A Look Inside

Removing the side cover was a very easy procedure since we only had to mess with two screws at the rear. However, taking the mainboard out of the chassis wasn't as easy since we had to remove the metal HDD cage along with the metal plate that covers the mainboard.


The small mainboard is underpopulated, and a significant part of its real-estate is taken up by the CPU's heatsink.


At the mainboard's solder side are a few ICs along with half of the memory modules, which are soldered into place.


Eight Samsung K4B2G1646Q-BYK0 modules are soldered to the front and rear of the mainboard. This means that RAM upgrades aren't possible, which is a great shame.


This NAS uses an Intel J3160 quad-core Celeron processor with 2MB of cache. The CPU boosts up to 2.24 GHz, is compatible with Intel's Virtualization Technology, and supports the AES-NI instructions set. This CPU belongs to the Braswell family, making it one of Bay Trail's successor. The J3160 includes a DirectX 11.2 compatible GPU, a DDR3L controller that supports up to 8 GB of memory, and is manufactured on a 14 nanometer lithography process. With a TDP of only 6 W, it doesn't require active cooling. We should note here that the J3160 has the same TDP as the dual-core N3050, which is used in the AS3102T NAS and seems strange since it has two additional cores.


The CPU is powered by a 2-phase buck regulator. Each of these phases uses a Texas Instruments CSD87588N synchronous buck power block. Think of it as a tiny PSU that can provide up to 90% efficiency with 20A load.

The filtering caps are by Apaq, a Taiwanese manufacturer. We would prefer Japanese caps, but these are polymer caps, which means they will last much longer than electrolytic caps, and Taiwanese cap manufacturers are usually a step above Chinese ones when it comes to quality.


A Texas Instruments SN75DP139 controller provides compatibility with the HDMI 1.4b standard. To put it simply, this IC takes the DisplayPort's input signal and transforms it into an HDMI output signal with support for up to 4K resolutions and 3D content.


The monitoring IC is an ITE IT8728F.


The single Gigabit Ethernet port is controlled by a Broadcom BCM57781 IC.


The NAS server's flash memory is by ADATA.


Here are the CMOS battery and the speaker.


The mainboard is equipped with an IR receiver for a remote control Asustor provides as an option.


This is the front USB 3.0 port.


The GStek GS7612 plays the role of a power switch; however, it is much faster as its typical rise time is 400us, or 0.0004 seconds.


At the solder side of the mainboard is a Texas Instruments TXB0104, which is a voltage-level translator IC. This IC allows low voltage devices like SoCs or other ICs to work with higher voltage rating parts (e.g. relays or sensors) without producing damaging current or signal losses.


The SATA expansion card occupies the mainboard's only PCIe slot and hosts two SATA connectors.


The fan is by YS Tech, and its model number is FD127025HB (70 mm, 12V, 5000 RPM, 40.5 CFM, 41 dBA). The manufacturer states this fan to use double ball-bearings; it also has a lifetime of up to 75,000 hours. The same exact fan is used in the AS3102T.