Specifications

A Marvell Marvell Armada 385 SoC is the brains of this NAS. It incorporates a dual-core 1.8 GHz CPU with 1 MB of L3 cache. This SoC supports up to three Gigabit ports, but the RS816 only has two, which is enough for this server's most likely usage scenarios. The other features of the Marvell Armada 3858 (88F6820) include its support of two USB 3.0 and two SATA 3.0 ports and its very low TDP of 5 W.



There is only 1 GB of DDR3 RAM for the CPU, and although the hardware requirements for DSM are low, more RAM would have been nice, especially since RAM modules are very affordably priced nowadays. This NAS can accommodate up to four disks and can be connected to a Synology RX415 expansion unit for four more disks because it has an eSATA port.

There are a total of 16 IP camera channels, with two provided for free. The RS816 is compatible with Synology's Group 2 multimedia category, which includes products that can transcode video files at up to 720p resolution.

This NAS server's dimensions make it compatible with all racks, and its restricted height will only occupy 1U of space. There are also three small fans to handle the system's cooling, but it is quite expensive for its low hardware specifications. However, rackmount capability doesn't come cheap since it takes a very particular design that minimizes the server's height.

This unit is equipped with an internal PSU of high quality despite its limited height, capable of delivering its full power (100 W) at up to 50 °C ambient. The PSU's high temperature rating clearly points us toward this product's orientation, which is that of a business environments with tough operating conditions.