Computing on Demand PC News & Reviews
The AS3102T is built on a simpler platform than many of the asustor models. This NAS features a toolless installation that requires the NAS to be opened for drives to be installed. If you are an old timer, like me, you will remember the old Dell clamshell designs. This is similar, without the hinges.
The two thumbscrews in the back are the key to everything. The screws are small but are easy enough to maneuver. If your Jimmy Deans are unable to grab and turn, there is the Phillips Head backup plan in place.
Once opened, the internal structure is on full display. There really isn’t much to this NAS. A cooling fan rests directly behind your drive cage to keep them cool, and the system board sits right behind. The system board isn’t all that exciting. There are no fancy blinking “Open for business” signs present.
Drives are installed using provided thumb screws, the same screws we found on the back of the unit. There isn’t much space to play with as this unit is quite compact. I don’t normally make it a habit of outfitting every screw when testing, but the metal cage provided enough vibration to cause concern, once every anchor point was used, vibrations were gone. For those that consider this unit, make sure you fully anchor your drives.
The board sports a passively cooled CPU, Celeron Braswell 1.6GHz Dual-Core CPU. The CPU is strong enough for NAS activity and can burst to 2.16GHz. The N3050 sports 2MB of L2 Cache, can support up to 8GB of RAM (no ECC), Intel HD Graphics, and can support Virtualization.
System information is handled by iTE IT8728F. “The IT8728F is a highly integrated Super I/O using the Low Pin Count Interface. It provides the most commonly used legacy Super I/O functionality plus the latest Environment Control initiatives, including H/W Monitor and Fan Speed Controller. The device’s LPC interface complies with Intel “LPC Interface””
Gigabit Ethernet is courtesy of Broadcom BCM57781, Ethernet NIC NetXtreme.
Around back, the board is outfitted with 2GB of RAM, Samsung K4B2G1646Q-BYK0. The RAM is DDR3L-1333 (9-9-9).
