A Look Inside

It's now time to strip the NAS down to unearth which components it hides inside its casing.


Although only one screw is involved in taking apart the DS214play, it isn't an easy procedure since you need to apply a considerable amount of force to the plastic enclosure.


The mainboard may be small, but has all the necessary components to fully support a modern NAS.



The single PCIe slot is located on the solder side of the mainboard.


The only PCIe slot of the mainboard is occupied by a SATA expansion card that has been bolted to the drive cage.


The DS214play's CPU is an Intel Evansport CE5335. It features two cores that run at 1.6 GHz. This CPU is, since it features a pretty low TDP, cooled passively by a small, low-profile heatsink.


Four Samsung 1GB DDR3 RAM ICs are soldered to the board, right next to the CPU heatsink. Their model number is K4B2G1646E-BCK0.


The USB 3.0 controller is an EtronTech EJ168A.


The gigabit Ethernet controller is a Realtek RTL8211E IC.


A Silicon Image SiI3531A, one-lane PCI Express-to-single-port Serial ATA (SATA) II host-controller handles the mainboard's single eSATA port.


A GL836 IC, the USB 2.0 Dual SD-card reader's controller.


Under this sticker lies a Lattice LC4064V-75TN100I PLD (Programmable Logic Device). It stores that portion of DSM essential to booting up the system. The main part of DSM installs on the HDDs.


There is also a PIC16F883 8-bit micro-controller on the mainboard.


Nothing but polymer caps are used on the mainboard, and all of them are provided by Japanese companies (Nippon Chemi-Con, FPCAP and SANYO/OS-CON), so their quality is very high.


The battery and the buzzer of the mainboard.


The 92mm diameter fan is provided by Y.S. Tech, and its model number is FD129225LL-N (12 V, 0.12 A, 1900 RPM, 36.3 CFM). It is the exact same fan as in the high-end DS713+ model. Its speed is kept at low RPMs while the NAS operates normally, which minimizes noise output. Y.S Tech says it to be equipped with Sintetico bearings, which look to be of high quality and should last longer than sleeve- or double-ball bearings.