you can have a look at the nvidia gt 1030 cards. there are lowprofile and fanless versions, but pay attention to card size. and you may need to install correct drivers manually. but, half the price then an intel nuc with luck.
If all you need is a video card, that's a decent option. If you're looking for a whole new system, you'll easily spend more than the cost of a NUC.
i'm considering this myself, too, instead of this buggy intel hd grahpics... (well, nvidia isn't better, i know...)
What bug(s) are you referring to? Intel/VAAPI has been very smooth & stable here. Not a single problem and no bugs that I've experienced.
From what I can tell the people talking about buggy drivers don't
actually use Intel HD, they just seem to be repeating what someone else said, or maybe they have a problem outside of VDR/Kodi/HTPC/media playback.