So I'm a bit late posting this but I finally got around to building and testing out the new Intel NUC series of PCs.
Here are the following parts I used.
Intel NUC BOXD54250WYKH1 (i5 with 5000HD GPU and 2.5inch HDD bay model) - $351 USD
Crucial 8GB (4GBx2) - $73 USD
Crucial M500 120GB mSATA - $72 USD
Intel 7260 Wifi AC card. - $30 USD
500GB WD 2.5HDD (from my old laptop)
Windows 7 (old copy I had laying around)
So about $550 USD spent (including shipping and such).
Only had two issues with the build of the machine. One being I bought the wrong ram (mistakenly bought normal voltage ram vice low voltage ram). And second the WiFi adapters took forever to get working (in fact searching for the correct drivers took longer than building it and installing Windows 7). But once I got it up and running I threw on XBMC and a copy of project 64 and Dolphin Emulator as well as Steam.
XBMC ran amazingly well, Project 64 did as well but I didn't play it as much, Dolphin now worked MUCH better than I expected (I think that is due to the fact that the past months of updates have greatly improved the performance of the program, for example Metroid Prime ran at around 40 to 60 fps and stuttered a lot on my desktop, now there is almost zero stutter and runs at 55 to 60 fps). As for steam I wanted to try out the new steam stream feature which I know love. Ran Witcher 2 off my desktop in my bedroom to the living room via a wireless N connection to my box on the TV in the living room and played with my 360 controller and aside from a few network hickups every 20 to 30 minutes it looked quite amazing (you can tell its being streamed on games like witcher 2, games like half-life 2 or transistor look perfectly fine).
All in all I love my NUC and having a tiny HTPC that can do above average emulation with things like gamecube games. Also I'd like to mention the box the NUC came in when you slide the box open there is a light sensor that will go off and trigger and play the classic intel ad sound effect.
Link for the photos - Flickr - http://tinyurl.com/nu2xll5
Also I'm looking for a good photo upload service that is simple, easy, lack of ads, and doesn't revolve around social media add ons. (the lack of social media bit is the only part I'm really serious about).
My next rig post might be the update to my desktop. (Swapping out my old Antec 1200 with a Corsair 760 or 780 and swap out PSUs).