QNAP Launches TS-1277 NAS Powered by AMD’s Ryzen CPUs: 12 Bays, 64 GB DDR4, Starts at $2,299

QNAP demonstrated its upcoming 12-bay NAS devices at Computex 2017, including most notably models powered by AMD’s Ryzen processors. The NAS will support HDDs and SSDs in various form-factors and will start at $2,299. In addition, the company is prepping 6-bay and 8-bay NAS featuring AMD’s Ryzen CPUs that will be more affordable.

The QNAP TS-1277 series NASes are powered by AMD’s Ryzen 7 1700 or Ryzen 5 1600 CPUs with eight and six cores respectively, and come with up to 64 GB of DDR4-2400 DRAM. All the systems use four GbE ports to connect to networks and have eight 3.5”/2.5” bays as well as four 2.5” bays for various SATA storage devices. As you’d expect for a NAS, there’s a multitude of RAID options available, with the NAS hardware able to tap the large number of drives here for RAID 50/60 operation. In addition, the NASes feature two M.2 slots (up to M.2-22110) for SSDs that can cache frequently used data.

Meanwhile, the TS-1277 has one PCIe 3.0 x8 and two PCIe 3.0 x4 slots, and thus can be upgraded with QNAP’s QM2 PCIe cards, which offer options such as 10GbE networking and additional M.2 slots. For those who needs to have access to the TS-1277 from a local PC or to a DAS, the NAS has two USB 3.1 ports (Type-A and Type-C) and five USB 3.0 headers (Type-A). As for power, the TS-1277 is equipped with a 550 W PSU and can handle all kinds of HDDs and SSDs (as long as they are compatible with SATA-6G and do not require management by the host) as well as almost any graphics card in the PCIe 3.0 x8 slot.

The 12-bay TS-1277 NAS will not be the only model based on AMD’s Ryzen CPUs from QNAP. Along the high-end SKU, QNAP will also introduce more affordable solutions featuring six and eight bays: the TS-677 and the TS-877 with 250 W and 450 W PSUs, respectively. As for feature set, all QNAP’s TS-x77 NAS will run the company’s QTS 4.3 OS and will support the same capabilities as other NAS from the manufacturer.

QNAP is the first NAS manufacturer to start using AMD’s Ryzen processors for network area storage. AMD’s CPUs traditionally have strong integer performance, making them a good fit for NAS tasks. Meanwhile, the high core counts of the Ryzen CPUs also enables QNAP to position their TS-1277/TS-877/TS-677 NASes for hosting virtual machines or containerized applications. During a conversation at Computex, QNAP also mentioned that the prices of AMD’s Ryzen processors (relative to its rivals) were also a major factor in their decision to use Ryzen CPUs for NASes.

Gallery: Overview of QNAP TS-x77 NAS with AMD Ryzen CPUs

QNAP plans to start selling its AMD Ryzen-based 12-bay TS-1277 NAS in late July. The top-of-the-range model with a Ryzen 7 1700 and 64 GB of memory will cost $3,099, a slightly cheaper SKU with the same processor, but 32 GB of DDR4 will retail for $2,599, whereas the most affordable configuration powered by AMD’s six-core Ryzen 5 1600 will be available for $2,299.

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ASRock Gives AMD Ryzen Mini-ITX Treatment, Launches X370 Gaming ITX/ac

ASRock has introduced a miniature motherboard for AMD Ryzen microprocessors, one of a few such motherboards in the industry. Despite being very small, the X370 Gaming ITX/ac offers everything that a fairly powerful gaming system might require and its price is not too high.

The ASRock X370 Gaming ITX/ac is based on the AMD X370 chipset and supports all currently available processors in the AM4 form-factor, including A-series APUs as well as all Ryzen CPUs. The motherboard has a digital eight-phase VRM for the CPU designed to guarantee clean power supply (stability, overclocking potential, etc.). According to ASRock, the mainboard can handle DDR4-3200+ memory (assuming that particular modules work well with AMD Ryzen processors). The new platform has two DIMM slots in total.

Like many other motherboards in the Mini-ITX form-factor, the X370 Gaming ITX/ac has one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, one M.2 slot for PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA SSDs, as well as four SATA ports. Meanwhile in a light bit of irony, the mainboard uses GbE and 802.11ac Wi-Fi controllers from Intel. As for other I/O, everything seems to be pretty standard here: the motherboard has two HDMI outputs, five USB 2.0 ports, six USB 3.0 headers (including one Type-C) as well as a 7.1-channel audio powered by Realtek ALC1220 codec with Creative’s Sound Blaster Cinema 3 enhancing software.

At present, the ASRock X370 Gaming ITX/ac has only one direct rival, the Biostar Racing X370GTN introduced earlier this year. The Racing X370GTN does not have Wi-Fi support, but it has two USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) headers, including one Type-C. Meanwhile, the X370 Gaming ITX/ac seems to have a more advanced VRM for those looking forward overclocking capabilities.

The ASRock X370 Gaming ITX/ac will be available in the coming weeks for $150 – $160, according to the manufacturer. Keep in mind that since there are only two AMD X370-based Mini-ITX motherboards announced so far and small form-factor systems are gaining traction, demand for the X370 Gaming ITX/ac will be very high. That said, don’t be surprised if there’s some overpricing from select retailers.

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Mighty Mini-ITX: ASRock X299E-ITX/ac with 4 Channel DDR4 and 3xM.2 Support

ASRock has announced one of the industry’s first Mini-ITX motherboards for Intel’s latest Core X processors in the LGA2066 packaging. The new X299E-ITX/ac is small, but it takes full advantage of Intel’s new X299 platform, offering support for all CPUs with up to 18 cores, quad-channel DDR4 memory on the higher-end CPUs, three PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots as well as everything that one might expect from a Mini-ITX board, including Wi-Fi.

Besides being a miniature motherboard for Intel’s HEDT processors, the most important aspect of the ASRock X299E-ITX/ac is support for quad-channel memory in this form-factor. The company’s previous-gen Intel X99-based Mini-ITX mainboard was feature-packed, but one of the things it missed was the quad-channel memory sub-system, which had an expected negative effect on performance in applications that required high memory bandwidth. By contrast, the new unit has four SO-DIMM DDR4 memory slots and even supports DDR4 overclocking (assuming that there are SO-DIMMs that can be significantly overclocked). In fact, putting four memory slots onto a small motherboard while also fitting the LGA 2066 socket and required high-capactiy VRMs is a rather remarkable engineering achievement. The flip side however is that the very tightly packed design of the X299E-ITX/ac may impose certain limitations on compatibility with large cooling systems.

Just like every other Mini-ITX motherboard around, the ASRock X299E-ITX/ac has only one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot for graphics cards. In the meantime, the X299E-ITX/ac is the first miniature mainboard to feature three M.2 slots (PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA) for SSDs. In addition, the board carries six SATA 6 Gbps headers for builds that require multiple storage devices in drive form-factor. It is noteworthy that in order to fit everything it wanted onto a Mini-ITX PCB, ASRock had to place the USB 3.1 controller, SATA ports and one M.2 slot on custom DIMM-like modules – essentially going vertical when they ran out of horizontal space. Such modules add certain dimension-related limitations to the size of CPU radiators (plus, it remains to be seen how higher-end M.2 SSDs perform when located near a CPU cooler), but this is a tradeoff that the manufacturer had to take.

As for connectivity, the X299E-ITX/ac comes with a 2×2 802.11ac Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2 module (based on an Intel controller), two GbE ports (Intel controllers too), two USB 3.1 headers  (Type-A and Type-C), six USB 3.0 connectors, 7.1-channel audio sub-system (enabled by the Realtek ALC1220 controller) and so on.

The ASRock X299E-ITC/ac will be available in the coming months for about $280 – $300, depending on the region and other factors. Such a price point is considerably higher than MSRPs of most Mini-ITX motherboards, but given the fact that this is a very high-end platform (with equally high component requirements) aimed at enthusiasts, it is not unusual. In fact, from many standpoint it may be considered as an entry-level X299 board simply because it does not provide opulence of its bigger brethren.

Related Reading:

• ASUS Announces ROG STRIX H270I & B250I Mini-ITX Motherboards
• ZOTAC Announces GeForce GTX 1080 for Mini-ITX PCs
• Lian Li PC-Q37 Announced: Two-Stage Mini-ITX Chassis with Tempered Glass
• The ASUS Maximus VIII Impact Z170 ROG Mini-ITX Motherboard Review