A Look Inside

Dismantling this NAS is a straightforward affair. You have to, firstly, remove the bottom cover, before removing around half a dozen screws along the fan's header in order to take the top cover out. We didn't come across any warranty stickers, which we found very strange, but it may just be that QNAP's review samples don't feature any such stickers.


Here's a picture of the TBS-453A in three pieces.


The small mainboard is brimming with parts. We will mention the most important ones below.


The backside of the PCB looks empty; however, it does host some interesting components.


The CPU is an Intel Celeron N3150 with four cores. These run at 1.6 GHz and are capable of bursting to frequencies of 2.08 GHz. This CPU's TDP is only 6 W, so there is no need for active cooling. Although the heatsink isn't large, it will do just fine without a fan. This specific CPU supports up to 8 GB of memory and Intel's Quick Sync Video technology, which will allow this SOC to handle video conversions well.


We spotted a Texas Instruments SN74LVC07A hex buffer/driver on the right side of the CPU. This IC provides electrical impedance transformation from one circuit to another, which allows two incompatible circuits to communication through voltage or current signals. On the CPU's left side are the VRMs that feed it with power. According to the number of coils, there are four of these. There is also a Macronix MX25U6435F Serial Flash module here.


A Macronix MX25L4006E standard serial interface is installed on the mainboard.


A Realtek ALC262 is the audio codec. It is a basic audio IC with support for 2+2 channels.


An ITE IT8528E is used on the mainboard.


The power management IC that handles power delivery to the PSU is an IDT-P9180-M1NHGI.


We found a PIC16F1518 8-bit microcontroller on the mainboard, along with an ASMedia ASM1062 Serial ATA Advantage HCI controller.


The controller of the embedded switch is a Realtek RTL8367N with support for up to five ports. Another Realtek controller, an RTL8111E, handles one of the Gigabit Ethernet ports. The second Ethernet controller is an Intel WGI210AT. The different Ethernet controllers probably make LACP (port teaming) impossible.


A Toshiba THGBMBG5 4 GB e-MMC module is the system's flash memory.


Two ASMedia ASM1442K handle both HDMI ports.