ASUSTOR AS5008T Review

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.

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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.