A Look Inside

It only took us around five minutes to completely dismantle the DS416 since we have had time to familiarize ourselves with this particular Synology chassis. However, the whole procedure can be tricky for inexperienced users (or reviewers) because a good amount of force needs to be applied to remove the covers. If you are not careful or apply too much force, you can easily break the plastic clips that hold together this two-part chassis. However, such a mishap shouldn't happen since users shouldn't have to take apart the DS416.


The mainboard is very small, and the Alpine AL-212 SoC is passively cooled because of its low TDP.


The solder side of the mainboard looks empty, and we spotted several EMI pads that short and ground some of the mainboard's areas within the chassis in an effort to suppress EMI on this side.


The DDR3 Samsung RAM DIMMs (K4B2G0846Q-BCK0) have a capacity of 1 GB and are soldered to the mainboard, which makes upgrading their capacity impossible. While Synology's DSM OS is very light on resources—which should even have 1 GB suffice in most cases—we would have liked the option to upgrade the RAM total.


An Altera 5M80Z Complex Programmable Logic Device, or CPLD for short, stores the server's configuration. As you can see in the first of the above photos, the IC was hiding behind a sticker we had to remove in order to identify it.


The two USB 3.0 ports in the rear are controlled by an EtronTech EJ168A. We also discovered an eSATA port on the same board, which was a big surprise. It, however, isn't accessible since the chassis lacks an opening for it. We don't know why Synology chose to block access to this port off. We suspect that Synology didn't want to create any internal competition by providing the DS416 with the ability to expand its storage capacity with an expansion unit. Whatever the reason, this port should be made available.


At the solder side of the mainboard are two PCIe ports. Both are occupied by the SATA expansion board and the one that holds the USB 3.0 and eSATA ports.


We spotted a PIC16F1829 8-bit microcontroller on the mainboard.


Here is a Macronix MX25U6435F Serial Flash module.


A pair of Fairchild FDMS0309AS mosfets are used by the mainboard's DC-DC converters.


Here is a Semtech SC417 stand-alone buck regulator that integrates power MOSFETs, a boot-strap switch, and a programmable LDO (linear voltage regulator).


A pair of Realtek RTL8211DN controllers handle the Ethernet ports.


The USB 3.0 port at the front is controlled by an EtronTech EJ168A.


Here is the NAS server's SATA expansion board.


The two fans are by Y.S Tech, and their model number is FD129225LL-N (92mm, 12V, 0.12A, 1900RPM, 36.3CFM). Their speed is kept low for as long as the unit operates normally, which keeps noise output quite low. According to Y.S Tech, the fans use Sintetico bearings, which look to be of high quality. According to Y.S Tech, this bearing type will also last much longer than a sleeve bearing.