N305 6-Bay 10GbE NAS Motherboard Review – BUDGET BRILLIANT DIY NAS BUILD?

Last updated on 17 Sep 2025 📧 Subscribe
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1 The N305 M-ITX NAS Motherboard with 10GbE – Should You Buy It?
1.1 Topton MW-N305-NAS ITX DiY NAS Review – Quick Conclusion
1.2 N305 M-ITX NAS Motherboard – Design and Build Quality
1.3 N305 M-ITX NAS Motherboard – Processor and Performance
1.4 M-ITX NAS Motherboard – Ports and Connections
1.5 M-ITX NAS Motherboard – Storage Capabilities
1.6 The N305 10GbE Motherboard – Should You Buy It?
2 Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?
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The N305 M-ITX NAS Motherboard with 10GbE – Should You Buy It?

If you’re considering a custom NAS or server build, the N305 M-ITX NAS Motherboard with 10GbE offers an enticing mix of performance, power efficiency, and networking prowess. Designed with modern demands in mind, it combines Intel’s Alder Lake-N processors with a robust set of connectivity options, including a standout 10GbE port. Whether for personal media servers, small office NAS setups, or edge computing, this motherboard brings noteworthy improvements over its predecessors. Let’s explore its design, hardware, connectivity, and practical applications.

NOTE 1 – A version of this motherboard has appeared that features a x4 PCIe slot, but it is shared with the 2nd M.2 slot. You can learn more about it HERE on the Amazon listing

NOTE 2 – The review of the N100 version of this motherboard is now live and HERE on YouTube and HERE on the blog

 

Where to Buy the 10GbE N300/N305 NAS MoBo?
  • Aliexpress $138.96 (N100 10GbE, No Memory or SSD) – HERE
  • Aliexpress $214.99 (N300 10GbE, 8GB Memory, 128GB OS SSD) – HERE
  • Check Amazon HERE

Topton MW-N305-NAS ITX DiY NAS Review – Quick Conclusion

The Topton MW-N305-NAS motherboard is an affordable M-ITX option for basic NAS setups, featuring a low-power yet high capability 8 core i3 CPU, dual 2.5GbE ports, and a rare built-in 10GbE port for faster data transfer. With six SATA ports and two M.2 slots, it offers versatile storage options, although the M.2 slots are limited to PCIe Gen 3 x1, restricting maximum speeds. While the lack of a PCIe slot and ECC support may limit its appeal for advanced users, the N305 10G NAS board performs reliably for general NAS tasks like file storage, backups, and moderate streaming. It’s best suited for budget-conscious users who need a compact and low-power NAS with decent networking options, though not for those requiring extensive expandability or high-speed processing. It’s a shame about the lack of PCIe upgradability (there is a split m.2/PCIe x4 version from Topton in the market), but aside from that, it is incredibly difficult to fault this value 10GbE DIY NAS offering!

BUILD QUALITY - 8/10
HARDWARE - 8/10
PERFORMANCE - 7/10
PRICE - 10/10
VALUE - 9/10


8.4
PROS
👍🏻Affordable price for an ITX motherboard with 10GbE networking capabilities.
👍🏻Built-in 10GbE port (Marvell AQC113C) and dual 2.5GbE ports (Intel i226-V) for versatile networking options.
👍🏻Low power consumption (6W TDP for CPU), suitable for continuous 24/7 operation.
👍🏻Six SATA 3.0 ports and two M.2 NVMe slots, providing flexible storage configuration options.
👍🏻Compact form factor, making it ideal for small NAS builds and limited-space installations.
👍🏻Supports up to 32GB of DDR5 memory, which is adequate for general NAS use.
👍🏻Low heat output with stable thermal performance, reducing the need for extensive cooling.
👍🏻User-friendly BIOS with customization options for PCI and USB settings.
CONS
👎🏻No PCIe slot, limiting expansion options for additional hardware like GPUs or other high-speed components.
👎🏻Lacks ECC memory support, which is often preferred in NAS setups for data integrity.
👎🏻M.2 slots are limited to PCIe Gen 3 x1 lanes, restricting maximum speed for high-performance applications.
👎🏻Requires a 300W power supply despite low power demands, adding potential extra cost and size requirements.



N305 M-ITX NAS Motherboard – Design and Build Quality

The N305 10GbE motherboard adheres to the Mini-ITX standard (17cm x 17cm), making it an excellent choice for compact builds. Its matte black PCB not only enhances aesthetic appeal but also signifies durability, with an 8-layer high-density fiber design that provides resistance against environmental stressors like moisture. This level of build quality ensures long-term reliability, critical for 24/7 NAS operation or server usage.

One of the key selling points of this model is its ability to balance compactness with functionality. Despite its small footprint, the board integrates a range of advanced components, including the Intel Alder Lake-N N305 CPU and a robust networking stack.

Thermal management is supported with well-placed headers for CPU and system cooling fans, ensuring stable performance even under continuous operation.

A notable upgrade in this model is the inclusion of a 10GbE LAN port, alongside two 2.5GbE ports. These features position the N305 as a professional-grade option, capable of handling demanding data transfer and network management tasks. The board also supports dual M.2 NVMe slots and six SATA3.0 ports, offering ample storage flexibility for SSDs and HDDs alike.

Component Details
CPU Intel Alder Lake-N N305, 8 Threads, 3.8 GHz boost
Memory 1x SO-DIMM DDR5 (4800-5600MHz), up to 32GB
Networking 1x 10GbE (Marvell AQC113C), 2x 2.5GbE (Intel i226-V)
Storage 6x SATA3.0, 2x M.2 NVMe (PCIe 3.0, 2280)
Graphics Intel UHD Graphics, 4K@60Hz via HDMI 2.1 and DP 1.4b
Power ATX 24+4 Pin, minimum 300W PSU recommended

With its thoughtful design and robust specifications, the N305 10GbE motherboard proves to be a versatile and compact solution for users requiring reliability and high performance in a small form factor.

N305 M-ITX NAS Motherboard – Processor and Performance

The heart of this motherboard is the Intel Alder Lake-N N305 processor, an 8-thread chip with a maximum clock speed of 3.8 GHz. Designed with efficiency in mind, it features a modest TDP of 9-15W, making it ideal for systems running 24/7.

This processor delivers the computational power needed for a wide range of applications, from lightweight virtualization to handling multiple network clients in a NAS setup. I tested the N305 NAS mobo and below are the stats power consumption numbers for both IDLE and 30-50% power use with all drives in use. Testing revealed idle power consumption of just 27-28 watts with six connected drives in hibernation, and a peak utilization of 64-66 watts under heavy RAID 5 operations across six hard drives via 10GbE.

Built on Intel’s Alder Lake-N architecture, the N305 achieves a balance between energy efficiency and performance. This makes it particularly suitable for edge computing, media streaming, and private cloud hosting. Whether you’re transcoding videos for Plex or running containerized workloads in Docker, this CPU handles it all with ease. Additionally, the integrated Intel UHD Graphics (32 execution units) ensures smooth playback of 4K media.

Memory performance on this board is another highlight. The single SO-DIMM DDR5 slot supports frequencies up to 5600MHz and capacities of up to 32GB, delivering fast data access speeds. This enables seamless multitasking and rapid handling of large files, critical for NAS environments where throughput is essential. While the single memory slot may limit scalability for some, it fits well with the board’s compact and power-efficient design. That said, even with it’s more affordable price, the lack of ECC memory support (both a CPU and MoBo limitation) is going to be a dealbreaker for storage veterans.

The N305’s low power consumption doesn’t compromise its capabilities. It can handle a surprising range of tasks for a CPU of its class, making it suitable for both personal and small business setups. The combination of processing power, efficiency, and modern architecture makes this motherboard a compelling choice for users looking to maximize performance without incurring high energy costs.

M-ITX NAS Motherboard – Ports and Connections

Ports and connections are a critical factor for any motherboard, and the N305 doesn’t disappoint. Its rear I/O panel includes a rich mix of options, catering to various connectivity needs.

The standout feature is the 10GbE LAN port, supported by the Marvell AQC113C chipset, which is complemented by two 2.5GbE LAN ports for additional network flexibility.

This combination allows users to configure advanced setups, such as load balancing or link aggregation.

For display outputs, the board features HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4b, both supporting 4K@60Hz resolution. These ports ensure crisp visuals for administrative tasks, media playback, or light graphical workloads. Additionally, a 3.5mm audio jack powered by the Realtek ALC897 codec provides basic audio output, suitable for most NAS or server setups.

USB connectivity includes a mix of USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, alongside a Type-C port (albeit limited to USB 2.0 speeds). Internally, headers for additional USB ports and front-panel connectivity provide customization options, enhancing the board’s adaptability for various builds.

Port Type Details
LAN 1x 10GbE, 2x 2.5GbE
Display HDMI 2.1, DP 1.4b (4K@60Hz support)
USB 1x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, 1x Type-C (USB 2.0 rate)
Audio 3.5mm jack (Realtek ALC897 codec)
Internal Headers USB 2.0, fan control, front panel

Internally, the motherboard is equipped with headers for fan control, USB expansion, and front-panel connections, ensuring that builders can optimize cooling and functionality. The thoughtful inclusion of multiple ports and expansion headers makes the N305 10GbE motherboard suitable for a wide range of applications, from data-intensive NAS setups to compact home labs.

M-ITX NAS Motherboard – Storage Capabilities

Storage flexibility is one of the N305’s strongest features. The board includes six SATA3.0 ports, capable of speeds up to 6Gbps, ideal for building RAID arrays or connecting multiple high-capacity drives.

These ports are managed by the JMB585 controller, which ensures efficient throughput and compatibility with various storage devices.

The two M.2 NVMe slots provide high-speed storage options for caching or boot drives. These slots are PCIe 3.0 x1, supporting 2280-sized drives, and deliver sequential read/write speeds sufficient for most NAS or server needs.

#However, one M.2 slot shares its signal with the PCIe x1 lane, requiring users to carefully plan resource allocation depending on their build priorities.

The storage setup also supports features like TRIM for SSDs and port multiplier configurations, allowing users to expand their storage options further. This is particularly useful for creating large-scale NAS setups, where maximizing drive connectivity is a priority.

The performance of the MW-N305-NAS motherboard showcases a balance of efficiency and capability for its price point.  Storage speeds on the six SATA ports, powered by a JMB 58x controller on a Gen 3×1 lane, achieved sequential read and write rates of approximately 495 MB/s and 350-380 MB/s respectively.

While the 10GbE Aquantia AQC113C controller delivered fully saturated 10GbE throughput, the advertised USB 20Gbps port fell short, maxing out at 1GB/s during tests. Despite its modest clock speeds and limited PCIe lanes, the MW-N305-NAS excels as a cost-effective, low-power NAS motherboard for DIY builders, especially when considering its compact ITX form factor and versatile connectivity. In short – SATA HDD performance over the single 10GbE connection was pretty standard and acceptable, and the 3×1 lane allocation to each m.2 resulted in the expected sub 1GB internal throughput. The two M.2 NVMe slots, also Gen 3×1, reached read speeds of 783 MB/s and write speeds around 655-690 MB/s, performing consistently within the bandwidth constraints.

Transferring data between each m.2 SSD inside the system (1GB repeated file write) dropped performance down noticeably, but again – this was largely expected and based on the lane speed downgrades, hardly surprising.

Storage Type Details
SATA Ports 6x SATA3.0 (6Gbps), JMB585 controller
M.2 NVMe 2x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots (2280 size)
TRIM Support Yes
Port Multiplier Yes

Whether for storing media libraries, backing up critical data, or running virtual machines, the N305 offers a robust and flexible storage solution. Despite its compact size, the board’s thoughtful design ensures that users can configure it for both speed and capacity. This makes it a compelling option for anyone looking to build a high-performance, high-capacity NAS or server, with the flexibility to scale storage as needed.

The N305 10GbE Motherboard – Should You Buy It?

As of 2024, the N305 M-ITX NAS motherboard with 10GbE represents a versatile and cost-effective platform for users seeking a combination of performance, power efficiency, and robust connectivity. With its Alder Lake-N processor, DDR5 memory support, and standout 10GbE networking capabilities, it delivers exceptional value for its price. This motherboard is particularly well-suited for applications like Plex Media Server, Proxmox virtual machines, or UnRAID/TrueNAS setups, where both processing power and network bandwidth are critical. Its comprehensive storage options and energy-efficient design further solidify its place as a top contender in the compact NAS and server motherboard market.

However, users with high expansion needs or enterprise-level requirements may find its PCIe lane limitations a challenge. For most small-scale and prosumer applications, though, it strikes an excellent balance between capability and efficiency. Whether you’re building a new media server or upgrading an existing NAS, the N305 10GbE motherboard is a strong choice that offers modern features and flexibility in a compact package.

PROS CONs
  • Affordable price for an ITX motherboard with 10GbE networking capabilities.
  • Built-in 10GbE port (Marvell AQC113C) and dual 2.5GbE ports (Intel i226-V) for versatile networking options.
  • Low power consumption (6-10W TDP for CPU), suitable for continuous 24/7 operation.
  • Six SATA 3.0 ports and two M.2 NVMe slots, providing flexible storage configuration options.
  • Compact form factor, making it ideal for small NAS builds and limited-space installations.
  • Supports up to 32GB of DDR5 memory, which is adequate for general NAS use.
  • Low heat output with stable thermal performance, reducing the need for extensive cooling.
  • User-friendly BIOS with customization options for PCI and USB settings.
  • No PCIe slot, limiting expansion options for additional hardware like GPUs or other high-speed components.
  • Lacks ECC memory support, which is often preferred in NAS setups for data integrity.
  • M.2 slots are limited to PCIe Gen 3 x1 lanes, restricting maximum speed for high-performance applications.

 

 

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      335 thoughts on “N305 6-Bay 10GbE NAS Motherboard Review – BUDGET BRILLIANT DIY NAS BUILD?”

      2. I need a stable phone sync app that doesn’t break when syncing a multiple GB sized video or some weird codec. Even QNAP fails there, seems only Synology works. It’s ridiculous really considering phone backup is so important since years.
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      3. I went DIY simply because it was cheaper. But It seems like I made the right decision with some of the other locked down things. But now that I have my own, I kinda want the other option as a backup of my backup. Some of those have easier sync options. I wont ever leave the DIY option cause I like the freedom.
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      4. I bought a CWWK AMD 8845HS motherboard, slapped on a Noctua tower cooler, 32GB RAM, 2x 512GB NVME for a cache pool and just recently dropped in a 20TB Toshiba N300 drive. On this system I run unRAID, within that OS I have multiple VMs and Containers, including a Sophos Firewall VM and a Unifi Network Controller. Basically I have a full home lab all contained within a Fractal Node 304 case. Power draw is a reasonable (80W including my Virgin Media router, a POE switch and a Unifi AP), sound level is low enough that it doesn’t upset the wife, and more importantly it has more than enough processing power to run my full home lab without breaking a sweat. Plex transcoding is handled by the AMD integrated GPU, but I don’t need any transcoding since this is a Direct Play household!

        Overall I am grateful to Synology for no longer supporting 3rd party brands because that was the reason I chose not to go for a Synology NAS, and I was only looking at Synology because of SHR. Once that was no longer an option DIY was my only option.
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      7. Power efficiency is always my thing. I did pick up and old PC with a 6700 but its too heavy on thr wattage, assuming i do leave it on 24 7. I do own a mini PC which is great and pulls max maybe 10ish watts at the wall, usually 7w as it’s idle. I’d definitely go prebuilt, but I’d have to buy something that’s power efficient.
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      9. Camp BYO:
        Being a Windows/Unix/Linux server admin for the last 30 years, I built my own which is smaller and more powerful than the commercial offerings. First with FreeNAS/TrueNAS, then later with Proxmox and a DIY Linux LXC for NAS duties plus a whole bunch of other LXCs and VMs.
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      10. My NAS is jast a headless Debian server, because I like pain I guess 😀

        Actually it’s because I just liked the idea of learning to manage a “proper” server. I started with Ubuntu Server and made a bit of a mess because I didn’t really know what I was doing, but second time around with Debian it really was a breeze. Now it’s a pretty clean setup with lvm, ZFS, a bunch of smb stuff as well as Plex and Jellyfin (testing before I’m confident enough to drop Plex), both with hardware acceleration for transcoding and tone mapping. Sometimes I even run some game servers.

        All in all, very educational, but certainly has quite some learning curve. It also puts you in the danger zone for getting into homelab, now I’m playing around with Proxmox and OPNSense…
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      11. the only reason i may go for prebuild nas , is the ability to use it from outside my network over the internet , i will use dropbox , since the diy route is to complicate i have try next cloud , don t manage to make it work even truenas dose not support it , don t see any other benifits compar to a simple compute use as nas .
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      13. I’ve just built a Nas, which involved rebuilding my old PC back into its old case, and the fun of designing and printing my own harddrive rack with side loading bays. So for the cost of harddrives only (and a bit of 3d printing) I got a Nas that allows me to figure out what I need and how I’m going to use it, and to completey change my mind all I need to do is print something else. Truenas has been easy to set up and use, almost too boring really, I thought it was going to be more of a hobby but I don’t have to do anything ????
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      15. This is exactly what I did. Ditched Synology, bought an Intel NUC with Thunderbolt 3 external drive enclosure. Installed Linux with ZFS, NFS, Samba, JellyFin, etc. So much better than fighting with the restrictive options of Synology.
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      16. Easy options for someone like myself…… internal network use only… I would (now) choose the DIY route. Internal and external use the now traditional NAS solution would be best. I only use my NAS for internal network streaming, I wish I knew this b4 buying a QNAP solution..DOH ????‍????
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      19. I really don’t understand “nas OS” as Linux or even windows make good nas and have far more apps.

        Truenas is nice way to ease into ZFS, but btrfs keeps getting really good.
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      20. ditched prebuilt a few years ago now.. I’m never going back.. I was planning to move to synology but that idea died when they moved to amd cpu’s without video codecs in them…and I’m glad I escaped before the whole HD lock-in mess
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      21. Long time fan, first time commenter!

        I’m making the move from my DS923+ (it’s been an absolute kubernetes nfs pvc permissions nightmare) to DIY. I know this isn’t discussed much on the channel, but any suggestions on a DIY setup that works well within a homelab/kubernetes setup? I’m moving my cluster to Talos this weekend and want to plan out the storage swap in the near future. Thanks for an suggestions!
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      22. I’m still enjoying my 1618+ but i feel that after this unit is unsupported, and in light of Synology’s recent ‘business practices’, I will investigate ‘roll your own’ options, as it were. ????
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      23. Thanks. I am concerned about reliability. My Lincplus N2 had issues losing some ssds, my Minisforum MS-01 is dead for seemingly no reason. All the while my 2 Synologies are chugging along, one of them for 10 years.
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      24. I used to think Synology for turnkey… but they don’t care about home/small users anymore, removing apps, codecs etc. (and of course their rip off for memory and the mess with disk compatibility). More and more I’m setting up open source, immich, nextcloud etc in docker as I’m in de-syno mode nowadays. When I get my next nas it sure won’t be Synology. Sorry but I’m not paying a premium for your stuff anymore. And my final, they don’t care, when the f are you going to support dark mode (yes I can use a browser extensions, but its not the point). A proper theme management so I can properly see the current line in file manager etc, uck.
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      25. It is unfortunate that HP stopped making MicroServers. I have a couple from the G7 era that work great as NAS devices, one running Xpenology and the other OMV. Both have Mellanox Connect-X3 10G add-in cards and run cool and quietly. Somewhat larger than a 4-bay NAS but much smaller than a tower.

        For services other than network storage, I run Proxmox on a cluster of 3 1L fanless PCs.
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      26. Went from turn-key NAS products to DIY and will never go back. I run Plex on my NAS which leverages the GPU to handle transcoding since all my rips are 1:1 and sometimes need conversion. I remember running my huge video library through OCR software to extract subtitles because the low end CPUs in turn-key NAS boxes couldn’t even burn the subs into the video stream without the CPU being overwhelmed. With a DIY NAS you can add a GPU/iGPU to do all the heavy lifting.

        I just run ZFS on top of Ubuntu server. If you are not familiar with Linux there isn’t much involved with getting ZFS running on it. The precooked NAS solutions like OMV or TrueNAS are great for new NAS users, especially if you want to run stuff in containers. I didn’t bother with those since I wanted something simple that I’m in complete control of.
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      28. I went diy 6 months ago. Unraid, 12600k, 32GB, 80TB usable sata storage, 3 nvme zfs cache drives, windows gaming VM, plex server. Blisteringly fast and around 60w standby power consumption. Never going back 🙂
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      29. I’ve dreamt of doing it, but:
        1) It’s not hard to bypass the HDD “lock” on turn-key systems.
        2) Yes more OS options, but it’s a steep learning curve, and DIY won’t support those machines if there was a build error.
        3) Hardware is getting better for DIY, but they always seem to be a larger case for HDD, and takes more PSU power which is a problem 24/7/365
        4) Cost is more than just software! Sure DIY “can” be cheaper, but I’m not sure how much I’d have to save to go DIY. When the DIY doesn’t have a warranty or a customer service chat or phone number to call.
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      32. I’ve been thinking for quite a while about building my own NAS, especially after Synology basically said ‘screw you’ to their customers. However, energy efficiency and the cost of electricity should, in my opinion, be taken into consideration when calculating the total cost. Whats your take on this and how to calcuate this?
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      33. Making the plunge into homelab myself and hosting my own apps and files on an NAS due to the availability of nice ITX cases and motherboards that make it very do-able without getting locked-in to a subscription or a Synology-type hardware requirement. I ended up building an 8-bay NAS a few days ago with a Jonsbo N3 case and CWWK Q670 board after various build reviews (including yours).

        Some BIOS configuration snafus aside, which I was able to resolve, I have it running Linux Mint for testing purposes to verify all the hardware works. So far so good. Planning on installing TrueNAS Scale and adding 4 28TB Seagate Exos CMR drives when I have everything else configured.

        Specs:
        Jonsbo N3 case
        2x Noctua NF-A9 case fans to replace the original case fans.
        CWWK Q670 8-bay Motherboard (revised white version)
        Intel Core i3 14100T (may or may not upgrade later)
        Noctua NH-L12Sx77 L-Type Low Profile CPU cooler
        128GB (2x 64GB) Crucial Pro DDR5 5600 UDIMM Memory
        Lenovo Intel X710-DA2 Dual Port 10Gb PCIe Network Adapter Half Height (01DA902) (plus a full height bracket to swap out)
        1 x Samsung 990 PRO 1 TB SSD NVMe M.2 (future boot drive – overkill but I got it on sale – I had an ancient 128gb NVMe I was going to press into service but it was not compatible)
        2 x Sabrent Rocket 2TB SSD NVMe M2 (for apps pool – pulled from my workstation PC during an upgrade)

        For testing purpose I threw in a couple of old SATA drives I had pulled from old systems and they were detected. One has Linux Mint installed as the boot. These will be retired eventually once I get TrueNAS Scale set up.

        Planned apps:
        Truenas Scale (OS)
        Nextcloud
        Jellyfin
        Possibly Handbrake
        Calibre-web
        Immich
        Possibly Navidrome

        As far as Synology goes, I am not keen on any ecosystem (however well-designed) that requires proprietary software. The recent decision to require Synology-certified drives just hardened my stance against them. Nope. They just got added to my sh*t list alongside MIcrosoft, Adobe, Google, and Apple.
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      36. I would build my own if I had time to tinker with it. I love to do that. But for my current needs I just need something I can plug in, add drives and it works. That’s why I have my Synology. I plugged it in 5 years ago and it’s never been shutdown other than for cleaning or updates. Whether I’m at home or in another state it’s there when I need it. Replaces any need for Google or other cloud services.
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      38. personally for a nas, ill stick with a pre built like my ds1522+ is just the ease of use and simplicity.

        with my data that a value i have zero interest with tinkering, i want stability and zero risk (its why i dont use linux as a desktop os and only use Windows or macOS, and only linux in a server environment) its why i separate the my hosted services onto a 2 node proxmox cluster on a separate system, in case something goes wrong i dont lose my data in general.

        i like the low power and efficiency as well
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      39. Really fair and valid points raised. It boils down to use case and keeping to what your needs are. I have had some big switches and an old blade but they were loud and power hungry. Now I have two pc, 4790k 32gb ram and 7700k 16gb ram, with an array of nvme , sata SSD and HDD. its perfect for me, its quieter, uses less power, smaller foot print, flexible, easy to get parts and upgrade over time. that is what I wanted. Turn Key and going bigger DIY had to big an outlay cost for me, I don’t think negatively of the turnkey stuff due to nice simple layouts and all in one construction. I just love tinkering. I have been really having fun with CasaOS, proxmox etc.
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      40. What about families in the Apple ecosystem? Do you recommend using a Mac mini? It’s energy efficient, and even has a new native containerization framework. For docker like functions.
        You won’t have the build your own joy but it could be a nice way to go?
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      41. The only thing stopping me from moving (apart from the money already invested in Synology 4 bay + 5 bay expansion box!) is Active Backup for Business – if I could find an alternative solution (that was as easy to use, solid and natively supported Windows & Linux) I would likely move. Really don’t like the way Synology have gone with ever increasing lock in …. 🙁
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      42. When I was younger I built my own pc for gaming and had a lot of fun tinkering. For a NAS I would rather buy something purpose built whilst accepting that it wouldn’t be as full featured / powerful as DIY.
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      48. Thank you for doing this but you only focus on hardware. What about software? Features? Could you do that? All the backup apps, mail server, file server, Drive Sync, document link sharing, etc … I’m on Synology. Pretty happy with it. Curious on what’s on the other side.
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      51. My friend, I agree. Zima OS Nas software it’s amazing!, and I have three of them brands Qnap, Synology and Asustor.????
        But thanks to Nas Compare???????? I have installed Zima OS 1.44.1
        I have it installed on the Beelink Me, and on a PowerEdge r440, they both run flawless.
        And the remote access function is awesome???? on the R440, which I have in production. Which I have lockdown for my UniFi network.
        Thank you again, Nas Compare????
        This video is Top Notch????????????????????????????????
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      55. open-media-vault is the most underated NAS OS BAR non. Unraid is great, TrueNAS/FreeNAS are good but you need to know SMB commands to make it easy to use. OMV is just the perfect sweetspot and even better if you have a cheap Adaptec RAID card to manage your drives.
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      56. open-media-vault is the most underated NAS OS BAR non. Unraid is great, TrueNAS/FreeNAS are good but you need to know SMB commands to make it easy to use. OMV is just the perfect sweetspot and even better if you have a cheap Adaptec RAID card to manage your drives.
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      59. @NASCOMPARES – What does this mean for ECC NAS RAM ?

        Gigabyte’s AI Top CXL R5X4 quietly expands RAM capacity for demanding workstation workloads
        The card supports four DDR5 RDIMM ECC modules totaling 512GB of memory
        PCIe 5.0 x16 connection ensures direct CPU access for improved performance
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      60. @NASCOMPARES – What does this mean for ECC NAS RAM ?

        Gigabyte’s AI Top CXL R5X4 quietly expands RAM capacity for demanding workstation workloads
        The card supports four DDR5 RDIMM ECC modules totaling 512GB of memory
        PCIe 5.0 x16 connection ensures direct CPU access for improved performance
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      63. I built a DIY NAS on a Pi using OMV and a USB drive to solve a short term network file sharing problem one time. Built in short order from bits lying about on the desk, it saved a bunch of passing the shared drive around the various devices on the network. FrankenNAS performance was pretty good actually but not any sort of long term production solution. Hand made is good option for folks who want to mess about and build the thing that matches their vision.

        Off the shelf though, generally smaller form factor than hand made, low noise, low power consumption, built for the job, no messing about. Could be pros or cons depending on personal perspective.
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      64. I built a DIY NAS on a Pi using OMV and a USB drive to solve a short term network file sharing problem one time. Built in short order from bits lying about on the desk, it saved a bunch of passing the shared drive around the various devices on the network. FrankenNAS performance was pretty good actually but not any sort of long term production solution. Hand made is good option for folks who want to mess about and build the thing that matches their vision.

        Off the shelf though, generally smaller form factor than hand made, low noise, low power consumption, built for the job, no messing about. Could be pros or cons depending on personal perspective.
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      65. The problem with turn key solution is once you buy it kind of stuck with it. It may last 5-10 years, but after a while you will have to buy another one. At this point you outgrowing your current setup. With DIY, you can start with modest hardware . Reuse older components and concentrate on acquiring hard drives at your own pace. Eventually, after couple years, the same hard drives can be transferred to a new hardware. I think Synology is preventing it currently on their new hardware.
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      66. As someeone somewhere between a pro-sumer and homelab-er, I’m willing to take a bit of perf hit for polish and stability… but Synology sure has been testing me on the compromises.
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      70. I’ve purchased 2 QNAP 8 bay desktop NAS systems. The hardware (CPU/memory) is underpowered from the start and they have very limited RAM capacity/expandability. But what has really annoyed me is that the major OS version updates have not been supported on my systems. I would have liked to build my own, but I am not satisfied with the variety of desktop 8 or 10 bay 3.5″ cases. I backed the Orico Cyberdata kickstarter and plan to test various software platforms.
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      71. Turnkey are appealing, but I wonder how much fine tuning you can do with the apps when you want the NAS to be your all purpose server (Web server, IMAP server, Home Assistant with Zigbee dongle, File server) ? Apps may also be available in containers, are they fat and does they slow down the system ?
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      73. I got a problem on my “DIY side”: can´t decide between Xpenology and Truenas. I´m using Synology Hardware for a long time and I´ll use my DS1621+ as long as it is supported. But for sure I won´t buy any new Synology hardware unless they drop their restrictions.

        For fun and additional roles I´m also using some Xpenology Systems for a long time, which are running pretty well I must admit. But now I tried a Truenas build and I´m amazed how well Truenas runs. Especially setting up Jellyfin and Immich is way more easy than on Synology. I´ll guess I have to run both and maybe get additional hardware. ????
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      74. For roommate approval factor (5G internet with best signal in the living room), the Ugreen DXP2800 was a pretty compelling solution. Discreet enough to stick next to the AP without drawing attention.
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      75. You always post the most interesting topics in your channel, keep up the good work. I’ll stick with DIY, more power, more slots, less money spent, and above all, better power consumption.
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      78. Going DIY right now. Looked long and hard at Synology, Qnap, Asustor. Even bought one, but returned it. It takes a while to collect all the parts but you get much bang for your buck if you shop around and compare going DIY. I get Xeon, hundreds of gigs of ECC memory all for a fraction of what a turnkey solution cost.
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      80. Support in turn key NAS is not always the best. For example I tied to do 1:1 copy from old DS1819+ to DS1525+ with no success at all. After 10 days of writing to support and reading how they blamed everything else but not Synology I gave up. I would rather invest time to learn something new with DIY NAS than wait for the crazy answers in support ticket. Restoring task speed 10MB/s on 2000 EUR NAS is no way neither the CPU V1500B with end of life 2028. I wanted to call Synology support but that one engineer who is responsible for 15 mil Czech and Slovak just did not have a time.
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      81. What options do you have with a turnkey system when the manufacturer decides it is EOL and there will be no more security updates for it? Will you be able to install another OS on it or not? I still have a Netgear RN316 that had some Debian flavor on it and the support stopped with Debian 8.11. Also they made it very hard (no documentation on it at all) to install another OS on it. The system still works fine, but the software is really old. For any turnkey system I would recommend only those that give you an option to install another OS after they go EOL, which they inevitably will at some time.
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      82. I’ve never owned a turn-key home NAS. About 10 years ago I picked up a Supermicro X9 montherboard, an HBA, an 8-bay hot-swap case, and installed FreeNAS. I started with 3 TB SATA drives but now I’m using 22 TB SAS drives. I have had one motherboard die, but other than that I’ve had no issues with this system. I see no reason to pay a premium to use a turnkey NAS.
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      85. I tried a QNAP 4 bay nas a few years ago – compact, easy to setup, nice selection of utilities etc but not that cheap. It started playing up at about 2 years old. 2 bays stopped working, fan was on max and temp readings were all wrong. Believed to be an issue with the intel cpu they used that fail over time. Of course everything was attached to the board so no means of replacing components. 🙁

        So went for a mATX intel based board and a 4 core 8 series intel cpu, nothing fancy but has 6 sata connections. Setup in a small cube case with 6 drives and using freenas/truenas and has been working fine for years. Got a couple of external drives I do backups too, just in case. Using WD Red NAS drives, which I’ve had one fail (or at least starting giving smart errors). May look to change to bigger drives or SSDs when prices are a bit better.
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      88. Been waiting for a 12+ bay case (hot swappable) that is descent price. Not in love with Jonsbo N5 honestly but might end up going with that if there is not one available soon. I’m coming off of a Synology system because i have lost faith in synology.
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      89. For Apple fans, there’s also the hybrid option between DIY and turnkey: use an old Mac mini (eg M1 refurb or 2nd hand) with an external drive enclosure (JBOD or RAID for example). MacOS works fine as a server OS for backups, media libraries etc.
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      90. NAS-devices were correctly priced at the start of -00’s. Then they abandoned EU customers and priced themselves for Americans, Middle-East gulf oil countries and new rich chinese. So fuck’em i say. Never a NAS, never a new PC 2025->.
        There are other hobbies one can have that are free.
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      92. I keep thinking, if only Truenas would get fleshed out more to compete with turnkey OS’s. The solid ZFS basics are there but… Also I’m not a CLI-warrior. Kudos to those that are, but don’t expect it if every user to be one.
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      95. Hello, I really like your videos and the infromation you provide.
        Will you one day make a build of a complete DIY or something like ? OR at least not only show the motherboards, but all other hardware required ? (alimentation, cases ? etc )
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      97. Turnkey is convenient, but has an ongoing cost of having to replace the unit when either the software and/or hardware inevitably goes EOL (assuming you want the latest bug fixes and security patches). DIY can largely eliminate this, but has an ongoing cost of your time and skills. After experiencing my first NAS (WD MyCloud EX2) going EOL, I’m firmly in camp DIY going forward.
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      98. LOL – I gave up on my DIY disasters and bought a UNAS Pro on Sunday. Of the 8 incidents I’ve had 1 has been actual hardware failure, the other 7 have been some unrecoverable OS management oddity. DONE.
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      101. I’m just building my Jonsbo N2 NAC. That is NAC as Network Attached Computer. Figured out I also need some extra processing cores at the same time when I need larger storage, so R9 5950x with ecc and running Win 11 with a software Stable Bit. Anyone tried this software?
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      103. I use mdadm and Samba with smb.conf edited using vi, running over Debian.

        Can this be considered a NAS software or is this enough to qualify me as a dinosaure? ????
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      105. It all comes down to one thing for me! Unraid allows you to use different sized and mismatched drives in your Arrays (Pools). Hard drives are the most expensive part of any NAS so it only makes sense to go the route that gives you the most flexibility when it comes to your hard drives. So for me it has to be either a DIY Nas or some kind of a pre-built that will allow you to use Unraid!
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      106. NAS is a bit of a misnomer these days. What you are buying is a small server. The only real difference between rolling your own and a turnkey solution is the amount of hand holding that you get and the fact that in a turnkey solution the hardware/software/config has been validated to be reliable.
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      109. This is exactly what I did about six months ago. Dumped the contentss of my Synolgoy NAS to a 2TB drive. Then turned it off and put it away. I did pull the disks but used new ones first to set up my new NAS which is a Proxmox box running on a x570 mobo. It runs TrueNAS Scale just fine. Once I loaded the data back I then created a 2nd VDEV of the same size and disks as the first. I also run a bunch of other stuff from this Proxmox server and it runs well. I didn’t like the direction Synology was heading. I have had no problems with them over the years of having two NAS systems from them. They even replaced the mobo on my first as it somehow died. But I like the control I have now and would not go back.
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      110. Terra-Master is anything but locked in, IMHO. It’s not the highest quality casing, but it’s a standard PC and they run Unraid just fine, even within warranty. With Unraid you get a working real-time RAID system built on top of standard file systems and, if you stay away from their own Docker implementation and run Portainer as your Docker manager you’ve got compact, decent hardware and freedom in terms of your containers and your data.

        I’m not arguing against BYO, just saying it’s hard to get something as compact, as power-lean and as “acceptable by your partner” as a small Terra-Master box.
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      112. Whereas I can image that turnkey is appealing, if you really want control over how and where you store your data, BYO is the way to go. And honestly, if you can install Windows, you can install TrueNAS. It’s not really rocketscience.

        Putting the hardware together can be a challenge but there are plenty of tutorials online. If you are not afraid to dive in, I bet you are done with the hardware part within an hour and move on to the software part.

        Also, a lot of those turnkey appliances are chonically underpowered in terms of CPU performance. With BYO YOU can decide what you put in. Do you want to run containers? Aim a bit higher with your hardware. And regarding apps, look at the apps section from TrueNAS. It will get you quite far.

        So, I come to a different conclusion; unless you really do not want to spend time on the hardware part and just want the ‘service’ as quick as possible, go with the of-the-shelf brands. But if you value where you invest your money and you are not afraid to get your hands a little dirty, build-your-own is the way to go nowadays.
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      114. Having the option for turnkey or DIY nowadays is just neat in general as you didn’t have much options a decade ago

        Also I kept hearing turkey solution so I got hungry ????
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      115. The issue would be you can’t get free m365/gws backup anywhere else. I still think if Synology enters the space they will beat Synology if they include those licenses and they already beat them on hardware and entry level sufficiency
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      116. In the past I’ve built like really big storage systems as my job, based on Nexenta Solaris ZFS running on Dell hardware.
        Yet, at home is it different, one of the main reasons I’m using Synology (DS1621+, DS916+ and dedicated NVA 1622) is that power usage is so much lower compared to DIY.
        Maybe one day I might just be building me a nice Truenas system.
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      117. If you are not familiar with DIY, or don’t want to dive into the rabbit hole, it’s OK to buy a pre-build NAS and install the OS your want.

        If you want to DIY NAS, just one suggestion, don’t think too much on how to build my NAS, just think it like DIY a basic PC, then consider what you you need, like how many disk, how powerful it would be, you don’t have to use a special case or ITX mobo.
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      119. For me I prefer to build because I get exactly what I want from a performance perspective. But for friends I’ve been recommending Terramaster and then I help them setup unRAID on it. That means all the difficult parts are done and I can even help them remotely using screen sharing for the software configuration.

        And my friends (I’ve helped 2 now do the terramaster thing) like two things about these systems, they have a lot of slots (both bought 12-bay units), they’re affordable when it comes to the price per slot and they get an Intel chip to do Plex transcoding. I don’t have any attachment to Terramaster as a brand I just think right now they have good options. If some of these other NAS brands decided to let you boot whatever OS you want and added more slots at a reasonable price I’d recommend them too.
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      121. I’m in the pre-built NAS camp. I’m currently running a six and a half year old QNAP TS-1277 with six 10TB NAS drives in it along with four 500GB 2.5″ SSD’s that I use for my Plex and Channels DVR systems, and for sharing data and backing up the desktops and laptops on my home network.

        Prior to getting the TS-1277, I tried the DIY route, but kept coming up with hardware compatibility issues with the OS, and the lack of a user friendly OS that didn’t require a lot of babysitting, caused ne to look at QNAP. What I like about QNAP is I go into the OS once or twice a month to check on updates, and the system notifies me of problems.

        That leads me to today. In the past few months, I’ve had two of the six 10TB drives start to fail so I decided to do an upgrade to my NAS. I looked at DYI again, but decided to bite the bullet and stay with QNAP. For this system, I wanted to go all solid state in an effort to reduce some of the heat and noise the TS-1277 produces. When the TS-h1277afx, with all of the new SSD’s installed in it is fired up, you can barely hear it.

        I recently purchased the QNAP TS-h1277 which can handle twelve 2.5″ SSD’s. Because I have almost 20TB of data on the current NAS, I’ve installed twelve 4TB 2.5″ SSD’s in the unit. When is ordered the drives, I ordered three drives at a time and different times in hopes of getting drives from different manufacturing batches. Also ordered a 10GB network adapter to install in the old TS-1277 so I can connect it to a 10G switch that that is on my network. Both NAS devices will connect to the 10G switch and will help speed up the transfer of the data and settings from the old NAS to the new NAS using QNAP’s HBS 3 app.

        Currently prepping both NAS devices so once I receive the new network adapter (UPS is taking it on a tour of the US), I’ll start the transfer process.
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      122. The challenge of DIY NAS please help with is motherboards have a variety of pcie channels with different but similar connectors? The advantage is huge that I can start at any size and add in any way, using everything from m.2 to ssd to large capacity hard drives. Can use a small case I already have and just get a bigger one or jbod for big drives or mini m.2 setup. But channels??? A 25 years old atx case with dust still fits atx boards off ebay or new and holds tons of drives. Turnkey obsolescence – Ifw have 5 hot swap hard drives and want to replace with SSDs =junk.
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      124. I have been utilizing an Asustor at my company for years. As our data volume increased, the EZ Sync just ended up not being able to operate properly, some computers would sync, some would not, remote sync became sporadic. I recently built a self-NAS solution using an Intel NUC we had laying around, with a Sabrent 5 bay docking station. Using ZFS Raid and 5 2TB Barracudas, loaded the NUC with Proxmox, installed Nextcloud, and setup a clouflare tunnel to the unit. We couldnt be happier. Once we have 3 months under our belt without any issues, I am going to basically convert our Asustor unit to this setup as well and utilize it as a remote backup to our new setup. We didnt really use any apps on the Asustor, but if we ever want to, we can just install an instance of TrueNAS or something similar. The whole Proxmox approach is incredible for our application, and find myself researching new ideas i have for other environments to add to the proxmox setup.
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      128. My concern is getting a case that doesn’t suck (e.g. Too cramped, poor airflow, flex PSUS) and that doesn’t take too much space.
        Then there is the psychological perception of a small cube being a NAS vs a mini tower being a server… ????
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      129. I love to see a pcpartpicker style comparison between a DIY NAS and turnkey. I wonder if, beyond 4 bays, the % difference in savings makes DIY less appealing. For instance, an 8 bay system with a i3 or i5 with 20 or 24 TB HDDs. The savings in terms of money might only be like .. 2 to 5%
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      130. Never bought a NAS, always to expensive and pretty slow internals.
        I run OMV on a DIY JBOD NAS, just setting up a backup server with an external USB, on bare debian, but not everyone has the knowledge.

        Now there are so many opensource and free os’s, for the home user DIY is the way to go.
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      131. So Terramaster gave absolutely NO response to security incidents aside from “we’ll look into it”, and that was months ago. Yes, it’s time to build your own NAS, or at least, get one you can install your own OS on instead of their stuff.
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      132. I’d love to build my own NAS in the interest of re-using old equipment to reduce e-waste (and because I loathe overpriced proprietary systems), but sadly, there is a dearth of good case options, especially for m-atx.
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      133. I get the attraction of DIY but nowadays I just don’t want to spend the time needed to investigate the right hardware and software, collecting it, setting it up and maintaining it. It is always going to take more time and I no longer want to spend that time if I don’t have to.
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      134. Synology Drive client and Synology Active Backup for Business are the only reasons I’m sticking to Synology in my home solution. Otherwise I would have moved to home brew already.
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      135. Most of the turnkey NAS es are underpowered and overpriced to begin with. You are paying mostly for the support and software which with few exceptions(Qnap and Synology which granted had a long time to polish it)) still feels like a beta version. on pretty much all the new players (Terramaster, UGreen etc) For most people are ok but still overpriced and like you said you are very limited in terms of upgrade and expansions. The options for DYI are now now far more than they were years back. If you add to that the OSes that keep on popping up I don’t see any reason why a person with decent PC building skills wouldn’t build a NAS.Or just ask your more savvy friend to build and install the OS. But also like you said the learning curve deters people to go this way but on the long run the skills acquired in the process will be very useful. But to each his own, some look at this and think it’s some sort of sorcery for which they do not have the patience nor the knowledge to tackle and prefer to buy a prebuilt solution, some are more technically inclined and would love to tinker with the hardware and the software. Now we have a lot of options for sure ????
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      136. I am ditching my synology platform because of the locked in hard drive. I have a U3, 3d printed case with hot swapping hard drive bays. I have 10gig and 1 gig internet ports. I am currently making a clone of my system to place at another location so I can have a safe backup.
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      137. Hahaha, got you… Kraftwerk we are the robots.
        Awesome video, thanks. Our office has an older computer that will be turned into a NAS after the new one arrives. Your video his helpful for us to choose its system.
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      142. Though I think it might be fun to build a DIY NAS, it seems like most of the cases are huge when compared to Synology, Ugreen, and others in the turnkey category. I like the idea of buying from Ugreen or Minisforum because you get the ability to install the OS of your choice, but still get a hardware platform that doesn’t make you feel like you’re using a full-blown PC as your NAS.
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      143. The general advice I have is: are you suggesting a build to a family member or a business? Then go turnkey every time. Remember, if you build it and they break it, guess what, you’re on the hook for fixing it. It’s much better for your own sanity and reputation if you can hand over a problem to a vendor who knows their product stack really well.
        If it’s for yourself, consider if you like spending your weekend away somewhere or troubleshooting an issue. If it’s the latter, then DIY is for you. In the world of DIY, there’s probably very few who have the exact same configuration as you for the motherboard, cpu, memory, SSD/HDD, OS, containers, app versions, or who followed the same guide online to set up your services.
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      145. These proprietary systems are so expensive and lack the flexibility, so I bought a secondhand Hp elitedesk, stuck a Nvme and 2 hard drives in it and added ZimaOS and Jellyfin, never done it before, a couple of hiccups but ZimaOS was so simple and Jellyfin gives me a basic system to load up my dvd discs. Happy days.
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      147. Trolling so hard you found a 05 tray on a 4-bay NAS. I think HexOS is mostly selling itself on future promises, mostly buddy backups. I think the only reason anyone pays $200 now is cause they don’t want to pay $300 when it’s actually ready.
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      148. I started cheap building my first NAS myself while learning to homelab… then I outgrew this and wanted a second NAS for backing up the first one, but needed something efficient, so I got a Ugreen 4800 plus during their kickstart. Can’t be happier (after I installed TrueNAS, ofc)
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      149. I got my ugreen dxp 8800 plus it’s my first nas and I got to thank you for this. Your video gave me alot of confidence sinking this much money and I love it every single bit. Overkill yea but having the performaces is so nice to have
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      150. Ditching Synology would only be fair, as they themselves ditched everyone who doesn’t either have the most basic or a high-end use case.
        Unfortunately, Synology is not able/willing to openly communicate (or admit) that they apparently don’t care about enthusiasts/homelab’ers/prosumers and even small businesses anymore
        Not only in the NAS space, the Wi-Fi router line is pretty much abandoned as well.
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      153. Bought a few Hard Drive RAID Enclosures 2bay and 4 bay, use an old PC/Laptop, all you need. NAS devices are starting to price themselves out of the regular home users price ranges.
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      156. Hey man, great run through but for power draw you need to make sure you do your best.. CPU C-states was disabled in Bios and it seems like most ASPM features also were disabled. This shows everytime you were doing lcpci, all devices ASPM are disabled. You will never get proper draw… if all devices support it you could hit sub 12W idle even with drives connected
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      157. I have it, I can say it’s a piece of shit ! You need to desactive C-states in the bios because it freezes with it enabled. It consumes way too much power : 22watts with only one nvme SSD ! It’s not stable at all. And the list of problems is BIG ! I use it as a backup server once a week.
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      158. These boards are garbage. 25 years as an IT Operations Engineer the risks with these boards are Fake or downgraded parts. Poorly manufactured, Performance and lifespan is unpredictable, no support, locked or outdated BIOS and modified UEFI firmware, which can create backdoor risks. Fake licences, No FCC/CE Certificatio, safety??? Etc
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      160. My MJ11-EC0 was 60,- takes (normal) ECC ddr4 has 8 sata ports, one x4 nvme and a x16 pci slot 😛
        Has an AMD EPYC™ Embedded 3151 and has KVM and remote management.
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      163. So the good news is:
        10 GbE port isn’t limited by a single 1x lane, but actually gets a 2x so the Ethernet controller is the bottleneck. (here I honestly wish Ethernet controllers had a second port or two just so we can utilize this bandwidth. A 10 + 5 would be ideal for 2x PCIe v3, or 1x PCIe v4)

        The downside is:
        6×6 Gb/s SATA being limited by 1x PCIe. I would more than happily throw away the second M.2 slot for the sata controller to have 2 lanes so it can keep up with the Ethernet.

        Except No I wouldn’t want one less M.2 port, since what I actually plan on doing when my own board shows up in the mail is add in an M.2 pcie to 6x SATA (for an example with the ASM1166), then I can split my drives into two groups such that a software RAID 5/6 won’t be limited by 1x PCIe. And thereby perhaps be able to saturate the 10 GbE connection. (since why not use all of it?)

        I can’t wait for the future when we have systems like this but with just a couple more PCIe lanes for us to work with.
        I want more lanes, not faster ones, since 12 PCIe v3 lanes is superior to 9 PCIe v4 lanes. Take this board for an example, 2 PCIe lanes are wasted to get 2x 2.5 Gb/s Ethernet, that could have been 1 lane if the Ethernet controller had 2 ports. Or better yet as already stated, been on the same controller as the 10 GbE controller since 2x 8 Gb/s of PCIe has room for it. Though that do require such network controllers to be on the market, which isn’t the case sadly… So we will inevitably waste PCIe lanes, so better waste v3 lanes and have more of them, than have fewer v4 lanes in total for us to waste. (though a compromise of 6x v3 + 4x v4 is also appealing.)
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      166. dropping the Pentium and Celeron name is a huge mistake by intel
        they should name the N150 to Pentium 4150, ‘4’ core, generation ‘1’, year 202’5′
        Pentium 4 is such a nice name that brings back memories and should have a place in the closet, now as a NAS
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      167. are any of these N100/150 boards reliable?
        they are always no brand i would feel safer to buy one if Asus/MSI/Asrock strap their name on top for just a few bucks more
        i mean they are already selling useless A520 boards that nobody buy at way cheaper
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      168. I’d love to see the n100 pcie lanes allocated as follow :
        1 lane for two 2.5G ethernet
        2 lanes for a 10G ethernet
        1 lane for 6 sata ports
        1 lane for a m.2 nvme to be used as boot
        4 lanes for two m.2 nvme for a performance mirrored cache.

        This would make the perfect NAS mobo.
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      170. Ordered my board last week, it should arrive next monday. I did notice that they revisited the board with the N100, now its only available in N150 since last week. The N305 stayed the same.
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      172. I bought this board earlier, and it literally freezes whenever I try to load into any OS or try to install any OS. Tried different memory, ran memtest86, different power supplies, and removed all motherboard connections besides bare essentials (CPU power, MoBo power, one drive, 1 HDMI, and 1 keyboard). All drives confirmed working on another computer with all drives reporting good smart data. Changed BIOS settings to disable CSM and secure boot (for Truenas-Scale). I want to find an updated BIOS, but I don’t know where to look. Truenas-Scale installer worked on 2 other computers. I’m now at the assumption that my motherboard is faulty. Any help is appreciated. But for others, be forwarned. I was troubleshooting for an entire day.
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      174. Can you recommend a decent 300W power supply for this board in a Jonsbo N2 Case? I’ve read that there’s challenges with cable length with this motherboard in this case due to the ATX connector location.
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      180. I have N305 mobo in my homelab and I can say that it is a bummer. It could just randomly hang producing no any logs or clues why. It happened more than 10 times so far. I would rather buy some well known brand product instead of this chinese custom shop.
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      182. I think I have the answer to the power mystery. I think with three network interfaces and sata controller and n100 soc, and anticipated heavy USB usage, will combine will have a much higher need of 5volts and PSU’s these days provide more power to the 12v rail than 5v, and they are simplifying the power requirements with a higher wattage.
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      184. What are you gonna do with a PCI-Ex slot with an N100? Not like you’re going to put a GPU in there…
        I think this is a fine choice, for home storage and possibly even networking/routing/camera setups.
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      186. I have the cwwk version of this board with 4 x Intel i226V 2.5Gbs ports, and I can’t get it below 50w at idle using TrueNAS scale and all my hdd spun down. Any help appreciated.
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      188. My Opinion what a Nas Board needs
        1x 2.5 gb nic
        1x 10gb (maybe 2) nic
        1x 4x fullsize pci (or end Open)
        6-8x sata via sff Port and Not via Full size sata Ports (just Need to much Space)
        Low power but good CPU Like the n100 with a good and silent cooler or mounting holen like 115x.

        Ports:
        1 hdmi,2-4usb3 and the nics from above
        Usb-c is Not needed and the Internat usb2s are nearly useless where the Positioned
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      189. Since JMB58x can only be JMB582 (2xSATA @Gen3x1) or JMB585 (5xSATA @ Gen3x2) and Alder Lake-N offers only 2xSATA by itself, I think it’s JMB585 with 4xSATA @ gen3x1 used and the two SATA-ports from CPU, which use on PCIe (or HSIO)-lane each. Two lanes are used for AQC113, one each for 2xIntel i226 and one for each M.2.

        Would be better to use the ASM1164 (6xSATA @ Gen3x2), not use any SATA-Ports from CPU, use an Intel X550-AT2 or 2xAQC113C for 2x10GbE @Gen3x4 instead of 2xi226, or use just one AQC113C and have 2xM.2 with Gen3x2.
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      190. 视频非常好！ 我的OKX钱包里有USDT，并且我有恢复短语. 「pride」-「pole」-「obtain」-「together」-「second」-「when」-「future」-「mask」-「review」-「nature」-「potato」-「bulb」 我该如何将它们转移到Binance？
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      192. I also bought from Aliexpress and threw my money away, for those who are thinking about buying, believe me it’s better to look for another brand, I bought it and threw my money away!
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      193. Great review. Sadly the idle is a dealer breaker. Perhaps if we keep saying this the manufacturers will change the sata controller.

        Some have hacked the bios and got higher c-states.
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      196. Try to use the i5 1135g7, it has low consumption of 15w, it can have up to 64gb of ram in dual channel, it has the intel iris xe igpu with double decoders for h264, h265 and av1
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      197. I have this board in use, it’s pretty good. best price-performance ratio I could find (for my needs).
        But be careful, the installed fan seems to get louder from month to month.
        the only thing I would wish for would be a usb 3.0 port (19 pin) on the board.
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      198. Debating on this board for an offsite backup. I picked up a supermicro itx xeon-d board to replace my onsite server. Curious how long it would take to transfer all 40tb of data to a board like this. Probably take quite awhile especially since I use unraid….
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      199. I’ll pay the premium for a NAS from a reputable vendor because I simply don’t want to be responsible for patching and maintaining the software. The cost for me is offset by time and that’s why I continue to use brand name NAS products. This is awesome if you’re budget conscious and a great option for most if you’re willing to tinker.
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      206. At the 1:50 minute mark you stated “but it’s on die ECC” mean? More specially, the word “die”?

        Full statement at 1:50:
        “DDR5 has ECC it technically does but it’s on die ECC is not the same as ECC the way it does the correction all the way through and die hard particularly Flash users do care for the difference there so the lack of ECC is going to bother some users”
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      207. The usb 20 gbps is a messed up thing overall. The exact name is usb 3.2 gen 2×2. Emphasis on x2. It requires an exactly similar device to utilise the second set of pathways to hit that speed. Thunderbolt and usb4 don’t use that configuration and hence only use one set of connection which limits it to 10 gbps.
        TLDR: you need a device that explicitly says usb 3.2 gen2x2 to connect to that port and hit full speed.
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      208. Thank you so much for your ongoing commitment to the community around DIY NAS (and everything else) – your passion for what you do is contagious, and highly entertaining – good stuff, keep it coming, and f*ck those seagulls! 😀
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      209. Seems pretty disappointing – 28W idle power consumption? My *ancient* i5-3550 server with a SATA SSD and two NVMe sticks semi-idles around 35W (light amount of data from a Home Assistant Yellow constantly flowing to postgres on the server, a cloudflare tunnel etc. when it’s not actively doing other stuff). And the PCIe lanes for the NVMe on the MW-N305-NAS is just… well, this is 2024, it’s disappointing even for a cheap low-end system IMHO.
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      210. Link is for N100 motherboard, not N305. And it is still too much. For 350 euros in europe you can assemble full NAS with case, i3 14100 with integrated intel HD730 GPU which is a beast transcoding gpu, and 32GB ram in dual channel, and that is with SSD for boot drive.
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      211. Idk what they are doing here….But I have a 8700G with an Asrock B650M PG lightening….64 gigs of ddr5 and 8 hard drives with a PCIe SATA card and 3 NVMe SSDs. My idle power consumption is 20/30W max with 3 VMs on
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      213. great board, great video, but….

        the german “translation” of the description is total crap. Please just show the original english one.
        The translated one has no relevance for the video or product
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      216. I’m gathering parts to build my first DIY NAS, I did have the n100 version of this in my cart but I changed my mind. Should I hang on for the new n355 and n150 crop of motherboards to come out? I’m not in any rush. I’m hoping for a low power draw but with a little performance.
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      217. After I get more Christmas spending money, I plan to get a Mini-ITX to replace my router host. Is it worth the $60~$100 to get this over an N100 with 4x 2.5Gbps ports? My initial plan is just to run pfSense in Proxmox, but maybe I’ll move my NAS there too ????????
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      220. These little Alder Lake N CPUs are pretty starved of PCIe lanes. 9 Lanes ain’t much. I would have sacrificed a M.2 slot to add another lane to the JMB585. To give those those HDD a more room to breath.
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      223. I have this board (minus the 10GB NIC) and it is running Xpenology in an N2 case. Wonderful, perfect for what I wanted/needed. Get it before tariffs hit. I use the MicroSD card to load ArcLoader for Xpenology.
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      227. You do a great job within this product space, keep it going. I would love to see you improve the video quality though. It looks very compressed / recorded with low bitrate and the highlights are compressed.
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      228. Another Chinese crap’y board without quality control with random defects and no support. He’ll thank you. It’s only just a curiosity for a few people who know how to deal with defective equipment.
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      229. 28 watts idle with the disk powered down is way too much. Powered down HDDs consume very little, which means the other items on this board are very power hungry. A laptop with 1 NVME and in idle uses as less than 5 watts.
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      234. copper rj45 10gbit is worth to me less than 2.5gbit ports 🙁
        I was convinced by people that sfp+ is the way to go, its a nas,it would be near switch in most cases, cheap DAC cables…
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      238. Those combos are insanely affordable. For a price of an underpowered off-the-shelf diskless device without integrated GPU you can build a beast NAS which can everything you want including transcoding. DIY reality
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      240. So if you want to put in 2 nvme drives what would be the best perf/price SSD to choose ? seems overkill to use like 2 Samsung 990 Pro gen4 drives even with utilizing the 10Gbe port
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      249. Ahhhhh, you had to make this video today. lol. I just picked up an Aoostar R1 for $199. It literally came in the mail today. But I don’t need the extra horsepower of the N305 atm, but still cool to have those nics and extra sata ports. I needed a small nas setup either way. Raid 1 and done.
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      250. Will this be decent running Truenas with a 5 or 6 disk SSD array (RAID Z1 or RAID Z2)? I’m trying to ditch my rack mount server to save power, heat, noise, and I’m not entirely certain an n100 has enough to do this. Not needing PCIe expansion, not needing graphics, etc., just going to be storage for my hypervisors with NFS, SMB, and iSCSI. And wanting to get as close as possible to being able to saturate that 10gbe connection from different hosts.

        And yes, I’m baffled by the power supply requirements, I’ll have to see if I can get something that fits the case I want to use.
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      252. “insanely battered box” – shows a box with a tiny crease on it. Ehm, you haven’t been ordering stuff for very long based on that, or have been ‘insanely’ lucky. Boxes looking like someone has driven over them with a whole row of tanks are the usual fare. It WOULD be highly unusual to get a box that is intact, which has never happened to me in more than 15yrs of buying stuff from China. Well, with the exception of double boxed items where the original ‘retail’ box has been taken off and folded neatly into a brown thick cardboard box along the contents. Then it just arrived a bit weirdly folded but without rips or big creases. That way I could take the stuff out, unfold the ‘retail box’ then stuff the contents back into it, tape it shut, then pretend it arrived like that.
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      254. So, I got this board as well. I have failed setting the case fan through the OS (Ubuntu). Has anyone attempted this? sensors-detect won’t show it, whether it’s on manual or automatic mode… neither CPU nor Board fan can be found. Can’t find the manufacturer’s site either to look for a new BIOS. Any ideas anyone?
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      260. Your site promotes both NAS motherboards for DIY projects and retail NAS. I would like you to build a NAS sourcing from the parts you review. Your conviction is part of the process of reviewing and building to completion. I am not interested in the retail NAS because it removes flexibility from my DIY builds and is not about saving money for me, and I look forward to your future projects.
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      262. Hello, the board arrived today. I connected the power supply, and the board started up immediately (power supply fan starts, CPU fan starts). The same behavior whether with or without (Crucial) RAM…

        I’m not getting any video output from the board. Does anyone have any idea? I can’t find the CMOS, and if it’s the two pins next to the 4-pin CPU power connector, nothing changes in the behavior whether I short them with or without power.

        Sorry for my poor English; I had it translated by AI.
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      263. first of, thank you for your videos! I’ve been dreaming of getting, or hopefully build me a NAS, and because of your YouTube I get closer and closer to actually do it! I’m in the process of a house renovation and also make a technical room with a rack to finally get a decent network and a place for all my home automation gear. What I want now is a diy rack mounted NAS. Do you have any suggestions for a rack case (not full depth) for a DIY NAS base on a motherboard like this one?
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      265. ASRock sells a Mini-ITX (EC266D21-2T/AQC) for Xeon processors with two 10GBe LAN ports, 2x OCuLink to control up to 8 SATA drives, a PCIe 4.0×4 M.2 slot for the OS and a PCIe 5.0×16 – but it is about $400
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      267. Well say thanks Intell for supporting only 1 channel of DDR5/LPDDR5 with max 4800 MT/s and no ECC on the N100 also there’s only so much you can do with 9 PCIe Gen 3 Lanes… and
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      269. They probably got overexcited with thr 10g 😉 so what they did inadvertently was to bottleneck the fast ssds in favour of the slower hdd+10g.

        BUT: it is flat, no need for a pcie card. It has 4x nvme. It has sata. This is a insanely nice ceph osd or moosefs board.
        Put in 1/2 of the cheaper m.2 optanes for journal, 2/4/6 disks laid put flat for storage and use the 2.5g’s as client facing and this will likely be able to keep high sustained speed for a good price. And you can just put 8 of them in a little homemade rack, and you’ll have a decent cluster that can actually do stuff instead of being a stack of underpowered arm or a fail-design of 3 oversized nodes.
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      274. Question for the crowd… any recommended small cases for a board like this and 4x 2.5” drives? Doesn’t have to have removable drive slots. Current candidate is the Silverstone CS01.
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      275. This is unreasonable of me to ask, but I’m interested in how well this board works in OpenBSD. If you’re bored, could you try installing OpenBSD with a hard disk attached, and then send a dmesg, pcidump -v and sysctl hw output, and the contents of /var/db/acpi?
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      276. I’m running this board fully loaded with a 200W pico power supply, and no problems. I’m guessing the 300W PSU requirement is a swag not based on any power consumption calc.
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      277. how come this N100 board has been reviewed but not the i5-12450H NAS motherboard?
        The 12450H board has 2x M.2 NVMe slots, 1x SFF-8643 SATA socket which gives 4x SATA ports, 1x SFF-8643 PCle 3.0×4 socket that can be converted out to 4x M.2 NVMe/PCle3.0x1 via an adapter board, 4x Intel 226-V 2.5G Rj45 ethernet ports and 2x SO-DIMM DDR5 RAM slots. The 12450H has 20 (!) pcie lanes!
        If there’s one board that can do it all, it’s this one.
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      279. Actually, its not that bad to leave a cmos battery out. Of course its cheaper, but you never know how long a board will be stored, and many weird pc issues are caused by a weak but not empty cmos battery. I spend days in search of errors until i replaced cmos battery.
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      280. Boy, the n100 already will be at the peak of its performance handling the network interfaces. What do you want to cramp in? Get another CPU for that.

        The nic probably eats up all pcie slots of the CPU anyway
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      282. The ‘old’ NAS motherboard you show in the video isn’t ‘BY’ Topton. Topton are a reseller, nothing more. The board was manufactured by BKHD, and it’s official model number is: BKHD-1338-NAS-17. Just for clarification for anyone else interested in these NAS DIY boards (I own two of them).
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      284. So, just to confirm: 10GBe, internal USB, and PCIe Slots are “ChEeKy” while quad core CPUS are “RoCkInG” and “RoCkInG oUt”?
        Cheeky in British English means indulgent or disrespectful. In Australian English, it means dangerous. In… no common usage does it mean… a port on a motherboard.
        Rocking means to… perform music or to be weirdly proud of running something obsolete in the current year. Quad cores aren’t obsolete for this task.
        It’d be a lot easier to take you seriously if you used actual, adult words.

        The fact they wasted a lane on giving the 10GBe PCIE 3.0 (1GBps) a x2 connection when it’s… you know… it’s 10Gb… and can’t even hit the 10GBe target.
        They don’t ship with batteries as most countries either reclassified or always classified lithium cells as shipping hazards, which greatly increases the cost to ship.
        (There is not a single case of a CR2032 lithium cell catching fire that produced in loss.)
        You don’t actually need a 300-watt supply. They just don’t want you connecting it to a trash one and filing a claim that it can’t power the product. Also, hard drives use quite a bit of current when spinning up. You’d want a decent supply if you have 6 drives constantly spinning up… which is the clear intention of this NAS board.
        Actual NAS PSUs are specifically designed to support the high current load of hard drives starting with a much lower overall wattage.
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      288. Synology should just buy the IP for that board, shove it in a plastic housing with a backplane….and sit back and profit. The fact they didnt do that 3 years ago is criminal lol
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      289. I doubt an N100 based motherboard with PCIe slot will be saturating the bus with a PCIe 10Gbe card installed either. As for complaining about the motherboard not coming with a $1 coin battery…. dude. smh.
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      291. My X10SDV-4C-TLN2F has x16, 6 sata, ecc, ipmi, nvme an 10G, even 10 years on, its the ultimate nas board!! Im now running its 8C big brother now (asrock with D1541) which is also a beast. Good luck finding them though, no ones willing to let them go!!
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      292. I think the problem with these Atom processors is the PCIE lanes. Sure they could have fit a 4x PCIe on this board, but that N100/N305 atom processor only has 9 lanes of 3.0. I bet they’re using a 2.0 controller for the 10G so thats probably taking 4 lanes right there, the sata controller is probably using at least 1 lane, and then the M.2 are probably only given 1 lane, but if they’ve been given 2 lanes, there are quite literally none left for a PCIe slot.
        Now, maybe they’re using a 10G NIC that uses the 3.0 standard and can get by with 2X, maybe the M.2 are given 1x, this would in theory leave 4 PCIe lanes for a card somewhere else. But those newer 3.0 10G controllers cost money, which is why i am assuming this board is less than $170
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      294. Got that board two weeks ago, for the 10 GbE. So far, so good! It is idling around 21W which is higher than I expected.
        Like other N100 systems, it works with 32 GB RAM despite officially supporting 16 GB according to Intel.
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      302. Looking at these boards, i wish they would just go with 1 10GBE instead of 4 2.5GBE network interfaces. If you really need that many, 10G to 4x 2.5G unmanaged switches are reasonably priced.
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      303. I got one of these last month – it’s a great little board. They were going for as little as £103 for the bare board.

        Mine did come with a CMOS battery installed.

        The 10G NIC didn’t work with TrueNAS though – not an issue for me in this case, but it would’ve been nice. I can’t see why TrueNAS support won’t arrive at some point though – the AQC107 chipset works just fine, so the AQC113C should too, right?

        Also, bear in mind the N305 CPU is still limited to 9 PCIE lanes, like the N100. All you’re gaining is core count.
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      305. You could probably use one of the NVMe slots for PCIe expansion. I’m guessing the lack of an actual slot is due to the low number of PCI lanes on the N100. ( just seen you comment on another post, look forward to the video 😀 )
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      306. N100 with 10Gbe for SATA NAS? Its too disbalance IMHO. To saturate 10Gbe you need raid of SATA SSD, not HDD. Raid will something like RaidZ1 or even RaidZ2, so when you will active use array like that power of n100 can be insofficient.

        P.S. About ecc, with ddr5 we have electrically and mechanichally different slots, so its obvious just by looking at the board
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      308. It is the PCI-E lanes which is needed for the 10gbe, something has to give. It is not worth going for a single 10gbe port at a lost of 3 nic and 1 pci-e slot. Most likely we need a new cpu / mobo.
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      309. What I want: same board but with I5-1235U, 2x Aquantia 10gbe (drop the 2x 2.5 and use those two lanes to feed the second 10gbe) &PCIe slot x4 at least. Bonus for 8 SATA.
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      310. I was so up when I saw this. I’ve got 4 sas 32g total and hoped and then the crash n burn. Bought those sucker’s by accident for 200. After trying to find a solution thinking ebay and just minimize my loss. Arrrggg
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      311. N100 only has 9 PCIe, forcing you to get something else. I’d like to see a Motherboard with 2x PCIe x8 (elec) / x16 (Physical) with a CPU to support, so you can put a 10/25/40 B in one & HBA in other
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      313. Whilst, to date, these types of reviews do have a caveat or two, I am impressed how they (slowly but surely) are progressing in this arena.
        I truly am. (read: from their choices of CPU I was never that impressed but then I’m a hardware-guy)
        Granted, the choice of CPU and chipsets do put up a fair bit of limitations, but I expect in a year or two we will have far better results (read: lesser caveats) with the way it is going. So it seems.
        Does give good hopes for those who want to plan their DYI, just hang in there a wee bit longer.
        Still, performance-wise (and features, if I want to nit-pick on it) these still won’t really compete with the mainstream vendors.
        But still, I am impressed.
        (same with the mini-pc’s from nowadays, really starting to be powerful and affordable..)
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      314. I would have expected better power results. It seems for such few features and a system optimized for low power, X86 really has not much of a point anymore.
        Intel Xeon D from 2016 is still much better, has enough PCIe lanes for an m.2 drive and an x16 slot and doesn’t even draw much more power. The 10Gbe comes from a BMC on those ITX boards.
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      316. Why waste space with 6 SATA ports when you could save space with one Oculink port which breaks out into 8 SATA ports? But yes, I’d want a full x16 slot and at least two x4 NVME slots.
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      317. think this would be a better router/firewall than a NAS. Would be interested to see if somebody has or will put OPN or PfSense on this thing and see how much it can handle with IPS enabled.
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      318. 11:40
        I think you’re out of the loop regarding JMS585 as a SATA controller, its not fine at all.
        It prevents intel cpu C-States when this chip is on your motherboard, yea similar to disabling C-States in bios but its permanent and you can’t do anything about it. This is extremely bad for a NAS that’s supposed to run 24/7, you’re wasting energy when doing nothing (idle)

        CWWK made a “FAN” version where they listened to all the complaints, example, getting rid of unnecessary 2.5g ports using pcie lanes, swapping JMS585 with ASM1166, pcie slot, BUT no 10g lol. You can’t miss it, its the only PURPLE motherboard anywhere.
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      319. I wonder if TrueNAS behaves favourably on a microSD card or a eMMC to microSD adapter? This would enable to use the M.2 slots for ZFS caches and the 6 sata ports for a decent storage array.
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      322. 10GbE on an ITX mobo is useless and basically a scam for home users and even small offices, let’s be honest.
        Maybe in a few years it will become relevant, but by the time that happens, your cheap chinese board will either die or be replaced anyway.
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      323. 6:32 I think this is because they assume you are going to get the cheap PSUs that have fake rating (real rating is half of what is stated, which is the peak power rating). spin up of 6 drives will overwhelm a cheap PSU with fake rating.
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      324. Great review, thx! I would like to know how much power it draws after some power tuning (powertop autotune). And do you know which SATA controller chip it has? ASM1166 would be a dream^^, but I guess it has JMB something or so.
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      328. So close to perfect for a low power NAS. Shame N100 doesn’t have enough PCIE lanes for a x4 or x8 PCIE slot. Maybe one day we get a Xeon D motherboard from one of these vendors and my dreams will come true. I understand this would be perfect for a lot of people though and am happy to see a board like this even if it doesn’t suit my needs.
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      329. These things would probably be better if they’d decide whether these are NAS boards or router boards. NAS doesn’t need 3-4 NICs. 2 sure, but 4 2.5gbe doesn’t make sense on a NAS. Combining two of the 2.5gbe into one 10gbe NIC is at least a step in the right direction.
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