HARDWARE

Synology 4-Bay NAS: Three Models Review (Part 2)

4/18/2013 2:37:00 PM

Synology DS413

This model is equipped in a quite new case which was first introduced in the previous NAS of Synology. It is optimized for lower noisiness, using rubber pads for HDD and the front panel. The case is 20x23.3x16.5 cm in size. Most of its exterior panel is made of black plastic but the rear is made of metal.

The case is 20x23.5x16.5 cm in size

The case is 20x23.5x16.5 cm in size

HDD bays are covered by a smooth plastic panel but the rest is dim and practical. On the right of the front panel, we can see the system and the HDD parameters, a 2.0 USB port and a LED integrated power button.

HDD bays

HDD bays

HDD is installed into a frame which is compatible with both model patterns. The frame is secured in the bays by plastic keys.

There are vent grids in the front, buttons and side panels, but we doubt that whether these grids efficient? Especially for HDD

90m fans at the back

90mm fans at the back

There are two 90mm fans at the back. The rear panel also provides a power connection, a Gigabit Ethernet port with indicators, an eSATA, two USB 3.0 connections and hidden reset button. The eSATA interface can be used with the expanded module of Synology to increase supported the HDD (these modules are accompanied by a cable and screw.)

This case design is good and has many features, although there is no button for saving data via USD and the front USB panel is just the version 2.0. They, however, are just minor weaknesses.

The HDD is installed from the outside

The HDD is installed from the outside

The users do not intend to give up on NAS because the HDD is installed from the outside. There is no maintainable part inside. Nevertheless, if you want a closer view, you can remove the plastic case to find out a metal frame at the bottom. There are three PCB integrated with them: one main PCB, a backplane for HDD, as I/O unit with the traditional port. They are connected via PCIe slot without flexible cables.

Synology uses the PPC platform in its contemporary products. It used to be installed in the top-end NAS years ago, but after that, it was replaced by Atom from Intel NAS based on Atom of Synology, which will be mentioned below.

The hardware platform was improved since then. Freescale Qorl P1022 processor integrated two core e500 while the clock rate was maintained at the level of 1.067 MHz. The updated version of the ship is highlighted by DDR3 support, so DS413 is equipped with 1GB from DDR3 SDRAM. The flash memory is just used for installation and OS startup, so its capacity is just 8 MB. Four SATA ports are based on a Marvell 88SX7042 chip. The USB controller integrated CPU is just version 2.0. Therefore, the two USB 3.0 ports are based on NEC D720200 chip. The network controller works together with a Realtek RTL8211E chip.

Synology DS412+

The DS412+ is the top 4-disk NAS from Synology in the desktop form-factor. Introduced in spring 2012 and based on x86 platform, It is the most preferable choice in that product category. As we have mention above, DS412+ and DS413 are completely the same except for two Gigabit Ethernet ports.

DS412+ is configured differently

DS412+ is configured differently

However, the DS412+ is configured differently inside. It has an Intel Atom D2700 processor clocked at 2.13 GHz. With two cores and HT support, it can process four execution threats simultaneously. The CPU works together with an ICH10R chip, providing SATA and USB 2.0 port. DS412+ is equipped with a 1 GB system memory in a DDR3 SO-DIMM. It can be replaced by a larger one in capacity, but this upgrade will violate the warranty rules. A couple of Intel 82574L chips are used as a network controller. The external eSATA port is based on an additional Sil3531 chip, which seems to be more compatible with port multiplications (used in the expansion modules of Synology) than Intel chip. A NEX D720200 is added to support the USB 3.0. The PCB contains a 128MB flash disk with USB interface. It is used to load some exclusive software of Synology because the BIOS of this platform is not used for that purpose. By the way, OS is a 64-bit version. It is very hard to tell that whether this selection is necessary, but you should keep this in mind.

Specifications

We can see that they are not only different in terms of the processors but also in some other specifications. All of them support SATA 3 Gbit/s although the competitive products have provided Gbit/s already. However, this is almost not important for NAS applications.

The senior model is not as good as the top solutions from other companies because it lacks video output and has fewer USB 2.0 and eSATA ports, but in fact, it is offset by the existence of the expansion module of Synology.

Each NAS features a quiet and efficient cooler. The HDD temperatures are not higher than 40 to 43°C during our tests. When set on the table, a NAS is not audible among the sound of daytime noises.

DS413j technical specs

·         Processor: Marvell 88F6282, ARM, 1.6 GHz

·         Memory: 512 MB DDR3

·         SATA: Marvell 88SX7042

·         Network: 1x1000

·         Port: 2x USB 2.0

·         Expanding via eSATA: not available

DS413 technical specs

·         Processor: Freecale QorlQ P1022, PPC, 2C, 1.067 GHz.

·         Memory: 1 GB DDR3

·         SATA: Marvell 88SX7042

·         Network: 1x1000

·         Ports: 1xUSB 2.0, 2x USB 3.0, 1x eSATA

·         Expansion via eSATA: DX513/DX213 (independent partition)

DS412+ technical specs

·         Processor: Intel Atom D2700, x86, 2C4T, 2.13 GHz

·         Memory: 1 GB DDR3

·         SATA: ICH10R

·         Network: 2x1000

·         Ports: 1x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.0, 1x eSATA

·         Expansion via eSATA: DX513/DX213 (independent partition)

 

 

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