QNAP Launches the Mustang-200 Computing Accelerator Card

[btarunr]

QNAP Systems, Inc. today launched the Mustang-200 dual-CPU computing accelerator card with 10GbE network connectivity (available with Intel Core i5 / Core i7 / Celeron processors). By installing the card in a compatible QNAP NAS' (or PC's) PCIe slot, users will essentially add two processors to their system for increased computing capabilities to provide a flexible performance boost to their IT infrastructure and applications.

"As QNAP NAS evolves to support a wider range of applications, users need more storage space as well as higher computing capabilities for their NAS system. With the Mustang-200 dual-CPU computing accelerator card, users can instantly boost their system's processing power, which is especially ideal solution for surveillance, virtualization, and AI applications," said David Tsao, Product Manager of QNAP.



The innovative QNAP Mustang-200 computing accelerator card (PCIe 2.0 x4) features a dual CPU (including Intel Core i5 / Core i7 / Celeron ) with Intel Graphics. By installing the card in the NAS, users can effectively increase the computing power and transcoding efficiency by the same power as two NAS. Each CPU on the card has a 10GbE network chip with independent IP, allowing users to connect to external networks using any network interface on the host NAS. Users can mount host storage space through iSCSI or VJBOD for the Mustang-200. The Mustang-200's operation environment is also independent from the NAS to prevent performance interference. Users can also install a Mustang-200 in their PC to empower performance-demanding applications (e.g. QVR Pro surveillance application) with greater image processing capability. Models with Intel Core i5 / Core i7 CPUs also have built-in M.2 SSD, providing additional options for faster and smoother application performance.

The Mustang-200 is powered by the intuitive and intelligent mQTS operating system and allows users to enjoy the same range of applications as seen in QTS. Users can install a variety of applications on-demand through the built-in App Center, import other app stores, or perform secondary development on the Mustang-200 to explore further application potential. The Mustang Card Manager assists in centrally managing all of the Mustang-200 (subsystems) installed in the host NAS. Users can monitor system status, configure network and storage resources, and connect to mQTS directly through the Mustang Card Manager for more detailed system configuration and application deployment.

Key specifications of new models

• Mustang-200-i7-1T/32G-R10: Interface: PCIe 2.0 x4, Intel Core i7-7567U CPU 3.5GHz x2, Intel 600P 512GB SSD (per CPU), 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 (per CPU)
• Mustang-200-i5-1T/32G-R10: Interface: PCIe 2.0 x4, Intel Core i5-7267U CPU, 3.1GHz x2, Intel 600P 512GB SSD (per CPU), 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 (per CPU)
• Mustang-200-C-8G-R10: Interface: PCIe 2.0 x4, Intel Celeron 3865U CPU 1.8GHz x2, 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR4 (per CPU)

Compatible NAS Models
TS-2477XU-RP , TS-1677XU-RP, TS-1685, TS-1677X, TVS-1282, TS-1277, TVS-882, and TS-877.

For more information, visit the product page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[LocutusH]

It looks like the Honda City / Renault Thalia of video cards You see that they tried to design something, but completely failed because of the too small wheels...

 

[TheLostSwede]

It looks like the Honda City / Renault Thalia of video cards You see that they tried to design something, but completely failed because of the too small wheels...

Except this is two PC's on a card, not a graphics card at all...

Only $3,826.32 for the top of the range model...
The cheapest option is $925, but that doesn't come with any SSDs as noted in the new post.

This is based on their Kickstarter campaign with their main company iEi - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1235889177/mustang-200-affordable-scalable-adv-computing-acce

 

[hat]

So, basically...

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

Wow...this is pretty cool....I'm curious and excited to see what some creative individuals will do with these in all other possible applications besides those 8ntended by QNAP.....wouldn't be surprised if some random person figures out a way to mine some unknown, niche cryptocurrency with them, hahs

 

[LocutusH]

...

No shit, sherlock? See above article.

 

[erixx]

Adding stealthly CPU's to your existing mobo! This is oh so cyberpunk

 

[CheapMeat]

I love stuff like this. I remember reading about it about a year ago or so. There are some similar cards out there made for mining where the whole motherboard/CPU is on a PCIe card for a long multi-slot mainboard/expansion board. But doesn't have the software stack. I wanted to try them for a homelab.

Ugh, the QNAP shop website is really terrible when trying to find a specific product and it's really slow and unresponsive with a ton of damn clicking.

 

[27MaD]

It looks like the Honda City / Renault Thalia of video cards You see that they tried to design something, but completely failed because of the too small wheels...

It's a Ford Mustang.

 

[Vya Domus]

Adding stealthly CPU's to your existing mobo!

More like adding PCs to your PC.

 

[Gasaraki]

This is pretty cool tech. I miss the early days when you can jeryrig parts to your computer like adding an overdrive processor for the pentium processor socket, etc. I want to see what performance and use case for something like this.

 

[Tom.699]

Hmm, checking a date of this article because it looks like it is from year ago...
According to Kickstarter info Mustang was scheduled to be released in October 2017.
For this year it should use i7-8559U for example, twice performance in the same wattage and similar price for CPU.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I wonder if one of these cards could be used for adding extra processing power for applications for which it's not designed, such as video encoding or other such resource intensive task?

 

[TheLostSwede]

I wonder if one of these cards could be used for adding extra processing power for applications for which it's not designed, such as video encoding or other such resource intensive task?

https://download.ieiworld.com/ search for mustang 200 and you can find some documentation. It's available for non QNAP use too.

 

[lexluthermiester]

https://download.ieiworld.com/ search for mustang 200 and you can find some documentation. It's available for non QNAP use too.

So reading that PDF,
https://dls.ieiworld.com/IEIWeb/PDC_OBJ/PLM/OWFP000113/Mustang-200_UMN_v1.01.pdf
It seems unlikely to be a drop-in CPU board. Kind of a shame really as that is a very interesting idea for adding CPU power to an existing system.

 

[Jism]

This is pretty cool tech. I miss the early days when you can jeryrig parts to your computer like adding an overdrive processor for the pentium processor socket, etc. I want to see what performance and use case for something like this.

Asrock did some crazy things too:

It was a addon board to transform your S754 motherboard into a S939 one.

 

[TheGuruStud]

Asrock did some crazy things too:

It was a addon board to transform your S754 motherboard into a S939 one.

There were also cards to put AMD CPUs into intel computers since intel was so slow lol. I don't believe it ever got off the ground more than release b/c of cost and a very odd way of dual cpu.

 

[hat]

Why not PCI-E CPU though? That sounds like a fantastic idea in a world where core counts are ever increasing. Unfortunately it would probably be a very niche, very expensive product... there's too many forum posts even among us enthusiasts about quad core being enough, 8 cores is currently not worth much except in specific tasks, etc... but for someone who does need a ton of CPU power, it could work out nicely.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Unfortunately it would probably be a very niche, very expensive product...

Doesn't need to be. Make a PCIe daughterboard and the user supplies the CPU, cooling and RAM, like the ASRock model above..