A Look Inside

Breaking apart the XN3002T isn't hard. One screw at the rear holds the two main pieces together. With it gone, you have to remove a number of screws to remove the chassis—it holds the main board and HDD cage—from the plastic enclosure.


As you can see, we completely dismantled the XN3002T to take a good look at its internals.


The mainboard is small, but packed with parts.


The CPU heatsink is quite large since it doesn't use a cooling fan. Underneath it is an Intel Celeron 1.1 GHz quad-core processor. A stronger CPU would be much more appropriate for a NAS of this price range, but a larger heatsink might be required.


One of two RAM slots is occupied by a 4 GB Kingston CBD16D3LS1KBG/4G module rated at 1600 MHz with 1.35 V.


This is the server's flash memory, a Toshiba TC58TEG6DDLTA00 19nm MLC NAND with a capacity of 8 GB.


There is a voltage regulation module right below the CPU socket. It consists of an array of capacitors, two coils, and a pair of FETs.


In the photo above are a NCP81203 dual output phase buck controller suitable for Intel CPUs, ATMLH614 EEPROM, Nexperia 74AVCH4T245D dual supply translating transceiver, and a Texas Instruments TPS54521 Synchronous step-down converter.


Here's another voltage regulation module (VRM) using a couple of On Semiconductor NTMFD4C85N FETs along with a pair of polymer filtering caps provided by Sanyo.


We found a couple of Anpec APW8720B PWM controllers on the board.


A Nuvoton NCT5523D MCU handles the mainboard's input and output functions. Right next to it (on the left side) are two 74AVCH4T245 Nexperia ICs.


This is a Texas Instruments PCA9546AD bidirectional translating switch.


This is a MB3223I RS-232 line driver/receiver IC.


Another IC from Texas Instruments, a YE08 bidirectional voltage-level translator.


The rear of the mainboard is nearly completely devoid of components. Still, there are some interesting ICs and controllers here. The two Intel WGI211AT Ethernet controllers are installed here.


As per usual, there are lots of small MLCC caps on the CPU socket to help keep the voltages in control under even transient loads.


This is the SATA expansion card on to which the removable drives are mounted. It has a socket for receiving additional power from the system's power supply. On it, we find a Marvell 88SE9235-NAA2 SATA controller that can handle up to four SATA ports.


The cooling fan measures 70 mm across and is provided by Adda. Its model number is AD0712UB-A7BGL (12V, 0.3A) and uses a double ball bearing.