Micro PC needed

Nforce

I've been out of the loop for a while, PC wise, but am currently looking for a SFF pc to be used as part of a touch screen jukebox build. At present I'm running a HP microserver N54L but require something that is smaller (preferably something I can mount behind the touch monitor).
I've been looking at the Intel NUC, but I need spdif connection and they are a bit pricey for something that will probably be used exclusively for the jukebox software and maybe running some arcade/console emulators.I don't mind throwing a new build together myself, if needed, but haven't a clue what to look for.

Requirements:
SFF (smaller the better)
Silent (I'll be running a 120gb SSD and the music will be streamed over a wired network from my server, so Ethernet required..no wifi).
SPDIF connection in order to connect it to the current audio system.
Capable of running HD video
OS not required as I'll be running a spare copy of Win 7 64bit.


Edit: Price...€2/300-ish

Thanks in advance for any pointers received.:)

Serephucus

Raspberry Pi?

vibe666

if you decided to get yourself a NUC (the i3 one if perfectly fine, I have one myself running win 8.1 and it flies even with high bitrate 1080p content) you could use one of these to pull the SPDIF from the HDMI. http://www.ebay.ie/itm/HDMI-to-HDMI-Audio-SPDIF-RCA-L-R-Audio-Extractor-Converte-2014-/251506782861

the only downside with the i3 NUC is that there's (rather unbelievably imho) no onboard ethernet, although rather bizarrely it DOES have a thunderbolt socket? tits on a bull and all that.

you *can* get usb or thunderbolt to ethernet adapters as well (usb are cheaper, but slower), but as the NUC's don't come with anything other than the case and motherboard, you're looking at closer to €400 once you've got the SSD, RAM etc. and the hdmi to hdmi+spdif adapter.

a cheaper option might be a zotac zbox, which come in many flavours (down to about the 100 quid mark for the lower end AMD ones) and some do have spdif on them.

OR, you could (if you didn't mind a bit of extra bulk), get an acer revo RL80, which are slightly longer in the tooth than the NUC's etc. but come within your price bracket, have everything you need included (except the SSD) and definitely does have spdif and comes with a 1tb 2.5" hdd as well which you could swap out for a SSD and throw into a usb enclosure for some extra portable storage. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Nettop-1-5GHz-Integrated-Graphics/dp/B00HNQWTR6/

should give you something to chew on anyways.

Nforce

@ Serephucus: I've some raspberry pi's here already, but the jukebox software I'm running (Etouch) is Windows based and I'm pretty much happy out with it.

@ vibe666: Yep, The NUC would have been ideal if they had the required connections (I don't want to be using adapters really). I'll have a look at the other options.

Thanks guys!

Lu Tze

Antec has a itx case with a vesa mount incorporate to mount on the back of your monitor if you are up for doing a small build

Nforce

Lu Tze wrote: »

Antec has a itx case with a vesa mount incorporate to mount on the back of your monitor if you are up for doing a small build

I'd prefer self build, but those Antec cases aren't the prettiest. I'll do some more research, but I think the Acer mentioned above might be the best option at the moment.