QNAP Launches Quad-core AMD Ryzen TS-x73A Series NAS

[Uskompuf]

QNAP Systems, Inc., today introduced the TS-x73A NAS series featuring an AMD Ryzen V1000 series v1500B quad core 8-thread 2.2 GHz processor and 2.5 GbE networking. This reliable and secure NAS series delivers high cost-efficiency with multiple value-added capabilities, including PCIe expansion, multi-cloud backup, cloud storage gateways, multiple backup and data protection methods, and storage capacity expansion solutions. The TS-x73A series uses the app-driven QTS operating system but can switch to the ZFS-based QuTS hero to provide users with greater choice and functionality.

The TS-x73A series includes 8 GB DDR4 RAM (supports up to 64 GB, supports ECC RAM), and the two -built-in M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD slots allow users to leverage Qtier Technology and SSD Caching to achieve optimal performance. The dual 2.5 GbE RJ45 ports can deliver up to 5 Gbps transfer speeds under Port Trunking. The two PCIe Gen 3 x4 slots allow for installing expansion cards to enhance NAS functionality - such as a 5 GbE/10 GbE network card, a QM2 network/storage card, a wireless adapter, or a SAS/SATA expansion card for connecting to TL SAS, TL SATA and REXP expansion units.





Graphics cards are also supported by the TS-x73A series, allowing for optimized graphical calculations and transformations. This can greatly boost the performance of applications such as video editing, 4K UHD transcoding, and imaging processing in QTS. Graphics cards can also be allocated to virtual machines via GPU passthrough.

Specifications

• TS-473A-8G: 4 drive bays, 8 GB DDR4 memory (1 x 8 GB)
• TS-673A-8G: 6 drive bays, 8 GB DDR4 memory (1 x 8 GB)
• TS-873A-8G: 8 drive bays, 8 GB DDR4 memory (1 x 8 GB)

Tower model; AMD Ryzen V1000 series v1500B quad core 8-thread 2.2 GHz processor; 2x DDR4 SODIMM dual-channel RAM (up to 64 GB, ECC RAM supported); hot-swappable 2.5-inch/3.5-inch SATA 6 Gbps hard drives or SSDs; 2x 2.5 GbE RJ45 LAN ports (compatible with 1 GbE); 2x M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 x1 slots; 2x PCIe Gen 3 x4 slots; 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C port

Availability

The TS-x73A series is now available.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[TheLostSwede]

A mere US$880 in Taiwan.

 

[TechLurker]

I'm curious how the AMD version compares to the Intel equivalent.

 

[Octavean]

A mere US$880 in Taiwan.

Perhaps for the 4 bay model,...

Stateside the TS-873A 8 bay model cost ~$1,000+

I understand that QNAP wants to keep churning out these new NAS models but given the recent QLocker Ransomware attack, to say nothing of the other past attacks, IMO QNAP would do well to create a new security oriented OS.

QTS and QuTS Hero are serviceable but they are burning their mindshare, image and credibility,....

Look how long it’s taking Synology to release DSM 7.0. The assumption there is that Synology is actually trying to get it right rather then using a “ship it now and patch it later” philosophy.

I'm curious how the AMD version compares to the Intel equivalent.

What would be the Intel equivalent? A Xeon maybe because the AMD v1500B doesn’t have an iGPU. Although you can always add a GPU At the cost of the available PCIe slots.

It also would depend on use case. Serving up files should be similar but something like Plex likely do better with a lowly Celeron J4125 quad core.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Perhaps for the 4 bay model,...

Stateside the TS-873A 8 bay model cost ~$1,000+

I understand that QNAP wants to keep churning out these new NAS models but given the recent QLocker Ransomware attack, to say nothing of the other past attacks, IMO QNAP would do well to create a new security oriented OS.

QTS and QuTS Hero are serviceable but they are burning their mindshare, image and credibility,....

Look how long it’s taking Synology to release DSM 7.0. The assumption there is that Synology is actually trying to get it right rather then using a “ship it now and patch it later” philosophy.


What would be the Intel equivalent? A Xeon maybe because the AMD v1500B doesn’t have an iGPU. Although you can always add a GPU At the cost of the available PCIe slots.

It also would depend on use case. Serving up files should be similar but something like Plex likely do better with a lowly Celeron J4125 quad core.

QNAP actually has multiple OSes, the one that got hacked is their "consumer" Linux based OS that tends to be running a very old kernel.
Had a chap from the Canadian government contact me when I worked there, as he'd found several security holes and he didn't get a response from the support team.
The support team manager was for some reason attending CeBit instead of doing his job and no-one wanted to touch that mess while he was away.
Not sure if it ever got resolved, as I left the company after six months. Nothing much seems to have changed.

Synology has had their own fair set of issues with getting hacked, so... Asustor? Thecus?

 

[Makaveli]

QNAP actually has multiple OSes, the one that got hacked is their "consumer" Linux based OS that tends to be running a very old kernel.
Had a chap from the Canadian government contact me when I worked there, as he'd found several security holes and he didn't get a response from the support team.
The support team manager was for some reason attending CeBit instead of doing his job and no-one wanted to touch that mess while he was away.
Not sure if it ever got resolved, as I left the company after six months. Nothing much seems to have changed.

Synology has had their own fair set of issues with getting hacked, so... Asustor? Thecus?

I'm using an Asustor nas now so keeping an eye on it. I'm currently updating the firmware on it as we speak.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I'm using an Asustor nas now so keeping an eye on it. I'm currently updating the firmware on it as we speak.

They seem to be making fairly decent hardware, although they're a bit behind on the software feature side I'd say.
No idea if they're any safer then the rest, but at least they have a smaller install base and are thus less likely to be a target.
I also don't understand why they don't have an option to allow them to be used as DNS servers.
Two mates of mine have bought one each recently and seem to be reasonably happy with them.
Still bugging me that the OS runs of the mechanical drives and the install image comes on a slow ass USB DOM, just because it costs $2 less than 8GB of eMMC.

 

[Makaveli]

They seem to be making fairly decent hardware, although they're a bit behind on the software feature side I'd say.
I also don't understand why they don't have an option to allow them to be used as DNS servers.
Two mates of mine have bought one each recently and seem to be reasonably happy with them.
Still bugging me that the OS runs of the mechanical drives and the install image comes on a slow ass USB DOM, just because it costs $2 less than 8GB of eMMC.

I'm using a pretty basic model for now as I really only need it to serve media files for playback on the network. Most of the others features on it are turned off, as I prefer to run them from the router directly like an FTP etc. I think last time I checked it was on linux kernel 4.14.

i've been happy with it and running Seagate IronWolf Nas optimized drives in with so the Iron health management stuff works great with this nas.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I'm using a pretty basic model for now as I really only need it to serve media files for playback on the network. Most of the others features on it are turned off, as I prefer to run them from the router directly like an FTP etc. I think last time I checked it was on linux kernel 4.14.

i've been happy with it and running Seagate IronWolf Nas optimized drives in with so the Iron health management stuff works great with this nas.

4.14 is at least an LTS release, but it's five years old, so that's just another lazy software team.
They ought to be on 5.x.
This is so typical for both NAS and router makers.
There are brand new routers shipping with kernel 3.1x which is just insane.
A lot of routers also got stuck on 2.6.39, as the chip makers were too lazy to update to 3.x or claimed it wasn't possible, which was pure BS.
If you're running an x86 CPU there's really no excuse to be on a really old kernel.
That said, I'd rather have a properly patched LTS kernel than some unsupported old crap kernel.
I'm really glad I built my own NAS. OMV is updated all the time and as it's based on Debian, the core underpinnings are always up to date, as long as you install the updates.
Not saying it's perfect and I'm sure it can be hacked, but the chance is a lot lower.

 

[Hifihedgehog]

Meanwhile, three years after the introduction of AMD's first Ryzen APUs, Plex still does not have proper support for AMD Video Core Next (VCN) hardware encoding. So much for the QNAP's 4K UHD transcoding...

Let Plex know you WANT support for AMD's Video Core Next (VCN) hardware encoding by voting for this forum thread on Plex's official forums.

 

[Octavean]

QNAP actually has multiple OSes, the one that got hacked is their "consumer" Linux based OS that tends to be running a very old kernel.
Had a chap from the Canadian government contact me when I worked there, as he'd found several security holes and he didn't get a response from the support team.
The support team manager was for some reason attending CeBit instead of doing his job and no-one wanted to touch that mess while he was away.
Not sure if it ever got resolved, as I left the company after six months. Nothing much seems to have changed.

Synology has had their own fair set of issues with getting hacked, so... Asustor? Thecus?

Sure QNAP has multiple OSes which is why I said “QTS and QuTS” which is two that I am aware of. If you have more examples of QNAP OSes I’d be interested to hear more about it. I vaguely hearing about some other OS but I could be wrong.

Perhaps Synology has their security related issues too but their software is a bit more thoughtful overall. The real advantage companies seem to have in this respect is not being successful enough to have a large installed base and thus are a smaller target (Less interest given to them by hackers).

Admittedly Asustor makes some really interesting models like the Lockerstore 8 and 10.

4.14 is at least an LTS release, but it's five years old, so that's just another lazy software team.
They ought to be on 5.x.
This is so typical for both NAS and router makers.
There are brand new routers shipping with kernel 3.1x which is just insane.
A lot of routers also got stuck on 2.6.39, as the chip makers were too lazy to update to 3.x or claimed it wasn't possible, which was pure BS.
If you're running an x86 CPU there's really no excuse to be on a really old kernel.
That said, I'd rather have a properly patched LTS kernel than some unsupported old crap kernel.
I'm really glad I built my own NAS. OMV is updated all the time and as it's based on Debian, the core underpinnings are always up to date, as long as you install the updates.
Not saying it's perfect and I'm sure it can be hacked, but the chance is a lot lower.

Building your own is a great option. So too is repurposed older PC hardware and Surplus Enterprise Servers.

I tried TrueNAS some time ago and didn’t much care for it. So I installed Windows Server 2019 on that test box. This worked well until the PSU failed. I still haven’t gotten around to replacing the PSU even though I now have a replacement. I also have an old Dell PowerEdge R720XD (12x 3.5”front HDD version). My issue there with the Dell is that it likely will consume more power then I would like. I can manage that somewhat by removing one of the Xeon E2630L 6 core 12 thread processors and one redundant 750W PSU but I’m reluctant to do that at the moment.

I really like Windows Server 2019 though.

I would like to see a general version of Linux that mimics Synology DSM But the reality is ease of use is a part of why people get into trouble with respect to security

I have a build running XPEnology which is fairly solid but you can’t really update it easily and that is a security issue unto itself.

 

[TheLostSwede]

@Octavean they have this, although I guess it's not quite a NAS OS.

QNE Network OS | Networking, Computing, Application Services and Cloud management | QNAP

QNE Network is an Enterprise-grade network virtualization platform offering highly-efficient and flexible virtualization service deployment

www.qnap.com

Then it's their router OS and this https://www.qnap.com/en-us/software/quwan-vrouter-edition

I guess we forgot about Terramaster, another less popular choice.

 

[Octavean]

@Octavean they have this, although I guess it's not quite a NAS OS.

QNE Network OS | Networking, Computing, Application Services and Cloud management | QNAP

QNE Network is an Enterprise-grade network virtualization platform offering highly-efficient and flexible virtualization service deployment

www.qnap.com

Then it's their router OS and this https://www.qnap.com/en-us/software/quwan-vrouter-edition

I guess we forgot about Terramaster, another less popular choice.

Yeah, there is that. Not sure I would trust it though. I mean, I wouldn’t use it.

The QNAP QHora routers and QNAP managed switches looked fairly good IMO and I was tempted. However, when you start to think in terms of security you start to think you can do better,...

 

[TheLostSwede]

Yeah, there is that. Not sure I would trust it though. I mean, I wouldn’t use it.

The QNAP QHora routers and QNAP managed switches looked fairly good IMO and I was tempted. However, when you start to think in terms of security you start to think you can do better,...

Considering how many security holes that the big players like Cisco has had over the years, does it really matter?
I guess for that segment, you wouldn't be a target if you used QNAP, unless they had some super obvious bug or security hole.
They have really good pricing on their 2.5 and 10Gbps gear, which is actually quite surprising.
I'm not so sure I'd want to try this though.

QMiro-201W | Next-Generation SD-WAN Router

To embrace the new normal of remote working, businesses must deploy both a remote VPN that is quickly accessible by multi-location users, and a high-speed in-premises solution covering wired and wireless connections. The QMiro-201W supports an enterprise-grade SD-WAN VPN solution to enable...

www.qnap.com

It really looks terrible, I mean, they couldn't have been so poor that they couldn't have been able to afford a better design, or?
And that makes you wonder about the rest of the device.

Seems like this is a brand new thing too, a hybrid router/NAS?
I'm really at a loss for words.

QMiroPlus-201W | Next-Generation 2.5GbE NAS and SD-WAN Router

To embrace the new normal of remote working, businesses must deploy not only a remote VPN that is quickly accessible by multi-location users, but also a high-speed in-premises wireless network and a smarter file storage solution. The QMiroPlus-201W with QNAP Home Cloud 2.0 Solution combines a...

www.qnap.com

Then they have their FreeBSD based OS

QES 2.1

QES 2.1 adopts ZFS, supports OpenStack, and provides high-performance all-flash solution.

www.qnap.com

Someone I know (who's from Brazil) use to work on that, but they screwed up so bad that they couldn't move to the next kernel and are as far as I know, still stuck with backporting new features to their bizarre OS. He got so frustrated in the end that he quit after three years...

 

[stimpy88]

I pulled the trigger on the 8 bay version, to replace my Intel based ts-251 with the oh-so-lovely FSB bug (Class action lawsuit anyone?) which spontaneously killed it, it literally shut down and never worked again! Luckily I could just put the drives in the 873a and it worked like a charm.

I won't buy another Intel based NAS again after that experience.

I will say that QTS is awful, slow, and always accessing the disks for no known reason, even on the 873a.