Computing on Demand PC News & Reviews
Inside the W5000 is an organized and well planned NAS. First, Thecus advises against opening your NAS but then makes it easy. Just turn three thumbscrews and slide the cover off.
Thankfully, everything is right in front of you. Memory Upgrade, CPU, HDD, etc. Motherboard on right and SHDD on top. Hidden under the heatsink is the Intel® Atom™ D2550 (1.86GHz Dual Core). Video and HDMI is handled by Intel Cedarview GMA 3600/3650
As mentioned, the SSHD is a Seagate ST500LM000
The installed 2GB Memory Module is by Transcend and rates at DDR3 1333. Once removed, the other DIMM slot is revealed. Total installable memory in the W5000? 4GB (OS Limitations).
Navigating our way around the motherboard, we first find a pair of Intel 82574L Gigabit Ethernet Controllers. These controllers are designed specifically for SFF designs and are just 9mm x 9mm. Each uses 1 PCIe 1.1 (2.5 GT/s) lane and supports 10/100/1000.
Up top and toward the left we find 3 packages. First up is the ITE IT8728F H/W monitor and Fan Speed controller. Up and to the left we find a Realtek ALC262 for HD Audio (EAX, Direct Sound 3D compatible and 4 DAC channels). Keeping them company is a Silicon Image Sil3132cnu host controller. Unfortunately, this controller is limited to just 3.0 Gb/s.
To power the NAS, Thecus has gone the route of employing an 1U Enhance 200W PSU (ENP-7020D).
So the memory is OS bound. What would happen if you install Windows 2012R2 server standard edition? Would the limit be 16GB?
What drives did you use in this and the Buffalo 5400 WSS for testing? I have a Thecus
N4200ECO and some WD 3TB reds and performance gets to be around 100 MB/s
read/write for large files, wondering if that is achievable on this or the Buffalo 🙂
I tested the Buffalo with the drives shipped (Seagate ST1000DM003). The more important question is… Why are you looking at Buffalo? Buffalo offers some great features in their WSS Series, but I am curious about the need and the interest.