28 - 03 - 2024
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INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

qnap ts 470 proa

   Sometimes i feel that things are moving so fast in the electronics and PC hardware industry that i simply can't afford to look the other way not even for a minute. Take for example NAS devices/servers. It hasn't been more than a month since i last checked all the available models by the 4 leading manufacturers (QNAP, Thecus, ASUSTOR and Synology) and right now there are at least 10 more available ones in their product lines (some already available in retail and some just announced). So that alone means that things must be going even better for all those manufacturers than the last time i checked several sales charts almost half a year ago and with so many people using NAS servers at home for various things such as for file sharing, downloads, video recording and media playback that doesn't really come as a surprise. Today with us we have one of the latest high-end NAS servers to hit the market by QNAP the TurboNAS TS-470 Pro.

 

   QNAP Systems, Inc., as its brand promise "Quality Network Appliance Provider", aims to deliver comprehensive offerings of cutting edge network attached storage (NAS) and network video recorder (NVR) solutions featured with ease-of-use, robust operation, large storage capacity, and trustworthy reliability. QNAP integrates technologies and designs to bring forth quality products that effectively improve business efficiency on file sharing, virtualization applications, storage management and surveillance in the business environments, as well as enrich entertainment life for home users with the offering of a fun multimedia center experience. Headquartered in Taipei, QNAP delivers its solutions to the global market with nonstop innovation and passion.

 

   We've been waiting for the TS-470 Pro ever since it was announced for one single reason, the Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz dual-core CPU it wears which is one of the most advanced models currently used in NAS servers so it's really obvious that we just had to see how it does against all the models we've tested in the past. Of course the 2GB DDR3 RAM along with the 512MB DOM flash featured here are also very important for the performance of a NAS server but the downside with the TS-470 Pro is that the RAM is not expandable so if you get the regular version you are pretty much stuck with it. Luckily for some of you out there QNAP became aware of this issue shortly after launch and their solution was as obvious as it was simple so as we speak they've also made available the TS-470 Pro-16G model which comes ready with 16GB of DDR3 RAM (!!!). The TS-470 Pro also comes ready with two Intel WG82574L GbE Ethernet ports, 2 eSATA ports, two USB 3.0 ports (Etron EJ188H controller), two USB 2.0 ports, 4 SATA III ports (via the Marvell 88SE9235 PCIex card) and exactly like with the TS-470 you can also purchase and install the extra 10GbE PCIex card by QNAP if you happen to have compatible equipment. So let's see just how better the much promising TS-470 Pro is not only compared to the TS-470 but also with every single NAS server in our charts.

 


 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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As with most NAS servers by QNAP the TS-470 Pro is packed inside a white box that has a product image at the front, the main product features and a small drawing pointing to their QTS OS.

 

 

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The Cloud and App features of the TS-470 Pro (or better the QTS OS) are mentioned on the left side.

 

 

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Once again on the right side we see the features list written in 23 languages and placed right above two product pictures.

 

 

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At the rear QNAP showcases their QTS (QNAP Turbo System) software along with some of the product stations.

 

 

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The usual thank you message and the 5 2D barcodes used to point to QNAPs support page and social media pages can be seen once you open the box.

 

 

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The device is placed inside two thick Styrofoam spacers while the rest of the bundle sits inside a cardboard box.

 

 

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Alongside the TurboNAS TS-470 Pro NAS Server you will also find 2 Ethernet cables, AC power cable, two tray keys, quick installation guide, software CD and three small plastic bags with the required HDD mounting screws.

 


 

THE TURBONAS TS-470 PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The design QNAP has been using for their NAS servers remains the same no matter how many years go by so once again the enclosure measures 235mm in length, 180mm in width and 177mm in height with a weight of 4.56Kg.

 

 

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A small section on the left side of the chassis is perforated allowing hot air to exit.

 

 

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The fascia is identical to that of the TS-470 so again here we see the on/off power button, one touch copy button, USB 2.0 port, activity LEDs and the VFW screen with its two navigation buttons.

 

 

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The HDD sequence sticker can be found at the top of the device.

 

 

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You can access the myQNAPcloud feature of the QTS either by going to the URL or by using your smartphone to scan the 2D barcode.

 

 

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All 4 aluminum drive trays feature locks and can hold both 2.5" and 3.5" drives.

 

 

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The rear of the TS-470 Pro is also identical to that of the TS-470 so again we find the PSU exhaust, 90mm exhaust fan, headphones and microphone ports, two eSATA ports, two GbE ports, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI port, Kensington lock and an empty PCIe adapter slot.

 

 

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The device sits on 4 round rubber feet but don't let that fool you since they did slightly scratch the wood of my new desk when i placed it on.

 

 

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Removing the top cover is very easy and by doing so we see that the PSU used is made by FSP, can output up to 250W and is 80 Plus Bronze certified.

 

 

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The 512MB flash DOM is manufactured by Apacer and as you can see the TS-470 Pro probably uses the same mainboard as the TS-470 and TS-670 Pro.

 


 

SETUP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The very first thing you need to do is check online for a new available firmware since QNAP updates that page quite often.

 

 

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The setup procedure can be performed through an explorer window, you just need to select the preferred option between home and business and follow the instructions.

 

 

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You can also setup the preferred RAID mode for the installed drives or leave it for later on (here you can see that we once again used 4 Enterprise Capacity V3 4TB HDDs by Seagate).

 


 

WEB INTERFACE PART 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The QTS has two available login screens.

 

 

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The GUI screen looks great as always and so at the root screen you will find the icons of the main available/installed stations.

 

 

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The very detailed resource monitor can be accessed from the lower left corner while a drop down start-like menu can be accessed from the top left corner.

 

 

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Once again everything goes through the control panel of the QTS.

 

 

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Via the System Settings menu you can set the name for the server, adjust time, set a password, specify your location, adjust the network IP, play around with power options, set notifications, check the state of the installed drives, create RAID and Virtual drives, enable/disable security settings, configure the speed of the fan, check hardware information, setup backup options, access external device settings, check the logs and of course perform firmware updates.

 

 

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The Privilege Settings tab is very basic and allows you to create new users, assign those users to groups, setup shared folders, set specific quotas for each user and configure domain security.

 

 

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From within the Network Services menu you will find everything network-related including FTP settings, Telnet service settings and service discovery settings. You can also setup/configure the Qsync application which allows you to have your files synced between the NAS and your other internet capable devices at all times.

 

 

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In order to use some of the installed stations you will need to enable them from within the Applications tab.

 


 

WEB INTERFACE PART 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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By default the QTS of the TS-470 Pro has several applications/stations installed but you can install a lot more from within the App Center.

 

 

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In order to install the HD Station and the XBMC app after (YouTube also needs HD station) that you will need to do it from this tab (up till this moment however we are having some problems enabling XBMC on our screen).

 

 

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Via the Photo Station you can see and share all your pictures with other PC and mobile devices.

 

 

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With the Music Station you can stream and playback your entire music collection without switching to an external application.

 

 

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One of the things i like about QNAP NAS servers is that you can use the preinstalled Download Station either to download torrent files or directly from HTTP/FTP.

 

 

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As always the File Station allows you to transfer files to and from the NAS and looks quite a bit like the Windows explorer.

 

 

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web31tweb32tweb33tweb34tThe Surveillance Station Pro remains pretty much the same and you can use it with a total of 42 IP cameras from a very large range of manufacturers (even if your camera is not present you can use the several compatibility modes). I was very glad to see that by default the application comes with a license for use with 4 IP cameras.

 


 

TESTING METHODOLOGY – PERFORMANCE RESULTS

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Originally we had decided that since some of the NAS servers/devices we've tested in the past are no longer in our possession (naturally) we would keep performing the exact same testing methodology we did in the past for as long as possible in order to provide accurate comparison results. However since our real-life tests are not enough for some people we also decided to throw in ATTO and Crystal Disk Mark to cover the more demanding users (it will take time to "populate" those charts however). However as always we will be using Seagate Constellation ES.3 4TB SATA III hard disk drive(s) (in order to also perform RAID tests we were able to switch from the old ES.2 model to the ES.3 since we recorded no differences between them when used inside NAS servers) with the unit at hand and perform several upload/download tests with 10.9GB (Single) and 40,8GB (RAID) files. Tests are repeated a total of 4 times after which we record the average numbers (from the 4 peak ones) into our charts. Finally the network device used is the same Netgear DGN3500 Gigabit ADSL2+ Modem/Router we always use when performing tests on NAS servers.

 

SINGLE DISK TESTS

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RAID TESTS

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TEST RESULTS – TEMPERATURES / CONSUMPTION / NOISE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEMPERATURES

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POWER CONSUMPTION

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NOISE LEVELS

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CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

qnap ts 470 prob

   Although i did expect slightly more because of the Intel Core i3-3220 CPU used in the TS-470 Pro the fact remains that we can't (yet) perform 10GbE tests so although it's very clear from our charts that it is currently the fastest NAS server to have passed through here still the performance gap might be even bigger with 10GbE connectivity. Of course thanks to the larger memory (4GB) the N7710-G by Thecus is not that far behind and although QNAP also has the TS-470 Pro-16G model available that comes with 8 times more RAM and should offer higher performance numbers i really think that users should be able to expand the RAM of a high-end model like the TS-470 Pro. Even 2GB however are more than enough to propel the TS-470 Pro at the top of our charts and that's what matters, at least in terms of performance. Moving to power consumption i was surprised not only to see that the N7710-G by Thecus uses much more power but also that both the TS-470 and TS-470 Pro used identical numbers during our tests (on the downside for some reason HDD temperatures were quite higher).

 

   The TurboNAS TS-470 NAS Server by QNAP which we reviewed back in January didn't come cheap so obviously no one here really expected anything less from the more advanced TS-470 Pro model and with a current price set at USD$1.241.12 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 1.125Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) we were right on the spot. Of course you are not paying for no reason at all since the TS-470 Pro is indeed a very fast NAS server that should cover all your needs and then some but since the N7710-G by Thecus costs roughly 15% less and comes ready with an 10GbE PCIex card (you need to spend an extra USD600/500Euros to get the card from QNAP) one must really need the extra CPU power and QTS OS features in order to go for the second. Aside that however we simply can't find anything wrong with the TurboNAS TS-470 Pro and since its target audience is people who care not about cost and because it's the fastest NAS server in our charts we award it with our Platinum Award.

platinumPROS

- Excellent Build Quality
- Intel Core i3-3220k Dual Core CPU
- Excellent Performance (Top In The Charts Currently)
- Features
- 2GB DDR3 RAM
- 2 Gigabit Ethernet Ports
- 10GbE Compatible (Optional PCIe Card)
- 5 USB Ports (2xUSB 3.0 / 3xUSB 2.0)
- 2 eSATA Ports
- HDMI Output
- RAID 0/1/5/6/10/5+Hot Spare Support
- SATA III (6Gb/s)
- QTS 4.x.x OS

 

CONS

- Power Consumption (For Some)
- RAM Not Expandable (For Some)
- Price (For Some)