Whereas mechanical arduous drives are nonetheless the most suitable choice for residence NAS servers, SSDs are reasonably priced sufficient that they are a respectable various. Most NAS servers embrace at the least two M.2 drives that provide the skill to enhance conventional storage with ultra-fast SSDs, however in the event you do not need to hassle with mechanical drives in any respect, there’s one other selection.
UGREEN’s DXP480T Plus is likely one of the most intriguing choices within the model’s fledgling portfolio. I reviewed the DXP4800 Plus just a few weeks in the past, and the 4-bay server has one of the best {hardware} configuration in its class. With the DXP480T Plus, UGREEN is taking a distinct path — this NAS server is a 3rd of the scale because the DXP4800 Plus, and that is as a result of it has simply M.2 slots; there is no method so as to add a typical 3.5-inch HDD.
All-flash NAS storage servers are slowly gaining momentum, and with a 4TB Gen. 4 SSD selling for as low as $226, it is not arduous to see why. SSDs are far more dependable than HDDs as they have no shifting components, and when you’ve got a 2.5GbE or 10GbE residence community, they’ve significantly better headroom.
So if you wish to swap to all-flash storage, the DXP480T Plus may be your best option proper now.
UGREEN DXP480T Plus: Pricing and availability
UGREEN unveiled its NASync collection on March 26, and in contrast to many of the model’s choices, you possibly can’t purchase the NAS servers by way of its web site or Amazon. That can come later, however for now, you may have to go the crowdsourcing route; the products are listed on Kickstarter, and you may get your fingers on the DXP480T Plus for $519. That is a full 35% off its $799 retail worth, and as of writing, there are 639 items (out of 1000) left at this tier.
UGREEN says it is going to begin deliveries by June 2024, and that’s in keeping with the remainder of its NAS fashions being crowdfunded on Kickstarter proper now. There’s just one variant of the DXP480T Plus, and it comes with 8GB of RAM that may be upgraded to 64GB, 4 M.2 drive bays, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, one 10 Gigabit Ethernet port, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port with 10Gbps bandwidth.
| Class | UGREEN DXP480T Plus |
|---|---|
| Inside drive bays | 4 (4TB every bay), M.2 2280 |
| Community interface | 1 x 10 Gigabit Ethernet |
| USB ports | 1 x USB 3.2 Gen2, 10Gbps |
| Thunderbolt 4 | Two |
| PCIe | ❌ |
| HDMI | Sure, HDMI 2.0b port |
| CPU | 4.4GHz twelfth Gen Intel Core i5-1235U |
| Plex transcoding | Sure |
| RAM | 8GB DDR5 non-ECC, upgradeable to 64GB |
UGREEN DXP480T Plus: Design
Most 4-bay NAS servers are massive and hulking, however as a result of the DXP480T Plus does not must take care of 3.5-inch drive bays, it has a diminutive dimension. The design is extra in keeping with that of a mini-PC, and whereas the exterior design is made out of plastic, construct high quality is great. This can be a product that appears and feels premium, and whereas it’s considerably smaller than different NAS servers, it has nice cooling potential.
There are vents on three sides that help in passive cooling, and the underside of the DXP480T Plus has two followers that actively cool the M.2 drive bays. The followers are much like what you get on most notebooks, they usually get loud; I’d have most well-liked an even bigger fan with higher cooling, however the sheer dimension of the unit limits it.
UGREEN bundles a good set of equipment within the field, together with an Ethernet cable, thermal pads to connect to the M.2 SSDs housed within the enclosure, and an set up information. Whereas it is nice to see the model bundling thermal pads — they’re important on this product — they disintegrated as I used to be attaching them to the SSDs, so I went with an aftermarket resolution.
The entrance of the NAS has the ability button and the model’s tagline, Shield What You Love, highlighted. The usual UGREEN emblem would have been higher as a substitute, however that’s positioned on the prime.
Accessing the M.2 slots is easy; there are two screws on the underside, and the panel comes away to disclose the 4 M.2 2280 slots. What I like concerning the panel is that the followers are housed inside, they usually’re linked by way of magnetic pins to the NAS.
General, UGREEN did a terrific job with the design of the DXP480T Plus, and it is likely one of the smallest all-flash storage options round.
UGREEN DXP480T Plus: Ports and connectivity
The DXP480T Plus homes 4 M.2 2280 drive bays, and it holds as much as a complete of 16TB of storage — a most of 4TB every drive. There’s loads to love relating to the ports, with the NAS providing two Thunderbolt 4 ports together with HDMI out, USB 3.2 Gen 2, and a ten Gigabit Ethernet port.
The NAS comes with 8GB of DDR5 RAM as normal, and it has two SO-DIMM slots that allow you to add as much as 64GB of whole storage. Nonetheless, accessing these slots is a little bit of a problem as you want to dismantle the underside housing. That stated, you will not have to do it greater than as soon as.
What I like about UGREEN’s NAS servers is that the model features a 128GB M.2 2242 drive out of the field; the web-based OS is housed on this drive, and it makes configuring the DXP480T Plus a breeze.
UGREEN DXP480T Plus: Efficiency
Powering the DXP480T Plus is an Alder Lake-based Intel Core i5-1235U. It has 10 cores and 12 threads in whole, goes as much as 4.4GHz, and is a superb selection in a NAS server as you get {hardware} transcoding. You’ll be able to’t do a lot with that simply but, because the software program itself remains to be in beta.
UGREEN has a customized OS known as UGOS that powers its NAS servers, and it’s not in a usable state as of writing. It is clear that for this reason the model took the crowdfunding route as a substitute of releasing the NASync collection on its web site, and whereas it is simple sufficient to see that the software program has numerous potential, that is nonetheless some methods away.
The interface itself seems to be clear, and also you get a superb set of utilities to observe storage and tweak the settings of the NAS. There is a international search function that is fairly nifty, however once more, it is not fairly dependable simply but. As such, most of my testing was carried out in SMB mode, and in that regard, the all-flash storage has loads to supply. On my 10GbE community, I constantly bought writes of over 540MB/s when shifting knowledge between servers, with reads of 700MB/s.
That is clearly far more than what you get with an HDD, and you may simply maximize the potential of multi-Gigabit connectivity with the DXP480T Plus. However on the subject of media streaming and backing up knowledge, the NAS nonetheless has a protracted option to go.
UGREEN DXP480T Plus: The competitors
ASUSTOR additionally has an all-flash storage providing dubbed the Flashstor FS6706T, and it homes six M.2 bays. It does not have Thunderbolt 4 connectivity or 10GbE, however you get twin 2.5GbE ports, and three USB ports on the again. The {hardware} is not as highly effective, with the unit rocking an Intel N5105. And coming in at $449, you don’t get one of the best worth.
UGREEN DXP480T Plus: Must you purchase it?
You can purchase this if:
- You need one of the best {hardware} bundle on this section
- You desire a NAS with a diminutive design
- You want Thunderbolt 4 connectivity
You should not purchase this if:
- You need polished software program out of the field
In the end, the DXP480T Plus has one of the best {hardware} of any all-flash storage servers round at this time. The truth that you get twin Thunderbolt 4 ports and 10GbE connectivity permits it to face out significantly, and even though it is on Kickstarter, $519 is a steal for the caliber of {hardware} you are getting.
The Core i5-1235U is considerably extra highly effective than one of the best residence NAS servers, which often use Intel’s N-series designs. And with 4 M.2 2280 drive bays obtainable, you may have sufficient headroom for storage. The one unknown is the software program; UGREEN says it is going to ship a usable construct by the point these drives exit to backers, and I’ll replace the publish at the moment to see if the software program holds as much as established rivals.
That stated, UGOS has a strong basis, and in the event you do not thoughts ready for the steady construct to roll out, the DXP480T Plus is a standout selection at $519. That will not be the case as soon as it hits retail availability, so if you wish to swap to an all-flash NAS and want to maximise worth, you may have to act now.
