GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Cooler Now?

Last updated on 17 Sep 2025 📧 Subscribe
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1 GMKTec G9 NAS (New Improved Cooling Version) Review
1.1 GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Quick Conclusion
1.2 GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Design and Storage
1.3 GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Internal Hardware
1.4 GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Ports and Connections
1.5 GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Tests and Performance
1.6 GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Verdict and Conclusion
2 Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?
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GMKTec G9 NAS (New Improved Cooling Version) Review

Important – My original review of the GMKTec G9 NAS in it’s original design can be found HERE on YouTube and HERE on the NASCompares blog.

The GMKTec G9 NucBox NAS has re-emerged in mid-2025 with a revised cooling design, following a wave of thermal criticism directed at the original release earlier in the year. Still marketed as an SSD-only NAS aimed at home and small office environments, the G9 maintains its core identity—a compact enclosure powered by Intel’s N150 quad-core processor, soldered LPDDR5 memory, and four M.2 NVMe SSD bays. The G9’s primary appeal continues to be its affordability, silent operation, and dual-use flexibility as both a NAS and lightweight desktop system, thanks to the inclusion of Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu out of the box. However, early buyers and reviewers, including this channel, highlighted persistent thermal issues affecting SSD performance and overall system reliability under load, leading to thermal throttling even during idle states in warmer environments.

In response, GMKTec has issued an updated version of the G9 that retains the same form factor, internal hardware, and I/O but incorporates enhanced passive ventilation on the side and top panels. Though subtle at first glance, these structural changes are designed to improve airflow over the CPU and SSD compartments without increasing noise levels or power draw. In this updated review, we will revisit all aspects of the G9’s design, connectivity, and system behaviour under continuous load, while highlighting what exactly has changed and what remains untouched. The new G9 model introduces targeted thermal improvements, but beyond ventilation, it leaves the original architecture and feature set entirely intact.

GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Quick Conclusion

The improved GMKTec G9 NAS represents a targeted refinement rather than a full redesign, addressing the primary weakness of the original model: inadequate thermal performance. The updated version introduces enlarged ventilation cutouts on the top panel above the CPU fan and replaces the pinhole rear exhaust with a wider mesh, leading to measurable but modest reductions in system temperatures. In 48-hour test scenarios using UnRAID with hourly backup tasks, SSDs without heatsinks in the original unit reached idle temperatures of 66–67°C, while the revised model brought this down to 56–57°C. CPU vent temperatures similarly dropped from 54–56°C to 50–52°C, and rear I/O areas cooled by 5–7°C. These improvements enhance stability during sustained I/O activity but do not eliminate the need for additional SSD cooling—particularly in environments where ambient heat or multi-user access is expected. Internally, the hardware remains unchanged: Intel N150 CPU, 12GB of non-upgradable LPDDR5 memory, four PCIe Gen 3 x2 M.2 NVMe bays, and dual 2.5GbE ports, with storage and network throughput consistent with entry-level expectations. Power consumption remains efficient (19–30W), and noise levels stay low at under 40dB, making it suitable for always-on deployment. However, the continued use of a plastic chassis and base panel still limits effective heat dissipation, and the absence of thermal sensors or fan curve controls further limits its thermal adaptability. Compared to the Xyber Hydra—featuring a metal base, better SSD thermal contact, and 16GB RAM—the G9 now performs better than before but still falls short of what its hardware could achieve with more thoughtful engineering. For users willing to invest in SSD heatsinks and mindful of its limitations, the G9 is now a reasonably balanced entry NAS, though not the strongest performer in its tier.

BUILD QUALITY - 6/10
HARDWARE - 7/10
PERFORMANCE - 6/10
PRICE - 10/10
VALUE - 9/10


7.6
PROS
👍🏻Affordable price point for a 4-bay NVMe NAS with dual 2.5GbE (typically under $200).
👍🏻Support for up to 32TB of SSD storage across four M.2 NVMe slots.
👍🏻Low power consumption (19W idle, ~30W under load) suitable for 24/7 operation.
👍🏻Improved passive airflow design compared to the original model (lower overall temps).
👍🏻Dual USB-C power input options for flexible cable management.
👍🏻Silent operation, even during sustained activity (under 40dB).
👍🏻Pre-installed OS (Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu) allows for flexible initial use.
👍🏻Compact, space-saving enclosure ideal for desktop setups or constrained environments.
CONS
👎🏻Cooling Improvements are relatively small and No bundled SSD heatsinks, making thermal throttling likely without aftermarket cooling.
👎🏻Non-upgradable 12GB LPDDR5 RAM limits scalability for heavier workloads.
👎🏻Plastic chassis and base panel still hinder full thermal dissipation from SSDs.
👎🏻The Introduction of other NAS such as the Beelink ME Mini and Xyber Hydra has provided appealing alternatives to this device right now

Where to Buy?

GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Design and Storage

The GMKTec G9 continues to use a compact, matte-black plastic chassis that is closer in design to a mini PC enclosure than a traditional NAS. The vertical design conserves desk space, and the front-facing panel remains clean and understated, with no visible drive trays or status indicators beyond the power button and basic branding. As with the original model, the chassis sacrifices the durability and thermal advantages of metal in favour of a lightweight, cost-efficient build. This makes the device appealing for users with space constraints, but it also signals the system’s budget positioning. The plastic enclosure, while solid enough for day-to-day use, is not especially resistant to heat buildup during sustained I/O operations, which remains one of its most persistent limitations.

Internally, the system supports four M.2 NVMe SSDs, each connected via PCIe Gen 3 x2 lanes. This setup allows up to 32TB of total SSD storage, assuming the use of high-capacity 8TB NVMe drives. The use of SSDs rather than traditional 2.5″ or 3.5″ hard drives enables near-silent operation, faster access times, and lower power consumption. However, SSD-only NAS designs like this one typically require better airflow and heatsinking to mitigate thermal throttling—especially during RAID operations or when used as a media server with multiple concurrent reads and writes. The G9 supports basic RAID via third-party NAS OSs, but due to PCIe lane limitations and lack of onboard RAID management, advanced configurations will rely entirely on software.

One of the primary complaints in the original model was the absence of SSD heatsinks and the system’s poor natural heat dissipation. While pre-built units from GMKTec occasionally shipped with low-profile aluminum heatsinks, user-added drives often ran hot, especially under sustained write loads. The M.2 slots sit stacked vertically inside a cramped compartment behind the lower rear panel, and when combined with a sealed plastic baseplate, heat quickly accumulates. This design still persists in the new version, and although airflow has been improved through the external vents, the interior thermal behaviour remains heavily dependent on user-supplied heatsinks and ambient cooling conditions. Users deploying high-endurance SSDs or running frequent write-intensive tasks will need to factor this into their thermal strategy.

The internal layout is efficient but fixed. There are no modular trays or hot-swap capabilities for the SSDs, and all upgrades must be performed by opening the device. Memory is soldered and therefore non-upgradable, and while there’s internal eMMC storage used for the pre-installed OS, most users will opt to install TrueNAS, UnRAID, or OpenMediaVault onto one of the NVMe drives for full NAS functionality. The passive cooling approach is unchanged in its core design: two internal fans (one for CPU, one system) move air through the case, but without direct thermal contact to the SSDs or a conductive enclosure material, this airflow has limited reach. Placement of the unit in a well-ventilated space remains essential.

The only real physical design changes in the new version are to the external ventilation panels. GMKTec has replaced the original pinhole-style vent on the rear side with a wider mesh grille, which now spans a greater portion of the side panel. Additionally, the top panel has been revised to include a broader cutout directly above the CPU fan, allowing a clearer exhaust path for rising hot air. However, the plastic base and internal heat chamber structure remain unchanged, meaning SSD temperatures are still a potential concern—especially without aftermarket cooling. The updated G9 retains the same core storage architecture as the original, but introduces modest improvements to airflow via enhanced external ventilation.

GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Internal Hardware

At the center of the GMKTec G9 is the Intel N150 processor, a quad-core, four-thread CPU built on the 10nm Twice Lake architecture. Designed for ultra-efficient computing, it operates at a modest 6W TDP, making it ideal for passive or semi-passive cooling environments like compact NAS systems. The N150 runs at a 1.0GHz base frequency and boosts up to 3.6GHz under load, delivering just enough headroom for tasks like SMB/NFS sharing, low-volume web hosting, and basic media playback. Its integrated Intel UHD Graphics support up to 4K at 60Hz output via HDMI or USB-C DisplayPort alt mode, though without hardware acceleration for modern codecs like AV1, its suitability for on-the-fly transcoding is limited. The CPU also lacks advanced server-grade features like ECC memory support, SR-IOV, or high-bandwidth PCIe 4.0 lanes, which reflects its role in cost-conscious, entry-level applications.

The onboard 12GB of LPDDR5-4800 memory is soldered and cannot be replaced or upgraded, a design choice that simplifies manufacturing and keeps costs down but limits versatility in heavier multitasking scenarios. In practice, the memory is sufficient for running one or two lightweight NAS services alongside file sharing, or even a basic Docker container or two, but its soldered configuration leaves no room for future expansion. Notably, the memory is dual-channel, which does help offset some performance constraints—especially in scenarios where the integrated graphics or CPU requires memory bandwidth access. While most users won’t hit the ceiling of 12GB under standard NAS tasks, advanced setups involving active sync with cloud platforms, large-scale Plex libraries, or multiple concurrent rsync/FTP sessions could find the limitation restrictive. Also, unlike some similarly priced competitors, there’s no accessible BIOS option to reserve RAM for cache acceleration, which could have improved responsiveness under heavier I/O loads.

In terms of storage hardware, the G9 offers four M.2 NVMe slots with PCIe Gen 3 x2 interfaces, a configuration that supports up to 32TB of total storage using current consumer-grade drives. Each slot is keyed for M-Key NVMe SSDs and arranged vertically inside the enclosure, though installation requires unscrewing the rear panel and working within the confined internal cavity. The system’s internal PCIe lane distribution is handled through multiple ASMedia ASM1182e switch chips, which divide the CPU’s limited PCIe bandwidth across all four NVMe slots and the dual 2.5GbE interfaces. While the Gen 3 x2 interface is technically capable of 2GB/s per slot, real-world speeds are often lower during concurrent access due to the shared architecture.

This design also limits SSD passthrough capabilities in virtualized environments, and users aiming for high-speed SSD RAID configurations (RAID 5 or 10, for example) may encounter inconsistent write speeds. Additionally, there is no hardware-level thermal throttling safeguard tied to fan curves or SSD temperature sensors, so thermal build-up under load could directly affect sustained throughput unless active cooling measures are installed. The internal hardware of the improved GMKTec G9 remains completely unchanged from the original release—no CPU, RAM, SSD slot layout, or controller chip has been altered in the updated version.

Component Details
CPU Intel N150 (4 Cores / 4 Threads, 1.0–3.6GHz)
Architecture Intel Twice Lake (10nm)
TDP 6W
Memory 12GB LPDDR5-4800 (Dual-channel, Non-upgradable)
Integrated Storage 64GB eMMC (for pre-installed Windows/Ubuntu)
NVMe Support 4 x M.2 NVMe SSDs (PCIe Gen 3 x2 interface)
Max Storage Up to 32TB (with 4 x 8TB drives)
Graphics Intel UHD (4K @ 60Hz via HDMI & USB-C DP)
PCIe Management ASMedia ASM1182e Switches (x2)
Other Features AES-NI, VT-x, VT-d, Speed Shift, ACPI 6.2

GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Ports and Connections

The GMKTec G9 offers a well-rounded I/O configuration that reflects its hybrid role as both a compact NAS and lightweight desktop appliance. It features two 2.5GbE LAN ports, both of which are directly linked to the CPU via PCIe lanes and can be configured for link aggregation, failover, or isolated network segments. In real-world testing, these ports easily saturate their 312MB/s bandwidth under SMB and iSCSI workloads, making the G9 more capable than traditional Gigabit NAS units. The absence of 10GbE is notable, especially for users planning to deploy NVMe RAID arrays or work in content-heavy environments, but at this price point and power envelope, dual 2.5GbE is still a competitive offering. Notably, both NICs support Wake-on-LAN (WoL), making the system convenient for remote access or low-power automation setups.

For peripheral and expansion support, the G9 includes three USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports and a single USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, each capable of 10Gbps data transfer. The USB-C port also supports DisplayPort Alt Mode, allowing it to function as an additional video output alongside the two HDMI 2.0 ports on the rear panel. These HDMI ports support 4K resolution at 60Hz and are positioned for users who may wish to operate the G9 as a silent desktop system or a local media playback device via Kodi, Jellyfin, or Plex. However, the G9 does not include USB 4.0, Thunderbolt, or PCIe expandability, limiting options for future upgrades such as external GPUs, additional NICs, or DAS enclosures. In testing, connected peripherals such as USB drives and webcams were recognized instantly under Ubuntu and Windows, confirming basic plug-and-play compatibility.

Power delivery is handled via USB-C PD input, using a 65W external power brick that ships with the unit. Uniquely, the updated G9 introduces a small but notable change: dual USB-C power input points, allowing users to select which side of the device receives the power cable. This change doesn’t increase power capacity or enable redundancy, but it can improve cable management depending on the G9’s orientation on a desk or shelf. However, using one of the USB-C ports for power inherently sacrifices a high-speed data port—an unfortunate trade-off given the unit’s lack of PCIe or expansion bays. No dedicated power switch is present; the unit powers on via the front button or Wake-on-LAN and remains always-on unless shut down via software or OS-level scripts. Compared with the original G9, the only change to I/O is the addition of the second USB-C power input for layout flexibility—otherwise, all ports, speeds, and layout remain the same.

Port Type Quantity Specification
2.5GbE LAN 2 Realtek RTL8125, Link Aggregation Supported
USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 3 10Gbps, Backward Compatible
USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 1 (+1 PD) 10Gbps, DisplayPort Alt Mode
HDMI 2.0 2 4K @ 60Hz
Power Input (USB-C) 2 65W USB-C PD (Only 1 used at a time)
Wake-on-LAN Supported Both NICs
Audio None No 3.5mm jack or digital out

GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Tests and Performance

In synthetic and real-world benchmarks, the GMKTec G9 delivers the level of performance expected from an Intel N150 system with PCIe Gen 3 x2 storage. Read speeds per drive peaked around 1.4–1.5GB/s, aligning well with the theoretical limit of the x2 interface. Write speeds were notably more volatile, ranging between 400–600MB/s depending on SSD type, ambient temperature, and active processes. These numbers, while adequate for file serving, backups, and Docker apps, showed clear limitations when the system was pushed into simultaneous multi-disk writes or parity-based RAID configurations. The presence of ASMedia ASM1182e PCIe switches likely contributes to this variance, as downstream PCIe allocation under pressure introduces contention among the SSD lanes. In typical NAS tasks like SMB and NFS file transfers, however, performance remained consistent and stable, particularly when network activity was confined to single-user access or sequential transfers.

Thermal behaviour is where the most scrutiny falls, given the G9’s original design flaws. Under a controlled 48-hour test using UnRAID with scheduled hourly backups and mixed-use read/write activity, the older G9 unit routinely idled at 54–56°C, with peaks of 66–67°C on SSDs lacking heatsinks.

The improved model saw modest thermal gains, with idle temps reduced to 50–52°C at the CPU vent and around 56–57°C on the SSD layer. Some of this improvement came from the revised ventilation—namely the expanded top-panel fan cutout and rear-side mesh panel—yet the base remained the same thermally isolated plastic panel, and internal fan hardware remained unchanged.

Notably, temperatures around the rear I/O ports dropped by 5–7°C between versions, suggesting that airflow efficiency around the motherboard has improved even if core thermal load remains a challenge.

In terms of noise and power, the G9 performs admirably. Even under load, fan noise remained below 40dB, with idle operation being nearly silent. Power consumption remained within the expected range—19–21W idle and up to 30W under continuous activity—even during the 48-hour write test.

BIOS-level tuning is possible and can slightly reduce power draw or adjust fan thresholds, but no advanced power scaling or fan curve customization is exposed via software in stock OS images. More demanding operating systems like TrueNAS Scale ran stably on the G9 but did little to mitigate thermal behaviour, reinforcing the importance of user-added SSD heatsinks regardless of OS.

The lack of thermal sensors per SSD slot or fan feedback control means sustained operations should be closely monitored in hotter climates or enclosed environments.

Nowhere is the conversation about thermal and hardware design more relevant than in comparison to the Xyber Hydra, a near-identical system that appears to share much of its component sourcing with the G9—right down to the GMK-branded fans. The Hydra ships with 16GB of DDR5 memory, a metal base panel, and most notably, a thermal pad that bridges SSDs to the metal shell, allowing for actual heat transfer rather than passive convection. In direct tests, the Hydra consistently posted 5–10°C lower SSD temps under identical workload, with idle SSDs (no heatsinks) registering around 47–49°C versus 56–57°C in the improved G9.

Though the Hydra lacks branding clarity around its manufacturer, the design appears to be what the G9 should have evolved into: same layout and CPU, but better thermals, more memory, and more thought put into SSD dissipation. In conclusion, while the improved GMKTec G9 offers better thermals than its predecessor, the Xyber Hydra outperforms both G9 variants in every thermal category, making it the superior choice if cooling and memory capacity are priorities.

Metric Original G9 Improved G9 Xyber Hydra
Peak Read Speed (NVMe) ~1.4–1.5 GB/s Same Same
Sustained Write Speed ~400–500 MB/s Slightly higher Slightly higher
Idle CPU Vent Temp 54–56°C 50–52°C 47–49°C
SSD Temps (No Heatsink) 66–67°C 56–57°C 47–49°C
Rear I/O Temp 55–57°C 48–50°C 44–46°C
Power Usage (Idle/Load) 19W / 30W 19–21W / 30W 18W / 28W
Noise Level (Max) ~39–40dB Same Slightly lower
Thermal Pad/Metal Contact None None Yes (Metal Base)

GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Verdict and Conclusion

The GMKTec G9, in its improved form, shows that the brand has listened—albeit cautiously—to thermal concerns raised by users and reviewers of the original model. The changes introduced in this updated version are minimal but measurable: better ventilation on the top panel and side mesh grille allow modest airflow gains, which result in lower surface and SSD temperatures across the board. Yet, GMKTec has stopped short of making any internal or structural upgrades that would more directly resolve thermal issues, such as introducing a metal baseplate, bundling SSD heatsinks, or adjusting the system’s internal fan architecture. All other hardware elements—CPU, memory, SSD configuration, I/O, BIOS, and software readiness—remain identical. As a result, while the device performs better in heat dissipation than before, it does so by a margin that may not justify an upgrade for existing G9 users. First-time buyers, however, may find it to be a safer choice now—particularly when paired with aftermarket heatsinks and used in moderate workloads.

However, the presence of the Xyber Hydra in the same price bracket poses a critical challenge to the G9’s value proposition. Offering the same N150 CPU, more memory, and a far superior thermal design with an integrated metal heat-spreading base, the Hydra addresses nearly every lingering complaint about the G9 without altering the system’s core layout. For prospective buyers deciding between the two, the G9’s only advantages now lie in its wider availability, slightly more recognizable branding, and marginally more mature firmware support. If those factors matter less than thermal reliability, long-term SSD health, and RAM headroom, then the Hydra is the more complete solution. Ultimately, the improved GMKTec G9 is a more stable and better-performing version of its former self, but its restrained upgrades feel like a missed opportunity in a market where near-clones have already moved ahead in meaningful ways.

Where to Buy?
PROs of the GMKTec G9 NAS CONs of the GMKTec G9 NAS

  • Affordable price point for a 4-bay NVMe NAS with dual 2.5GbE (typically under $200).

  • Support for up to 32TB of SSD storage across four M.2 NVMe slots.

  • Low power consumption (19W idle, ~30W under load) suitable for 24/7 operation.

  • Improved passive airflow design compared to the original model (lower overall temps).

  • Dual USB-C power input options for flexible cable management.

  • Silent operation, even during sustained activity (under 40dB).

  • Pre-installed OS (Windows 11 Pro and Ubuntu) allows for flexible initial use.

  • Compact, space-saving enclosure ideal for desktop setups or constrained environments.

  • Cooling Improvements are relatively small and No bundled SSD heatsinks, making thermal throttling likely without aftermarket cooling.

  • Non-upgradable 12GB LPDDR5 RAM limits scalability for heavier workloads.

  • Plastic chassis and base panel still hinder full thermal dissipation from SSDs.

  • The Introduction of other NAS such as the Beelink ME Mini and Xyber Hydra has provided appealing alternatives to this device right now

 

 

 

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      484 thoughts on “GMKTec G9 Ver.2 NAS Review – Cooler Now?”

      2. how is HEXOS now.. IT has been a year since it was reviewed… Anyone has any thoughts here… Time to jump synology..

        also has anyone thought about going apple mini and then use it as a NAS? Lot of videos out there for that
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      4. 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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      5. 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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      6. 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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      9. 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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      11. 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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      12. 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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      13. 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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      15. 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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      16. 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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      18. 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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      19. 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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      22. 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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      23. 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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      24. 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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      25. 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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      26. 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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      27. 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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      28. 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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      29. 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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      30. 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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      31. 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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      32. 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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      33. 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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      34. 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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      36. 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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      37. 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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      40. 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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      41. 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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      44. 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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      46. 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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      47. 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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      48. 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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      49. 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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      50. 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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      56. 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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      59. 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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      62. 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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      64. @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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      66. 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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      67. 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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      68. 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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      72. 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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      73. 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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      75. 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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      76. 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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      77. 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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      80. 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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      82. 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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      83. 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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      84. 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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      87. 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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      90. 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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      91. 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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      92. 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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      94. 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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      97. 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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      99. 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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      100. 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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      103. 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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      105. 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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      107. 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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      108. 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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      111. 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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      112. 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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      114. 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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      116. 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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      117. 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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      118. 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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      119. 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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      121. 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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      123. 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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      124. 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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      126. 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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      130. 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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      131. 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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      132. 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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      133. 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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      134. 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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      135. 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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      136. 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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      137. 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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      138. 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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      139. 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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      144. 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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      145. 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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      147. 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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      149. 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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      150. 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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      151. 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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      152. 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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      155. 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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      159. bought one, considering returning it since it randomly forgets the nvme modules no matter how much i change the modules to the slots. however, for the heating probs i would put heat sinks on the nvme, keep the cover away and put the box a bit higher with rubber feets to let the hot air our directly an not pushing it through the small channel on the bottom.
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      162. How many mm from the top of WIFI card to the FAN connector ?
        Would an m.2 E key to m.2 B key fit there ? length wise (I know there’s not mounting hole) ? (how much room is there height wise) ?
        Thank you!
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      163. Well, I ultimately decided to buy the G9 because the website said it had improved cooling.

        It turned out to be pretty good; rendering videos from JellyFin, the iGPU usage stayed above 60%.

        And the x86_pkg_temp temperature stayed between 51° and 57°.
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      164. Question for you, were you ever able to get your n150 to hit the max boost of 3.6 GHz? Even with it under load and cooled to 70° c I cannot get it to get past 2.9GHz.
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      165. I drill a bunch of holes in the cover for the SSDs and bought a miniature USB powered fan to blow across the opening of my first generation unit. Temps when installing a game via steam (it’s my main steam repository) went down over 20° c. ???? Next step is to pull the case off and vent the plastic over the fan shroud. I didn’t get a before and after on the SSDs but I can tell you just from putting my hands on it that it is DRAMATICALLY COOLER!
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      166. I’ve been holding off on the minibee because of reports of problems when all 6 bays are full.
        I think I’m going to jump on this device, it looks perfect.

        Unfortunately your affiliate link looks broken.
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      169. It’s quite stunnning that on the first “version” they did not include at least a radioator or fan… 5 minutes of testing and it showed close to dangerous temperature
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      170. It’s quite stunnning that on the first “version” they did not include at least a radioator or fan… 5 minutes of testing and it showed close to dangerous temperature
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      171. I don’t see any link to the Xyber Hydra in your list of links above. Perhaps because it’s not yet available? I reckon.

        BTW, on that note, It is good to see you include Aliexpress links. I being in Japan and a prime member at Amazon JP, I don’t think your links connect there, but Ali is an option.
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      172. I don’t see any link to the Xyber Hydra in your list of links above. Perhaps because it’s not yet available? I reckon.

        BTW, on that note, It is good to see you include Aliexpress links. I being in Japan and a prime member at Amazon JP, I don’t think your links connect there, but Ali is an option.
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      173. I have one of the newer ones. Paid £130 with a 128Gb SSD.

        It has been running for a week and is just fine for my use case, as a mini PC, with added internal storage options.

        The motivation for being able to power through both ports is because it was noted by reviewers. Perhaps of use when using DP out to a portable monitor, where passthrough is an option.

        As the panel is on the base, it could always be removed, especially if sitting on a flat surface.

        I would add heatsinks as a default with all drives on any system. It just makes sense.

        Perhaps GMKTec could offer a metal plate themselves to existing customers.
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      174. I have one of the newer ones. Paid £130 with a 128Gb SSD.

        It has been running for a week and is just fine for my use case, as a mini PC, with added internal storage options.

        The motivation for being able to power through both ports is because it was noted by reviewers. Perhaps of use when using DP out to a portable monitor, where passthrough is an option.

        As the panel is on the base, it could always be removed, especially if sitting on a flat surface.

        I would add heatsinks as a default with all drives on any system. It just makes sense.

        Perhaps GMKTec could offer a metal plate themselves to existing customers.
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      175. I realise you’re not the only channel reviewing these things, but it must feel rewarding when a manufacturer modifies a product as a result of something you’ve covered in a video.
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      176. I realise you’re not the only channel reviewing these things, but it must feel rewarding when a manufacturer modifies a product as a result of something you’ve covered in a video.
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      195. 1) The SSD in position 1 doesn’t need a heatsink since it’s right next to the cooling fan outlets. Having a heatsink on that SSD only blocks the air from getting to the other SSDs.
        2) Attach a 40mm USB fan to the exhaust grill of the unit to actively draw the stagnant heat out of the case (I just use duct tape). It makes a huge difference. My hottest SSD that used to run at 72C now peaks at 52C. The CPU runs 10-12C cooler as well.
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      196. 1) The SSD in position 1 doesn’t need a heatsink since it’s right next to the cooling fan outlets. Having a heatsink on that SSD only blocks the air from getting to the other SSDs.
        2) Attach a 40mm USB fan to the exhaust grill of the unit to actively draw the stagnant heat out of the case (I just use duct tape). It makes a huge difference. My hottest SSD that used to run at 72C now peaks at 52C. The CPU runs 10-12C cooler as well.
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      201. Thank you for this. I saw the upgrade version on amazon saying it was plus but not other indication if it was just words, as there were no updated pictures to go with it. Lazy all around, even in advertising their product. Its a shame they just waste even more money when they could have done a total redesign. This needs standard PD power and not the PD power brick that will fry sny other device. The first nas that offers 2 lanes per channel, multi ssd and is not garbage and has real visble PD power for travel gets my money. Sadly no device exists yet
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      202. Thank you for this. I saw the upgrade version on amazon saying it was plus but not other indication if it was just words, as there were no updated pictures to go with it. Lazy all around, even in advertising their product. Its a shame they just waste even more money when they could have done a total redesign. This needs standard PD power and not the PD power brick that will fry sny other device. The first nas that offers 2 lanes per channel, multi ssd and is not garbage and has real visble PD power for travel gets my money. Sadly no device exists yet
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      205. No sense, they did two minor changes but… the big problem still there, why they still having the plastic cover??, absolute nonsense

        Thanks for the video man!
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      206. No sense, they did two minor changes but… the big problem still there, why they still having the plastic cover??, absolute nonsense

        Thanks for the video man!
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      207. Still Beelink ME mini is the only mini NVME NAS they actually put some thoughts in its design, others like GMK just put two boards together and install some fans on top.
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      208. Still Beelink ME mini is the only mini NVME NAS they actually put some thoughts in its design, others like GMK just put two boards together and install some fans on top.
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      209. For once in my life I decided to impulse buy a hardware instead of diving deep into the alternatives and researching for weeks and here are much improved versions on the market couple months after my purchase lol.

        3:12 could it be that they finally adapted proper usb c power delivery? I remember seeing it in another review that the usb c power adapter of the gmktec g9 is not up to spec and could fry any other usb c powered device, making the whole usb c charging feature meaningless (I’m salty about this since this was one of the featues that convinced me to purchase one.)
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      210. For once in my life I decided to impulse buy a hardware instead of diving deep into the alternatives and researching for weeks and here are much improved versions on the market couple months after my purchase lol.

        3:12 could it be that they finally adapted proper usb c power delivery? I remember seeing it in another review that the usb c power adapter of the gmktec g9 is not up to spec and could fry any other usb c powered device, making the whole usb c charging feature meaningless (I’m salty about this since this was one of the featues that convinced me to purchase one.)
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      211. I ordered my G9 a few months ago with the knowledge it was… a bit s-hite. I just needed something that would sit there quietly and not have to do much. However, I was surprised to find the temps were not that terrible, even with my very, very, very, very reserved expectations.

        Seeing the two side by side, I can see I actually got the V2, and never realised. From your temp tests, it looks like that side vent is doing a lot of the heavy lifting now.

        Having said that – I still have not loaded it up to the max, and I have no intention to ever rely on it to do so.

        Also, I need to buy SSD heatsinks.
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      212. I ordered my G9 a few months ago with the knowledge it was… a bit s-hite. I just needed something that would sit there quietly and not have to do much. However, I was surprised to find the temps were not that terrible, even with my very, very, very, very reserved expectations.

        Seeing the two side by side, I can see I actually got the V2, and never realised. From your temp tests, it looks like that side vent is doing a lot of the heavy lifting now.

        Having said that – I still have not loaded it up to the max, and I have no intention to ever rely on it to do so.

        Also, I need to buy SSD heatsinks.
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      217. jeff geerling found way more issues than just overheating. It had power stability issues too. He managed to hack his into a vaguely stable state, but I’d give it a wide berth. I’ve bought the beelink mini 6 bay…
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      218. jeff geerling found way more issues than just overheating. It had power stability issues too. He managed to hack his into a vaguely stable state, but I’d give it a wide berth. I’ve bought the beelink mini 6 bay…
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      227. Hi en aluminium ce serais mieux et avoir 16go ram au lieux de 12 car on peut pas la up, et une mémoire mmc a 128go pour 200 a 250euro sans SSD cela aurais était cool ainsi on aurais de meilleur performance car plus de ram et les 128 go eMMC on aurais pu installer windows 11 et avoir les 4 SSD libre pour du raid 1 2x2to ou plus 4x4to cela nous fait 4 a 8to sécurisé.
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      228. Hi en aluminium ce serais mieux et avoir 16go ram au lieux de 12 car on peut pas la up, et une mémoire mmc a 128go pour 200 a 250euro sans SSD cela aurais était cool ainsi on aurais de meilleur performance car plus de ram et les 128 go eMMC on aurais pu installer windows 11 et avoir les 4 SSD libre pour du raid 1 2x2to ou plus 4x4to cela nous fait 4 a 8to sécurisé.
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      231. Thanks a lot for this great review @nascompares
        At the end, I decided to buy one, as a testbed for ZimaOS. Waiting for your video to better understand how to install it and optimise it maybe.
        A quick question, as I don’t remember if you mentionned it : can we use NVME M.2 with thermal dissipator, into the Xyber Hydra Nas ? Is there enough space for that ?
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      232. Thanks a lot for this great review @nascompares
        At the end, I decided to buy one, as a testbed for ZimaOS. Waiting for your video to better understand how to install it and optimise it maybe.
        A quick question, as I don’t remember if you mentionned it : can we use NVME M.2 with thermal dissipator, into the Xyber Hydra Nas ? Is there enough space for that ?
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      235. They can rename the brand as often as the want, but the name “GMKtec” (G9) is burned…
        Sorry, but after the failure of G9 i tryed the cwwk p5, and later on the BeeLink Me mini.
        Okay, Gen 3.1 for the storage… for me it´s fine; and with USB-Stick as Boot drive , or the emmc. It´s fine to; Even my modificated p5 works fine
        As basic build, i had both in my sleeping room, without “fear”, that i get fried over night, and even under work, they stayed cool (Summertime/30 degrease in the sleeping room)
        U still get the Me mini for 209 nickers (basic), and the cwwk is a little bit higher (There are same “builds/other name” on amazon; a bit cheaper)

        Spoiler: After some troubles (Front USB/temp. went up to 80 degrease, than i throttled) on the BeeLink in combination with the use of the front USB 2 Port; and the help of the support team, i made a bios update; now it work fine again.
        For them who fear to make a bios update (it s easy)… after restarting the Me Mini, and removeing the front USB-Stick, all temps where okay again
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      236. They can rename the brand as often as the want, but the name “GMKtec” (G9) is burned…
        Sorry, but after the failure of G9 i tryed the cwwk p5, and later on the BeeLink Me mini.
        Okay, Gen 3.1 for the storage… for me it´s fine; and with USB-Stick as Boot drive , or the emmc. It´s fine to; Even my modificated p5 works fine
        As basic build, i had both in my sleeping room, without “fear”, that i get fried over night, and even under work, they stayed cool (Summertime/30 degrease in the sleeping room)
        U still get the Me mini for 209 nickers (basic), and the cwwk is a little bit higher (There are same “builds/other name” on amazon; a bit cheaper)

        Spoiler: After some troubles (Front USB/temp. went up to 80 degrease, than i throttled) on the BeeLink in combination with the use of the front USB 2 Port; and the help of the support team, i made a bios update; now it work fine again.
        For them who fear to make a bios update (it s easy)… after restarting the Me Mini, and removeing the front USB-Stick, all temps where okay again
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      237. Get the coolest SSD you can find. Don’t focus on performance. The system is limited by the NICs speed, even if you gang them together. Go with PCIe 3.
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      238. Get the coolest SSD you can find. Don’t focus on performance. The system is limited by the NICs speed, even if you gang them together. Go with PCIe 3.
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      239. Please use your influence as a creator to get an answer out of GMKtec as to whether they will address the defective product that is the G9 and supply these upgraded parts to people who purchased one.
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      240. Please use your influence as a creator to get an answer out of GMKtec as to whether they will address the defective product that is the G9 and supply these upgraded parts to people who purchased one.
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      245. Just looked up the cost of this on their site & it $70 cdn to ship to canada on a $307 mini nas, No Thank you
        I have a what looks to be a update Gmktec unit coming from Amazon to my $302, will see what actually arrives
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      246. Just looked up the cost of this on their site & it $70 cdn to ship to canada on a $307 mini nas, No Thank you
        I have a what looks to be a update Gmktec unit coming from Amazon to my $302, will see what actually arrives
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      251. 8:00 Definitely stick on 4 elevated rubber feet to improve passive air flow under the case. Of course, you could set the box on top an external USB fan for further active cooling.
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      252. 8:00 Definitely stick on 4 elevated rubber feet to improve passive air flow under the case. Of course, you could set the box on top an external USB fan for further active cooling.
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      255. In general, people who claim that “you don’t need ECC!” should try first of all to understand how a capacitor in the order of single-digit femtofarads (yes, femto) works.
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      256. In general, people who claim that “you don’t need ECC!” should try first of all to understand how a capacitor in the order of single-digit femtofarads (yes, femto) works.
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      261. Please, please compare the gmktec or its knock-off to the Maiyunda M1S – I’d be really interested to see the difference. Also kudos on testing ZimaOS – nice to see the variety. Great video – thank you!
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      262. Please, please compare the gmktec or its knock-off to the Maiyunda M1S – I’d be really interested to see the difference. Also kudos on testing ZimaOS – nice to see the variety. Great video – thank you!
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      267. IMO the temps aren’t bad tbf. I’d be using it once or twice a day. Shame it doesn’t cool down as fast as we would like. Also with the fans set to max, it’s not too bad but will definitely be in the office ????
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      268. IMO the temps aren’t bad tbf. I’d be using it once or twice a day. Shame it doesn’t cool down as fast as we would like. Also with the fans set to max, it’s not too bad but will definitely be in the office ????
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      269. The only thing that will work with those being under instead of the top will be a fan there. That’s the problem I had with my firewall mini PC. Everything was fine until I added a fan. My memory got cooked there before that fan was installed. It’s just not a good design putting components like that underneath.
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      270. The only thing that will work with those being under instead of the top will be a fan there. That’s the problem I had with my firewall mini PC. Everything was fine until I added a fan. My memory got cooked there before that fan was installed. It’s just not a good design putting components like that underneath.
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      277. Instead of two ethernet ports I’d rather have one 1G ethernet and one Mini GBIC for 10G or even 25G. Just about every decent switch has two 10G Mini GBIC ports. Keep the copper 10G heat out of the tiny box. Form factor should be square with a single standard 120mm (or 92) case fan in the bottom blowing up.
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      278. Instead of two ethernet ports I’d rather have one 1G ethernet and one Mini GBIC for 10G or even 25G. Just about every decent switch has two 10G Mini GBIC ports. Keep the copper 10G heat out of the tiny box. Form factor should be square with a single standard 120mm (or 92) case fan in the bottom blowing up.
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      283. One thing about ECC, these chips can’t run “conventional” ECC that need additional memory modules to store checksum, but they support in-band ECC which instead reserves space to store the checksum. It provides the same function as normal ECC while using normal memory, but comes with quite a bit of performance and some capacity penalty. It needs to be activated by the vendor though. So far I have only seen the latte panda mu and the odroid H4 line using it
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      284. One thing about ECC, these chips can’t run “conventional” ECC that need additional memory modules to store checksum, but they support in-band ECC which instead reserves space to store the checksum. It provides the same function as normal ECC while using normal memory, but comes with quite a bit of performance and some capacity penalty. It needs to be activated by the vendor though. So far I have only seen the latte panda mu and the odroid H4 line using it
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      287. This looks like a nice little device, I’m a fan of these 4-nvme devices showing up on the market. (my use case would be small low-power proxmox hosts with distributed storage), they look like two of them could fit together in a 1U Rack, though the cooling might be a bad idea at the moment 🙂
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      288. This looks like a nice little device, I’m a fan of these 4-nvme devices showing up on the market. (my use case would be small low-power proxmox hosts with distributed storage), they look like two of them could fit together in a 1U Rack, though the cooling might be a bad idea at the moment 🙂
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      291. First off, I’m glad to see ZimaOS getting some coverage and use in these tests. Yeah, it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of Truenas but I really like the simplicity and ease of use. If my Beelink Me Mini ever arrives, ZimaOS is getting installed on it.

        Glad to see the G9 get a redesign for the cooling issues. As someone else mentioned, it would have been nice if the new part was backwards compatible and available for everyone who bought the G9. It would have generated a lot of good will for GMKtec to make that part available for the original G9.
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      292. First off, I’m glad to see ZimaOS getting some coverage and use in these tests. Yeah, it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of Truenas but I really like the simplicity and ease of use. If my Beelink Me Mini ever arrives, ZimaOS is getting installed on it.

        Glad to see the G9 get a redesign for the cooling issues. As someone else mentioned, it would have been nice if the new part was backwards compatible and available for everyone who bought the G9. It would have generated a lot of good will for GMKtec to make that part available for the original G9.
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      293. I like that the Hydra has more RAM (16 GB) and better thermals than G9. I would consider getting it with the standard 512 SSD for $219. That’s a fair price, but then there’s the barebones ME for $209!
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      294. I like that the Hydra has more RAM (16 GB) and better thermals than G9. I would consider getting it with the standard 512 SSD for $219. That’s a fair price, but then there’s the barebones ME for $209!
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      297. I always have to chuckle when people complain that these kinds of devices “only” have 2.5Gbit Ethernet. Most of my network is still 1 Gbit Ethernet and I have a 100/40 Mbit/s DSL connection to the Internet. 10 Gbit would be complete overkill for my use case.
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      298. I always have to chuckle when people complain that these kinds of devices “only” have 2.5Gbit Ethernet. Most of my network is still 1 Gbit Ethernet and I have a 100/40 Mbit/s DSL connection to the Internet. 10 Gbit would be complete overkill for my use case.
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      299. Thank you! I’d say you might be missing one use case for these devices ????
        I got the G9 to be a portable media device and a backup for my phones while traveling. With Jellyfin and a power bank to power it on the go. there aren’t many devices like this that can run off USB-C power.
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      300. Thank you! I’d say you might be missing one use case for these devices ????
        I got the G9 to be a portable media device and a backup for my phones while traveling. With Jellyfin and a power bank to power it on the go. there aren’t many devices like this that can run off USB-C power.
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      309. Thank you for the video. Question, would this be a descent device to support a Proxmox cluster vm’s either through NFS or ISCSI trget? Any drawbacks?
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      310. Thank you for the video. Question, would this be a descent device to support a Proxmox cluster vm’s either through NFS or ISCSI trget? Any drawbacks?
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      313. Bought one to use as an opnsense device because of the 2x 2.5G Intel NIC’s. Thermals over time is a big problem. opnsense with average throughput of about 10mbps running all the security features (unbound with block list, suricata, zenarmor, and a few wireguard connections) puts the CPUs at about 30% constant load. This causes the whole device to get quite hot to touch and fried the nvme that came pre-loaded from the OEM within about 45 days. Might have just been a one-off bad device so let’s see how the RMA goes, but if this was under constant load much higher I can’t really imagine how it would go. Very poor thermal design.
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      314. Bought one to use as an opnsense device because of the 2x 2.5G Intel NIC’s. Thermals over time is a big problem. opnsense with average throughput of about 10mbps running all the security features (unbound with block list, suricata, zenarmor, and a few wireguard connections) puts the CPUs at about 30% constant load. This causes the whole device to get quite hot to touch and fried the nvme that came pre-loaded from the OEM within about 45 days. Might have just been a one-off bad device so let’s see how the RMA goes, but if this was under constant load much higher I can’t really imagine how it would go. Very poor thermal design.
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      319. I wish they would have made ram replaceable and upgradeable. It has an amazing i/o for a mini pc, it does need some cooling fixes but overall good. Have you tried removing the wifi adapter and adapting that port for additional storage?
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      320. I wish they would have made ram replaceable and upgradeable. It has an amazing i/o for a mini pc, it does need some cooling fixes but overall good. Have you tried removing the wifi adapter and adapting that port for additional storage?
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      321. This probably the perfect NAS for my setup. I run 1Gbps on my LAN which I plan to upgrade to 2.5Gbps by swapping out the main switch. I have no need for 10 Gbps, so this looks great. Just got to remember to make sure I have heat sinks for the drives to keep the temp down. I’d be curious to see if there is a way to adjust the case to improve airflow. BTW, I’ve seen a lot people install OpenMediaVault on the eMMC just fine to build their RAID arrays.
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      322. This probably the perfect NAS for my setup. I run 1Gbps on my LAN which I plan to upgrade to 2.5Gbps by swapping out the main switch. I have no need for 10 Gbps, so this looks great. Just got to remember to make sure I have heat sinks for the drives to keep the temp down. I’d be curious to see if there is a way to adjust the case to improve airflow. BTW, I’ve seen a lot people install OpenMediaVault on the eMMC just fine to build their RAID arrays.
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      323. I just got one last night, and I can confirm that the thermal management is a problem, but I did what any old-school overclocker would do in this situation: add a fan. I have this installed in my 10″ DeskPi rack with perforated shelves, so all I did was put a 120mm slim fan on the shelf beneath the G9 blowing air up towards it and the temps dropped 10 deg across the board.
        I had no problems installing TrueNAS Fangtooth over the Ubuntu installation on the EMMC.
        Since not all NVMEs are the same, I would advise that you check the temps of your drives. I had a Teamgroup MP33 in the mix that was idling 64deg (w/heatsink) and 74deg when writing, which I suspect was dumping way too much heat into the NVME compartment. I simply swapped it out for a different drive, which immediately brought the temps of the other drives down. I used the Scrutiny docker app in TrueNAS to monitor the drive temps.
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      324. I just got one last night, and I can confirm that the thermal management is a problem, but I did what any old-school overclocker would do in this situation: add a fan. I have this installed in my 10″ DeskPi rack with perforated shelves, so all I did was put a 120mm slim fan on the shelf beneath the G9 blowing air up towards it and the temps dropped 10 deg across the board.
        I had no problems installing TrueNAS Fangtooth over the Ubuntu installation on the EMMC.
        Since not all NVMEs are the same, I would advise that you check the temps of your drives. I had a Teamgroup MP33 in the mix that was idling 64deg (w/heatsink) and 74deg when writing, which I suspect was dumping way too much heat into the NVME compartment. I simply swapped it out for a different drive, which immediately brought the temps of the other drives down. I used the Scrutiny docker app in TrueNAS to monitor the drive temps.
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      325. I decided to get this one after looking at the cm3588 and ds224+.

        ds224+ is $300 and only has 2 sata drives and 2GB of RAM…

        cm3588 costs similar to this unit but doesn’t include an enclosure nor fans! Also the setup would have been complicated since it’s so barebones.

        I’m very pleased this NUC/NAS is a thing as it’s plug and play out the box with an OS, has an enclosure with fans, and 1TB out the box. I got it for $230USD which I’m very happy about.
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      326. I decided to get this one after looking at the cm3588 and ds224+.

        ds224+ is $300 and only has 2 sata drives and 2GB of RAM…

        cm3588 costs similar to this unit but doesn’t include an enclosure nor fans! Also the setup would have been complicated since it’s so barebones.

        I’m very pleased this NUC/NAS is a thing as it’s plug and play out the box with an OS, has an enclosure with fans, and 1TB out the box. I got it for $230USD which I’m very happy about.
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      333. I got mine about a week ago, this is my first Linux NAS so I’m still figuring out TrueNAS Scale, I had to install version 23 because 24 wouldn’t install. I want it as an SMB server but I don’t know what I’m doing.???? so I’m fooling around with this after work and family.????????
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      334. I got mine about a week ago, this is my first Linux NAS so I’m still figuring out TrueNAS Scale, I had to install version 23 because 24 wouldn’t install. I want it as an SMB server but I don’t know what I’m doing.???? so I’m fooling around with this after work and family.????????
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      335. just waiting for the G9 Plus for them to realize they need to change the bottom plastic plate to aluminum
        then you can place it on top of a usb router fan for active cooling or another aluminum surface like an enclosure for passive cooling
        nvme are stupidly hot, especially when you have 4 next to one another
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      336. just waiting for the G9 Plus for them to realize they need to change the bottom plastic plate to aluminum
        then you can place it on top of a usb router fan for active cooling or another aluminum surface like an enclosure for passive cooling
        nvme are stupidly hot, especially when you have 4 next to one another
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      349. I’m new to all these NAS stuff, i was wondering if i can use this with my Mac Air. I have been using NVMe SSD’s and enclosures for my external storage but was looking to branch into using a NAS.
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      350. I’m new to all these NAS stuff, i was wondering if i can use this with my Mac Air. I have been using NVMe SSD’s and enclosures for my external storage but was looking to branch into using a NAS.
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      351. Can i use this to dl and play hvec 256 files ? And use this as a mini home pc ? I currently use a chromebook with 4gb ram and its lagging too much. I want dwcent power but super low wattage as im off grid. Thanks guys
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      352. Can i use this to dl and play hvec 256 files ? And use this as a mini home pc ? I currently use a chromebook with 4gb ram and its lagging too much. I want dwcent power but super low wattage as im off grid. Thanks guys
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      355. The frustrating thing I find with EVERY single NAS review video I have found. NO ONE SAYS, “If you just want a personal media server this is more than enough”. Like that would be a cool metric. To tell people that this unit would be a good personal media server for you and ya mum, or your family of 3
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      356. The frustrating thing I find with EVERY single NAS review video I have found. NO ONE SAYS, “If you just want a personal media server this is more than enough”. Like that would be a cool metric. To tell people that this unit would be a good personal media server for you and ya mum, or your family of 3
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      357. He mentioned that you wouldn’t want to rewrite the 64 gb Emmc with trunas….. Why would you not install it on the 64gb?????? Am I missing something?
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      358. He mentioned that you wouldn’t want to rewrite the 64 gb Emmc with trunas….. Why would you not install it on the 64gb?????? Am I missing something?
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      359. Just got one of this and the heat problem is somehow worse than mentioned in the vidoe (maybe because of higher ambient) the drive sit idle at 70C which is obviously too hot. I only had several NVME heatsink so tried it and the temp drop by 10C (for the one applied) Some comment mention just leave the ssd cover open or get a custom heat sink to combat the issue I might try those
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      360. Just got one of this and the heat problem is somehow worse than mentioned in the vidoe (maybe because of higher ambient) the drive sit idle at 70C which is obviously too hot. I only had several NVME heatsink so tried it and the temp drop by 10C (for the one applied) Some comment mention just leave the ssd cover open or get a custom heat sink to combat the issue I might try those
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      361. I have one of these setup, running TrueNAS. Seems to run hot – CPU cores are just under 60 degrees c. NVME SSDs are running at 48 degrees c with no heat sinks. Couldn’t install TrueNAS on EMMC so that was a bit of a waste, at least for now. I may have to go back and delete partitions off of EMMC somehow and reclaim the NVME SSD that has the OS on it. I also modified the fan curve via BIOS so the fans should be on more.
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      362. I have one of these setup, running TrueNAS. Seems to run hot – CPU cores are just under 60 degrees c. NVME SSDs are running at 48 degrees c with no heat sinks. Couldn’t install TrueNAS on EMMC so that was a bit of a waste, at least for now. I may have to go back and delete partitions off of EMMC somehow and reclaim the NVME SSD that has the OS on it. I also modified the fan curve via BIOS so the fans should be on more.
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      369. Just remove the drive bay door and set the NAS on top of a USB powered fan or laptop cooling pad (similar to the Targus Chill Mat) to keep the drives cool.
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      370. Just remove the drive bay door and set the NAS on top of a USB powered fan or laptop cooling pad (similar to the Targus Chill Mat) to keep the drives cool.
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      383. My G9 arrived yesterday. Installed Open Media Vault onto the 64Gb internal storage with no problems. Checked 4 m.2 nvme drives in and it performs great. Unit and drives do get toasty! I’ve just installed heat sinks to the drives to see if that helps – 3mm fits fine with loads of space, could probably get 5mm maybe 6mm heat sinks in there.
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      384. My G9 arrived yesterday. Installed Open Media Vault onto the 64Gb internal storage with no problems. Checked 4 m.2 nvme drives in and it performs great. Unit and drives do get toasty! I’ve just installed heat sinks to the drives to see if that helps – 3mm fits fine with loads of space, could probably get 5mm maybe 6mm heat sinks in there.
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      385. Quick question, so is there 4 m2 lots with 1 used for the OS and then 3 for storage or is there an internal m2 ssd slot on the main board for OS and then 4 in the bay? Still waiting on mine to be delivered. Guess customs is wondering if they should hit it with tariffs or let it go. lol
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      386. Quick question, so is there 4 m2 lots with 1 used for the OS and then 3 for storage or is there an internal m2 ssd slot on the main board for OS and then 4 in the bay? Still waiting on mine to be delivered. Guess customs is wondering if they should hit it with tariffs or let it go. lol
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      393. Mine arrived and juse done a 30 minutes test
        Both exhaust for cpu fan and nvme fan are bunch of small holes on the thick plastic casing , which trapped all heat there

        Conside give it a mod to cut it wide open or replace with a better mesh ????

        Bottom Plastic cover for ssd maybe go get a copper plate and replace it

        Overall is kinda good for me except design bug above …
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      394. Mine arrived and juse done a 30 minutes test
        Both exhaust for cpu fan and nvme fan are bunch of small holes on the thick plastic casing , which trapped all heat there

        Conside give it a mod to cut it wide open or replace with a better mesh ????

        Bottom Plastic cover for ssd maybe go get a copper plate and replace it

        Overall is kinda good for me except design bug above …
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      401. This is REALLY interesting for me for a travel NAS.
        TrueNAS docs say they need minimum 16GB, but recommend 32GB for a boot disk. It seems like the 64GB EMMC would work for this just fine but I haven’t actually tried it. You recommend against it but didn’t elaborate on why. Why wouldn’t the on-board 64GB drive be sufficient to run TrueNAS (or why wouldn’t it be a good idea)?
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      402. This is REALLY interesting for me for a travel NAS.
        TrueNAS docs say they need minimum 16GB, but recommend 32GB for a boot disk. It seems like the 64GB EMMC would work for this just fine but I haven’t actually tried it. You recommend against it but didn’t elaborate on why. Why wouldn’t the on-board 64GB drive be sufficient to run TrueNAS (or why wouldn’t it be a good idea)?
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      405. Could be an interesting DIY project: trow the plastic tray away, place a massive passive cooler (and maybe a PVM fan on the cooler) that covers all four SSDs. Then you can also remove the two laptop fans, making it possibly even quiter.

        Could be an interesting/ fun project
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      406. Could be an interesting DIY project: trow the plastic tray away, place a massive passive cooler (and maybe a PVM fan on the cooler) that covers all four SSDs. Then you can also remove the two laptop fans, making it possibly even quiter.

        Could be an interesting/ fun project
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      407. A few questions: I’m assuming the Linux is preloaded on the EMMC or is the Win 11? Can I replace the Linux with Xpenology and still dual boot with Win 11?
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      408. A few questions: I’m assuming the Linux is preloaded on the EMMC or is the Win 11? Can I replace the Linux with Xpenology and still dual boot with Win 11?
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      411. Plastic does seem a bad idea, a big metal heatspreader would be preferable. However, with so few gen3 lanes available for NVMe, you wouldn’t expect the drives to get all that hot under load. Dual 2.5G is great for this money. DDR5 makes a big difference with N150, so that’s nice to see. It seems odd to have so many USB ports etc, surely this is wasting PCI lanes??
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      412. Plastic does seem a bad idea, a big metal heatspreader would be preferable. However, with so few gen3 lanes available for NVMe, you wouldn’t expect the drives to get all that hot under load. Dual 2.5G is great for this money. DDR5 makes a big difference with N150, so that’s nice to see. It seems odd to have so many USB ports etc, surely this is wasting PCI lanes??
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      415. Great review with info. Was looking for a mini PC with multiple NVMe slots so I could easily test drives but wanted something low power and basically silent. Glad I came across this since it seems to be a recent release, and super cheap.
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      416. Great review with info. Was looking for a mini PC with multiple NVMe slots so I could easily test drives but wanted something low power and basically silent. Glad I came across this since it seems to be a recent release, and super cheap.
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      423. It cannot have PCIe3x2 for per NVMe. N150 CPU have max 9 PCIe lanes. Considering iy has bunch of USB3 and NIC it only have total PCIe3x2 for NVMe. And with chip ASMedia thay made 4 PCIe3x0.5 lane for NVM storages.
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      424. It cannot have PCIe3x2 for per NVMe. N150 CPU have max 9 PCIe lanes. Considering iy has bunch of USB3 and NIC it only have total PCIe3x2 for NVMe. And with chip ASMedia thay made 4 PCIe3x0.5 lane for NVM storages.
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      425. The only reason i am not buying this right now is all the negative comments i see about gmktec.

        This is exactly what i need. My big nas is at my parents where electricity is much cheaper and there is gigabit symmetrical internet. I would put 4 tb in this to keep in my apartment as a lightweight nas that syncs regularly to the big nas.
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      426. The only reason i am not buying this right now is all the negative comments i see about gmktec.

        This is exactly what i need. My big nas is at my parents where electricity is much cheaper and there is gigabit symmetrical internet. I would put 4 tb in this to keep in my apartment as a lightweight nas that syncs regularly to the big nas.
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      427. Would’ve been useful to test temperatures with the cover off as well to prove or disprove your point. But still, it being metal does nothing. You’d need thermal pads between the drives and the metal plate, which means you’d have to deal with those pads every time you opened the system. Surely someone like you could find thermal pads and a metal plate around that size and fasten it up to see if it makes a big difference. Or put heatsinks on the drives to actually see what difference it makes. Sorry but I am so tired of people stating things as fact without testing them.
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      428. Would’ve been useful to test temperatures with the cover off as well to prove or disprove your point. But still, it being metal does nothing. You’d need thermal pads between the drives and the metal plate, which means you’d have to deal with those pads every time you opened the system. Surely someone like you could find thermal pads and a metal plate around that size and fasten it up to see if it makes a big difference. Or put heatsinks on the drives to actually see what difference it makes. Sorry but I am so tired of people stating things as fact without testing them.
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      439. Confused about max storage.. The GMKtec website says: “NAS expansion up to 32TB storage (4x 8TB)”, further down the page it says “Max capacity 16TB, 4TB each slot”… Which is it!
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      440. Confused about max storage.. The GMKtec website says: “NAS expansion up to 32TB storage (4x 8TB)”, further down the page it says “Max capacity 16TB, 4TB each slot”… Which is it!
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      445. How do these mini PCs actually hold up as NAS servers with external USB drive enclosures for multiple HDDs (like the RaidSonic Icy Box IB-3805-C31) running TrueNAS or Unraid? And more importantly, how’s the power consumption on setups like this, and do these external HDD enclosures properly handle different HDD power states (idle/sleeping)?
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      446. How do these mini PCs actually hold up as NAS servers with external USB drive enclosures for multiple HDDs (like the RaidSonic Icy Box IB-3805-C31) running TrueNAS or Unraid? And more importantly, how’s the power consumption on setups like this, and do these external HDD enclosures properly handle different HDD power states (idle/sleeping)?
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      451. I would be tempted to use omv. I do not have experience with unraid I would be prepared to try it. I think it would be overkill, but why couldn’t I load truenas into the emmc? 64gB would seem enough.
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      452. I would be tempted to use omv. I do not have experience with unraid I would be prepared to try it. I think it would be overkill, but why couldn’t I load truenas into the emmc? 64gB would seem enough.
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      454. This compact NAS reminded me that I’d like to see some NAS manufacturers make units for the new 10″ mini rack system. Preferably with some 3.5″ drive capabilities. Have you seen movement in that area recently?
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      455. You’re a Brit. Why are you pricing everything in dollars?
        We’ve got brains…we can work it out for ourselves. I regularly watch reviews from Aus, Philipines etc…they say prices in their _own_ currencies (as YOU should too!) Poor show.
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      457. I’ll tell ya what… as a poor, this is an ideal piece of equipment. I have some extra fans I could use to cool the nvme bay. Drill some hoes in some plastic, add the fans call it a day.
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      458. My $99 OpenWrt One has a sold aluminum case so there’s no need of a fan. I wonder how hard it would be to 3D print an aluminum or magnesium door for this NucBox G9. Wouldn’t need to be thick.
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      459. Interesting! Thank you for this review. The potential overheating is my concern, a show stopper for me. This model looks like a good basis on which to develop a cooler model. Until a cooler model is available this model though is a hard pass for me. ????
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      461. morer and cheaperer ssds and a cpu that can handle pcie bandwidths better….and usb4 to make it daisy chaineable…..ryzen 7320 with a massive passive would be a good option, and 16TB ssds with a pricetag of 30 eur per TB
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      469. But with max nvme 3.0 and 2,5Gb Ethernet, is heat a big concern if you just choose 4 nvme 3.0 drives at the level of ssd performance the system allow ? I fully agree that if they had thought it a bit more over and provided a metal bottom the problem would probably be completely gone. I would guess no one would choose high performance nvme 5,0 drives for this kind of product as they would never reach their full performance potential.
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      473. The size is amazing, and the price seems so too.

        The thermals and the limited capacity of the EMMC storage (that you said is not capable of having TrueNas), however, is quite disappointing
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      477. What a shame as for a few quid extra many of the downsides such as heat dissipation could’ve ben fixed. Given the cost of NVMEs a few quid extra would hardly dissuade anyone from buying.
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      479. I do like the fact they put in 4 NVMe slots! 10 Gig networking would’ve matched the SSDs performance perfectly, but good enough I guess… For the average user switching from a 2 bay HDD NAS, this will be a huge improvement! I’m thinking about getting one as a secondary on-site backup.
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      482. Great little device. The N1xx CPU is the gift that keeps on giving, even if it’s so PCI-limited.

        I use Ubuntu as NAS OS. Cockpit + 45 drives plugins + zfs plus a few bits of cron automation for replication.

        But anyhow, if Ubuntu runs, TrueNAS or Unraid will also run no problemo.
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      484. I just ordered one of those yesterday. They weren’t offering any drives at the time but fired it would be fun to play with. A little bummed on the emmc memory but for the cost what the heck
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