Thrilled to see there are some Cubi fans out there.
1- Although not a performance techie, I am a pro builder.. and can share some tips why this is the ultimate mini box (built over 50 the last three years)
2- Loni was not correct.. or his Bios was older.. but Win WILL boot from the Sata II drive
3- Do not put spinning drives in this machine. Best performance are with these SSDs
In order of best at the top:
Samsung Pro 850
SanDisk Pro
SanDisk Extreme II
Samsung 850 EVO
OCZ Arc 100 -- best price for performance (10 second boot)
SanDisk Ultra II
Avoid Crucial.. you will NOT be able to erase with Parted Magic
and with Samsung mSata, you will need to pull out the drive and re insert while running Parted Magic
-- Parted Magic is the ONLY tool you should use to fully reset erase an SSD
Spend the $10 it's worth every penny
RAM
Use G Skill 1600 cs9 or GSkill ripjaws cs9
4k Video
Dual Channel RAM is required to RUN 4k video (matched modules)
Tips for installing Win 10 Pro... with a Win 7 or 8.x license!
- write down your license serial for Win 7 or 8.x
- if you use a license from another machine, then wipe that hard drive
- (this license will forever be assigned to the Cubi)
- set the Bios for Win 8.x boot and leave all defaults
- now you need a boot USB key (4 GB min)
- to make it bootable, you will need the Windows Media Creation Tool
- it's easy to GET this tool from a system running Win 10
- make sure you upgraded to ver. 1511 (released Nov 12, 2015)
- Google the MS Site and download the tool (it matches the tool to your system)
- Run the exe and select the option to make an ISO on a flash drive
- If you are running Win 10 Pro, the tool will be able to install both Home and Pro in the future
- Start the Cubi with the USB key inserted
- You can partition your drive
- I move the docs folders to 2nd partition and use Aomei Backup for partition backups
- Make sure your machine has the hard Ethernet plugged in
- Do NOT add any license serials even though it asks
- After the install is done, add your license serial for Win 7 or Win 8.x
- Until July 29 2016, this upgrade is free
- Run the Updates, windows will install ALL YOUR DRIVERS and Activate Permanently
If you ever change the hard drive, the license will come back on a fresh install
You cannot move that license to another machine ever again, it is assigned the MOBO
Do NOT join the testing program, their versions EXPIRE
If you need to install Win 7 or 8 first, use a spinning hard drive
upgrade to Win 10 and then create the Media Tool USB
Remove the hard drive and install the new SSD
MS servers detect your motherboard and know you are activated for life
1- Although not a performance techie, I am a pro builder.. and can share some tips why this is the ultimate mini box (built over 50 the last three years)
2- Loni was not correct.. or his Bios was older.. but Win WILL boot from the Sata II drive
3- Do not put spinning drives in this machine. Best performance are with these SSDs
In order of best at the top:
Samsung Pro 850
SanDisk Pro
SanDisk Extreme II
Samsung 850 EVO
OCZ Arc 100 -- best price for performance (10 second boot)
SanDisk Ultra II
Avoid Crucial.. you will NOT be able to erase with Parted Magic
and with Samsung mSata, you will need to pull out the drive and re insert while running Parted Magic
-- Parted Magic is the ONLY tool you should use to fully reset erase an SSD
Spend the $10 it's worth every penny
RAM
Use G Skill 1600 cs9 or GSkill ripjaws cs9
4k Video
Dual Channel RAM is required to RUN 4k video (matched modules)
Tips for installing Win 10 Pro... with a Win 7 or 8.x license!
- write down your license serial for Win 7 or 8.x
- if you use a license from another machine, then wipe that hard drive
- (this license will forever be assigned to the Cubi)
- set the Bios for Win 8.x boot and leave all defaults
- now you need a boot USB key (4 GB min)
- to make it bootable, you will need the Windows Media Creation Tool
- it's easy to GET this tool from a system running Win 10
- make sure you upgraded to ver. 1511 (released Nov 12, 2015)
- Google the MS Site and download the tool (it matches the tool to your system)
- Run the exe and select the option to make an ISO on a flash drive
- If you are running Win 10 Pro, the tool will be able to install both Home and Pro in the future
- Start the Cubi with the USB key inserted
- You can partition your drive
- I move the docs folders to 2nd partition and use Aomei Backup for partition backups
- Make sure your machine has the hard Ethernet plugged in
- Do NOT add any license serials even though it asks
- After the install is done, add your license serial for Win 7 or Win 8.x
- Until July 29 2016, this upgrade is free
- Run the Updates, windows will install ALL YOUR DRIVERS and Activate Permanently
If you ever change the hard drive, the license will come back on a fresh install
You cannot move that license to another machine ever again, it is assigned the MOBO
Do NOT join the testing program, their versions EXPIRE
If you need to install Win 7 or 8 first, use a spinning hard drive
upgrade to Win 10 and then create the Media Tool USB
Remove the hard drive and install the new SSD
MS servers detect your motherboard and know you are activated for life
