Computing on Demand PC News & Reviews
Although it is normally frowned upon to open your NAS, ASUSTOR provides you with the means to do so (by removing 3 screws) and markets the ease of which you can upgrade the RAM (up to 8GB). Unfortunately, there are some limitations with the RAM upgrades. Only the following combinations are supported.
- 1GB + 1GB
- 2GB + 2GB
- 4GB + 4GB
- Single 1,2,4, 8GB module installed in the first memory slot.
ASUSTOR doesn’t want you to remove the installed DSL DDR3 1600 1GB CL11 DIMM without getting messy.
Once the cover is removed, the power supply makes itself available. ASUSTOR outfits the AS5008T with a Delta Electronics 250W Power Supply.
Upon first inspection of the motherboard, you can clearly see that it is stamped with AS5110T. This is the motherboard designed for the AS5110T and recycled for the AS5008T.
Directly below this classic heatsink rests the Intel Celeron 2.41GHz Dual-Core Processor (J1800). This CPU is capable of bursting up to 2.58GHz and has a 1MB L2 Cache. This is a 64-bit processor, it has a TDP of 10 W, can support up to 8GB of DDR3L1333 (thus the memory limitations), and supports Intel HD Graphics at a base frequency 688MHz.
PCI Express is handled by asmedia ASM1184e & 2 x ASM1182e, USB is handled by an asmedia ASM1074L.
Ethernet is handled by Broadcom’s NetLink BCM57781. The BCM57781 is a twelfth-generation 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet controller that supports IEEE 802.3 compliant media access controller. It is compliant with IEEE 802.3az for EEE (Energy Efficient Ethernet), has ASPM (active State Power Management) capabilities, and is fabricated using a 65 nm CMOS process.
Hardware monitoring is handled by an iTE IT8720F Low Pin Count Interface. The IT8720F provides Environment Control initiatives including H/W monitoring and a Fan Speed Controller. The IT8720F complies with Intel “LPC Interface Specifications (1.0), and is ACPI as well as LANDesk compliant. There is only one fan speed controller, but it can handle up to five fans.
As you make your way around to the back of the motherboard, you can see that ASUSTOR has incorporated REALTEK’s ALC887 Audio Codec to handle the AS5008T’s audio. The ALC887 is supports 7.1 high definition audio and can support two independent S/PDIF out. Additionally, the ALC887 meets the requirements for WLP3.10, supports 16/20/24-bit S/PDIF input and output with sampling rates up to 192kHz, supports Intel’s Audio Codec low power state, is ECR compliant, and EAX/Direct Sound 3D compatibility.
- High-performance DACs with 97dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), ADCs with 90dB SNR
- Four stereo DACs (8 channels) support 16/20/24-bit PCM format for 7.1 sound playback.
- Two stereo ADCs (4 channels) support 16/20/24-bit PCM format recording simultaneously
- All DACs supports 16/20/24-bit, 44.1k/48k/96k/192kHz sample rate
- All ADCs supports 16/20/24-btt, 44.1k/48k/96k/192kHz sample rate
- Two independent SPDIF-OUT converters support 16/20/24-bit, 44.1k/48k/88.2k/96k/192kHz sample rate. One converter for normal SPDIF output, the other outputs an independent digital stream to the HDMI transmitter
- One SPDIF-IN converter supports 44.1k/48k/96k/192k Hz sample rate
- Supports external PCBEEP input, built-in digital BEEP generator, and pass-through function in D3 mode
- Wide range (–80dB ~ +42dB) volume control with 1.5dB resolution of analog to analog mixer gain
PCIe to SATA is handled by a slew of asmedia’s ASM1061 PCI Express to SATA 6.0Gbps.
Well Joe I was going to build your “Build a NAS for Affordable Storage – The Complete Guide” until I saw this. I couldn’t build that for this price and with the upgradable RAM it’s perfect for me. Thanks for this review, the NAS and 8 5 Tb hard drives are on the way.
William, I am happy to hear that you will not be following our guide… for this reason alone :). This is a strong NAS at a FANTASTIC price. Please let us know how you make out with it.
For sure Joe. As happy as I am with my Qnap 4 bay, this unit will be faster and with the HDMI I’ve finally found a use for my old Samsung monitor. Thinking about a bluetooth dongle also for a keyboard and mouse setup.
No need for that. If you have a phone (android or iOS) you can use the official KODI remote control app. Personally, I use Constellation on the iPad. Makes for some slick controls. All you have to do is make sure you have the “web server”, a user name and password configured in KODI. Then you are good to go.
The hard drives and the ram are in. Just waiting for the NAS now.
OK, I’ve added the 8Gb’s of ram, added 8 5 Tb drives and now I’m dumping my external HD’s onto the NAS. This is going to take a couple of days it looks like. I’ll post later when everything is done and I’m transferring files over the network and streaming to my WD TV Live
Your next purchase should be a switch capable of delivering 802.3AD link aggregation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_aggregation
I personally use the Netgear GS724T
OK Joe you’re going to have to help me out here. Although I studied electronics in college and I’ve built computers from scratch, this switch is apparently over my head. Why would I need this and what will it do for my system?
802.3ad Link aggregation allows you to take two Ethernet Ports and combine them in to one (faster speeds when there are multiple connections to the NAS)
802.3ad Link aggregation allows you to take two Ethernet Ports and combine them in to one (faster speeds when there are multiple connections to the NAS)
Joe the Android apps from Asustor do everything I need to do remotely.
Time has passed, how are things going with the ASUSTOR NAS?
So,now that I’ve transferred my TV collection from my Qnap NAS I have to say, this is one fast NAS. I’m sure the 8Gb ram upgrade makes a big difference. When I stream to my WD TV Live the buffering is a lot faster than the Qnap. There’s also a noticeable difference when I’m searching through the different folders from the TV Live.
Transferring files through the network from my Mac is faster and I haven’t had any error messages like I do with the Qnap.
I’m not trying to put down Qnap here but these boxes aren’t really comparable. 512 Mb’s of ram vs. 8 Gb’s. Single core processor vs. dual core and so on.
The Qnap has been good for my needs and I honestly never thought that I’d need more than 8 Tb’s of storage, but I am a bit of a digital media hoarder it turns out. It’s also a little more reassuring to be able to use Raid 6 and have that 2 drive fail safety with tons of storage still.
So the Qnap has been relegated to just movie storage and hopefully now that it’s no longer sitting with less than a Tb free it will perform a little better.
Altogether the AS5008T with 8 5Tb drives and the ram upgrade came to just under $3.000 Canadian but I’m very happy and I’m sure this will be the last NAS for years to come. But who knows?
Awesome to hear… I loved this NAS when I got it. For the price… hard to beat.