a good price for a NUC Intel 12th Gen with a RTX 4070 gpu, considering the ridiculous price of RTX 4070 t around $900 ATM.

I'm thinking purchasing the upgrade to the i7-12700 Compute Element. Was concerned when I found that the standard build comes with a CPU that installed by BPC Tech on a lower model Compute Element, rather the factory built. As a result the standard CPU and CE probably wont be covered by Intel factory warranty and has Thunderbolt ports.

Should I pull the trigger on this one, hold or is there something better?

Appreciate anyone sharing their experience with BPC Tech on Kraken Mini builds.

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Comments

  • spackbace on 02/05/2023 - 13:33

    Discussion here

    • Dauphin on 02/05/2023 - 13:52

      Thanks spacebace - yes I saw that thread previously, but didn't give me what I'm after.

      Interested in anyone's actual experience with the Kraken Mini NUC.

      It might be that no one has actually yet got their Kraken Mini NUC PC yet as it's still in the loooooooong build process with BPC Tech - lol!

      • spackbace on 02/05/2023 - 13:53
        +3

        Deal posted 13/4 (19 days ago), with this in the description:

        The current PC order processing time is three weeks on average.

        So yeah, likelihood is that no one has one to be able to review…

  • fatjoze on 02/05/2023 - 14:19

    This looks very cheap.
    Base intel nuc extreme no graphics card is $1399 for 12th gen

    • Dauphin on 02/05/2023 - 18:23

      Yep it is cheap - even with the upgrade to i7 or i9 with the current pricing of the 4070 it seems good value

      • fatjoze on 02/05/2023 - 22:06

        Is there any dimension size for this case?
        It looks like something between intel nuc extreme but smaller than a Lianli / dan smff.

        Also what did you say the motherboard is? Is this an intel official board?

  • scotty on 02/05/2023 - 14:43

    Default PSU is 600W Bronze — would that be enough for RTX 4070?

  • Jake17 on 02/05/2023 - 18:11

    Well. I purchased it and upgraded to i9. Been waiting 2 weeks so far. Hoping not too much longer. I confirmed with them if the psu is enough power and they said yes

    • Jake17 on 03/05/2023 - 20:31

      Update. Emailed enquiring. Got a call stating its ready. They were just waiting for the windows keys to arrive. But was told itll be a few days at least. But windows 11 was installed but unactivated. I picked it up and set it up, get a email with tracking for the key even though i said its okay to email it, so far so good, windows settings says it was installed the 29th of April 2023. So may have been able to pick up then. But i got order confirmation 2 Wednesdays ago and got it today. So 2 weeks exactly

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 02/05/2023 - 21:33

    I'm going to assume it has the cheapest shittiest PSU ever in it. Beware.

    • fatjoze on 02/05/2023 - 22:06

      What formfactor is the power supply? Is it a standard type which can be replaced later if fails.

  • fatjoze on 02/05/2023 - 22:19

    FYI the Intel i5 1200F only 6 performance cores none of the E cores found on other 12th gen or internal graphics.
    https://www.techpowerup.com/cpu-specs/core-i5-12400f.c2550
    https://www.intel.com.au/content/www/au/en/products/sku/1345…

  • fatjoze on 02/05/2023 - 23:21
    +1

    Just doing some research:
    Promo video: https://youtu.be/lXCiNsDXXsM
    The case: https://cougargaming.com/products/cases/nuc-110/ Looks really nice

  • benny85 on 04/05/2023 - 12:18

    I bought one with i7 + 64GB RAM, it's now in the post and should receive it on Monday.

    • benny85 on 12/05/2023 - 11:52

      So, I received mine yesterday. Have tried to set it up, but now waiting to hear back from BPC about some issues I'm having (described further down).

      For background, I currently have a trash can Mac Pro, and Xeon v4 workstation with Vega graphics, and was hoping I could consolidate those into a single, small machine that I can use for some machine learning as well. Both of these systems are older generation (2013-era xeon CPUs), but they are quiet, and that's important to me in a desktop.

      First impressions:
      Case actually looks nicer than I expected and seems reasonably built. It's quite small, and apart from the dumb skull power button, the graphics on the standard case don't stand out too much.

      Plenty of ports. I have the 12700 with 1 LAN, but it's 10Gb which is cool (although not useful for me). Although I can't for the life of me find an audio output (surely there is one, I just haven't seen it…)
      There's a neat little USB-C port hidden on the side, which is handy.

      Now for the problems I'm having:
      WiFi - possibly they haven't connected an antenna, but I can't see any WiFi networks. Makes it a non-starter for me at the moment as I can't connect wired. It didn't explicitly state WiFi in the description, but I assumed it had it because the NUC component has it. Have tried with Windows and Linux both, and no luck so far.

      Fans - the fans seem to be running full, and it's loud. I've tried changing settings in the BIOS, updated BIOS to the latest version, nothing seems to help. Temps are low, GPU fans turn off shortly after booting, it's just that the CPU and system fans don't appear to respect the fan curves. I was hoping I could keep temps low and fan noise minimal, as I can't stand disruptions like that at work. Hoping to get some support from BPC to figure this out.

      Anyway, hopefully I can get those two issues resolved. If I can, I think this will be a pretty cool system. If not, I'll have to stick it in a cupboard somewhere and use it as a server instead.

      • Jake17 on 12/05/2023 - 22:53

        @benny85 I wasn't able to find an audio output and the Bluetooth wouldn't connect to my soundbar, but my monitors have an audio output so plugged it into that and that works via the HDMI cable,

        wifi works for me, but what is odd is its shitty speeds, less than 10mbs whereas via ethernet cable it is on average 800mbs+ even on my old system with the dongle in it it was stupid slow, and yet at my mums place with slower internet with more users the same old computer got her full speeds, wifi for my other devices are great speeds, so idk what the issue is,

        the fans for me are barely noticeable and Surpiselinly doesn't run that hot and I have played heavily on it since getting it,

        I find there aren't enough USB ports for me, which is a shame, but I am using 2 hubs, although I will be buying a much bigger external hard drive and consolidating 2 onto it, the USB C port on the side was a nice find also when I went hunting for the audio jack lol.

        • benny85 on 13/05/2023 - 21:25

          Hmm, interesting that you are having some issues with the WiFi. My current theory is that they haven't connected the antennas correctly. Looking at the docs for the (similar) Intel NUC 12 Extreme (here), the antenna are connected to the chassis. I haven't opened mine up but I'm assuming it's a similar setup and they perhaps haven't connected them (or properly connected them).

          Also, I don't have mine with me to check, but I think I found the audio jack! On the pictures here, the audio jack is next to the hidden USB-C port, I think it just has a plug covering it up.

          Glad that you are not having any issues with the fans. Did you modify any of the settings in the BIOS or anything for them? Weirdly, I was doing some testing and forgot to shut it down, then came back a while later and the fans had quietened down a lot. I just haven't been able to replicate that.

          • Jake17 on 13/05/2023 - 21:42

            @benny85: Ive also noticed that bump but haven't tried opening it.

            With the wifi. I think its a me issue. Because as stated my old system was shocking with it even right next the the modem and yet when i set it up at mums it was pretty decent. I have no idea what it is. As only wifi on two computers are effected. All other devices are great.

            I haven't done any modifying stuff. I'll probably blow the system up lol. Im not that technical with computers and i didnt pay $2.4K to destroy it

            • Jake17 on 13/05/2023 - 22:00

              @Jake17: i'm trying to the rubber seal thing off where that audio jack is, can't seem to

              *edit, it doesn't seem to be one, that rubber thing looks like it will just break if I keep trying

              • benny85 on 23/05/2023 - 15:17

                @Jake17: So, a small update mostly for my benefit.

                @Jake17, looks like you were right about the audio jack. The rubber seal was glued in, I managed to get it out but (at least on Pop OS) it doesn't seem to be recognised so it probably isn't connected to anything.

                With my fan issue, I opened it up and it turns out that the fan cable was resting on a component on the mainboard which must have been interfering with the PWM signal. Seemed very weird, but it was resting on the PWMBUS HEADER, and fixing the cabling appears to have settled the fan down. I'm now really happy with the fan noise, although I haven't done any stress testing.

                WiFi I haven't investigated any further (it's still rubbish, but I'm running it wired now).

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