Intel's most modern dual-core Pineview-based Atom processor isn't just aimed at energy-efficient netbooks. It can also be found in NAS servers from a variety of manufacturers. We tested two mid-range appliances in order to measure the CPU's capabilities.
With the Atom processor's introduction, Intel triggered what could almost be called a small revolution. The processor played—and is playing—a significant role in the rapidly-growing popularity of netbooks and nettops. Now Intel's third-generation Atom processor, also designed for use in energy-efficient and affordable systems, is working its charm in the network-attached storage (NAS) segment.
Previous NAS devices used the second-gen "Diamondville"-based Atom 330. Such devices have already demonstrated some pretty convincing data transfer rates. Thus, our expectations are set high when it comes to NAS devices that use the new, third-generation Pineview-based Atom processors.
For cost reasons, these entry-level storage devices typically aren't equipped with hardware-acclerated RAID controllers. Instead, they let the CPU execute XOR calculations for various RAID modes, making data transfer rates for these NAS units partially dependent on CPU performance.
Pineview, What's New?
Clock speeds of the older Diamondville-based CPUs look very similar to those of new Pineview models. The dual-core Atom 330 (Diamondville) has a clock frequency of 1,600 MHz, while the dual-core Atom D510 (Pineview) runs slightly quicker, clocked at 1,660 MHz. The L2 cache is still 1MB (2 x 512KB), and the solution is manufactured using a 45 nm process. The biggest changes implemented in Pineview are the graphics and memory interfaces. For more on the architecture underlying Intel's Pine Trail platform, check out our launch coverage.
In short, Intel incorporated a graphics processor and memory controller onto the Atom processor die, and although this increases the processor's TDP by a few watts, the entire platform's power consumption drops due to the consolidation of chipset components. Because of this integration, a new chipset (little more than a southbridge, really) called NM10 Intel Express had to be developed.
The Intel 945GC chipset, used for the older Atom 230 and 330 processors, had a TDP of 22W. The NM10 Express dramatically lowers this to only about 2 watts. The combined TDP of an Atom 330 and 945GC chipset is around 30W, whereas a Pineview-based Atom D510/NM10 nets a TDP of around 15W. It should be noted, however, that the NM10 chipset only has two SATA ports, which makes it poorly-suited to NAS applications. We expect NAS vendors to look for other solutions to get more storage scalability.
In order to see what kind of power consumption and data transfer rates one can expect from a Pineview-based NAS, we took a closer look at the Thecus N4200 and QNAP TS-459 Pro. Both launched in the first quarter of 2010.
Based on its name, you might assume that Thecus' N4200 is just a slightly-improved version of the N4100 Pro. This isn't the case, though. While the N4100 Pro employs a 500 MHz AMD Geode LX800 processor with 256MB RAM, the N4200 uses a dual-core, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom D510 with 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM. Also, Thecus opted to go with the ICH9R chipset.
Two Displays
ZoomA display on the front of the N4200 provides information on system configuration and status. The front also sports four buttons for changing the settings.
Unlike the 4100 Pro, however, the N4200's top display is not a conventional LED or LCD display, but an OLED display. Just as the N4100 Pro had a vertically-arranged LED bar on the left side, providing network and disk activity information, the N4200 has an LCD display performing the same function. There are two USB 2.0 ports for connecting additional external storage devices. Underneath the OLED display, behind a door, we find four lockable hard drive bays that can accommodate 3.5" and 2.5" drives.
Rear Panel Connections
ZoomThe most striking feature on the back of the NAS is likely the slot directly above the large 120x120 mm fan. This is where you insert an included battery that provides enough power to let the NAS shut down in a controlled manner during a power outage, without any data loss. Above this battery slot is a bracket hiding a PCIe x1 interface, which comes handy if you want to plug in a 10 Gb/s Ethernet network card, for example.
The N4200 doesn't necessarily have to be connected to the network through a cable. If you prefer more exotic solutions, you can even use a USB dongle to connect the NAS via WiFi. Naturally, wired connections will outperform wireless, but you never know when the cat might chew through your gigabit line (Ed.: that'd be one evil cat).
On the back, we find two eSATA ports, four USB ports, the external power supply connection, and two gigabit Ethernet ports. The GbE ports can either be operated with separate IP and gateway settings, or in failover and/or load balancing modes.
In addition to the hardware specifications of a NAS device, you have to take into account its software functionality. In recent years, Thecus has evolved well on both fronts. The N4200 comes with a modern, Web-based administration interface that lets you choose from RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10 modes. RAID volumes can be optionally encrypted using AES-256, as well. Additionally, users have the choice of ext3, XFS, and ZFS file systems.
Network Communication
The N4200 can communicate via iSCSI and, if used under Windows, MacOS, or Linux, it can be an iSCSI target. When used with similar (and various other) NAS devices from Thecus, such as the N5200 Pro, N5500, or units from the N7700/N8800 series, the N4200 can even be used as an iSCSI initiator. The device supports SMB/CIFS, FTP, NFSv3, AFP, HTTP, or HTTPS protocols for exchanging data.
For multimedia storage, the Thecus N4200 comes with iTunes, UPnP AV, and photo Web servers installed. It also comes with a print server, as well as support for various UPSes. The server functionality can be expanded. For example, you can add a Web or MySQL server by downloading and installing a module from the Thecus site.
A Web Interface With Delays
Thecus' UI is functional and for the most part logical, although the menu structure could be made somewhat less nested and more accessible. What really struck us when using firmware version 3.00.12 was the sluggishness of the browser-based interface. When clicking on something or performing an action, it took about three seconds before anything happened or you gave visual feedback. During testing, we also noted that the N4200 had to be restarted after the creation of a new folder. The device stopped responding to SMB/CIFS requests, so access through Windows Explorer was no longer possible. A firmware update from Thecus should remedy problems of this kind.
Thecus offers a live demonstration of its GUI. Just follow this link to try it out: Thecus live demo.
Update: Thecus recently released version 3.02.00.2 of the firmware. Using this, we noticed none of the problems mentioned above, so be sure to update your firmware if you run into any issues with the N4200.
QNAP offers several NAS products equipped with Intel's Atom D510. The different products in the TSx59 Pro-series differ mainly when it comes to the number of supported drives you can connect and corresponding power consumption. For our tests, we used the QNAP TS-459 Pro. It can be equipped with up to four hard drives and up to 1GB of DDR2 RAM. Like Thecus, QNAP also uses the Intel ICH9R southbridge.
Clean Front
Most products of this kind seem to come with a front-mounted display for displaying and changing basic system information, and the TS-459 Pro is no exception. Below the LCD are four vertically-mounted lockable disk trays. Along the left are the power switch and a USB 2.0 port.
The Rear
The rear view looks just as tidy as the front. The TS-459 Pro features an internal power supply; you can see its small 50 mm fan just above the 120 mm fan that cools the hard drives.
We also find four USB 2.0 ports, two eSATA ports, and two gigabit Ethernet ports that can either be used for connecting to two different networks or for load balancing/failover. Moreover, the QNAP TS-459 Pro has a VGA port for system maintenance, which you can use for analyzing console error messages.
