QNAP TVS-471 Turbo vNAS Review

[L&LD]

In the end, you don't always make a purchase decision solely on the performance Charts. Four built-in Gigabit Ethernet ports, two PCIe expansion slots for more network bandwidth and virtualization features make the TS-471-i3-G4 my pick as the four bay top-end SMB NAS to buy.

The above quote was comparing it to the top 'performing' ASUSTOR AS7004T in the review (link below).

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-reviews/32833-qnap-tvs-471-turbo-vnas-reviewed?limitstart=0


What has my interest is that 10GBe network capabilities are already worth it for the speed gained (154% to 398%). Bang for the buck though is another issue altogether, of course.

With an indicated $500 to enable the TVS-471 with 10GBe LAN and one other device, the price is just north of ridiculous considering GBe LAN equipment surfaced way back in 1999.

I don't know where my threshold will be to jump to the 10GBe standard. But I do know it will be far sooner than most.

Anyone else see their current GBe LAN limiting them? Is price the only thing holding us back from 10GBe LAN's?

 

[stevech]

My GBe isn't.
Because the pain from the 10GBe price threshold exceeds that of the last root canal I had done.

 

[trek_520]

With this being announced in January and new processors are out from Intel - Will there be a new model soon? Is there product cycle based around a CES launch?

 

[sfx2000]

With an indicated $500 to enable the TVS-471 with 10GBe LAN and one other device, the price is just north of ridiculous considering GBe LAN equipment surfaced way back in 1999.

I don't know where my threshold will be to jump to the 10GBe standard. But I do know it will be far sooner than most.

Anyone else see their current GBe LAN limiting them? Is price the only thing holding us back from 10GBe LAN's?

I think much depends on the workflow - there are a few use cases (Video Production is a good one) where an investment in 10G would pay off - for me, most work is still done on the local machine, and the NAS is a Project Folder that I can sync things up at the end of the day...

Would be nice to see prices come down on 10G, at the moment it's still too expensive for my taste...

 

[L&LD]

With this being announced in January and new processors are out from Intel - Will there be a new model soon? Is there product cycle based around a CES launch?

I would be expecting a new model soon. Skylake based and for the same or lower cost. Should help with VM usage, better power efficiency and a cooler running system.

I have already suggested as much to a couple of customers that are looking at a lower end version but do not need it immediately either.

If they buy the latest at that time or buy what is available now, then, it will still be a win for them as the older models will most likely be cheaper then, or, they will be able to take advantage of the new model's benefits for the price of todays units.

 

[L&LD]

I think much depends on the workflow - there are a few use cases (Video Production is a good one) where an investment in 10G would pay off - for me, most work is still done on the local machine, and the NAS is a Project Folder that I can sync things up at the end of the day...

Would be nice to see prices come down on 10G, at the moment it's still too expensive for my taste...

From what I see, the only workflow that is needed is regular copying, moving, creating or backing up of a lot of small files (and large files are also hugely impacted, or course too). This is what most customers do anyways. The large file transfers are usually a few times a month (or a year for some). It's the slow speed of the constant (some do it hourly) copying of the smaller files that congests the LAN.

That is why I would welcome 10GBe connections on mobile phones too.

 

[sfx2000]

What has my interest is that 10GBe network capabilities are already worth it for the speed gained (154% to 398%). Bang for the buck though is another issue altogether, of course.

With an indicated $500 to enable the TVS-471 with 10GBe LAN and one other device, the price is just north of ridiculous considering GBe LAN equipment surfaced way back in 1999.

Hmmm... just wondering if QNAP would sell the Thunderbolt2 add-in card separately - as this can change the game big-time as Mac's can use Thunderbolt2 natively for networking - I think Win8/10 might also have support there...

 

[stevech]

did Fibrechannel for desktop PCs ever get to a reasonable cost?

 

[Tarrant1701]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. But isn't it weird that the TVS-471's RAID 10 speed is slower than its RAID 5 speed? I had thought RAID 10 would be faster since no parity involved?

 

[L&LD]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. But isn't it weird that the TVS-471's RAID 10 speed is slower than its RAID 5 speed? I had thought RAID 10 would be faster since no parity involved?

I have found that the RAID level used varies wildly depending on the specific product in question. You cannot assume things like what you state; that what actual testing is for (so you 'know').

 

[stevech]

Nag, nag.
RAID is not a backup.

 

[sfx2000]

RAID is not a backup.

agreed - but it does offer some redundancy for hot storage...

One must always have a backup plan - as things will go wrong - most often when you need those files...

 

[sfx2000]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. But isn't it weird that the TVS-471's RAID 10 speed is slower than its RAID 5 speed? I had thought RAID 10 would be faster since no parity involved?

Thoughts are here that it might be test case specific - read speeds should be similar between RAID5 and any other RAID Config - but writes will take a bit more time on RAID5 vs. RAID 0/1/10...

Not sure why SNB's numbers are what they are...