Thecus N8810U-G 8-Bay 10GbE Rackmount NAS Review

Introduction

A lot has changed since we published our first NAS review with 10GbE support. We had two 10GbE capable NAS' in at the same time, the QNAP TS-EC1279U-RP and the Thecus N8900. Both systems were 10GbE capable, that means they supported 10GbE add-in cards, but didn't ship with 10GbE preinstalled.

The cards of choice at the time were Intel X520-SR2 models with SFP+ interconnects. SFP+ uses more power than 10GBaseT (copper RJ45), and the cables / transceivers + fiber cost more than Category 6a Ethernet cables.

Until recently, 10GBaseT ports cost more than SFP+ since the technology is newer to market. With a little maturity under the 10GBaseT belt, the cost of the technology has come down. So far this year, we've tested three 10GBaseT switches, two from Netgear and one from Supermicro. While the Supermicro SSE-X3348TR with 48 10GbE ports and four 40GbE ports still costs a hair over $12,000, the 8-port 10GbE Netgear ProSAFE XS708E is just down to just under $100 per port at some e-tailers. The cost of the technology has come a long way at reducing cost in a short period of time.

Small and medium sized businesses don't need switches with full 10GbE at all ports to take advantage of the technology. A switch with several gigabit ports and one or two 10GbE ports allows several users to connect to the system at the same time without losing performance to the NAS. Those users could be physical people or virtual machines connecting to the NAS for primary or secondary storage.

Today, we're looking at the Thecus N8810U-G. Last month we tested the N7710-G, a 7-bay pedestal version of the system we're testing today. The N8810U-G is a rackmount model, the extra space allows this unit to hold one extra drive, but other than the increased storage density and rackmount capability, the N7710-G and N8810U-G are nearly identical.

Hardware Specifications and Pricing

Modern NAS servers have moved beyond data storage through a wire network. In order to get the most out of a NAS, you need to look at the extra I/O hardware and the mountain of potential software features.

Like the N7710-G, the N8810U-G uses a dual-core Intel Pentium G850 processor running at 2.9GHz. Both systems also ship with 4GB DDR3 ECC DRAM, twice the current industry standard for systems in this price range.

The N8810U-G separates from the pedestal model with an additional drive bay and 2U rackmount form factor. The primary interconnect for this model is the included Thecus C10GTR 10GBaseT Ethernet port, but two additional gigabit ports that can run on separate networks or act as failover ports. Additional connectivity comes from the generous amount of USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports (two on the front and six on the back). The N8810U-G also has video connectivity from one HDMI and one VGA port.

The Thecus N8810U-G ships with a redundant power supply, a feature not found on the N7710-G. The dual PSU adds a level of high availability to the system, making it immune to a single PSU failure. Additional HA features include improved cooling with four hot swappable system fans.

The Thecus N8810U-G ships with a nice accessory package that includes 4-post rails. This often overlooked accessory is more of a necessity that many NAS makers usually make users pay extra for. With Google Shopping, we managed to find the Thecus N8810U-G for as low as $1,743.55 without drives, as you can see below.

PRICING: You can find the Thecus N8810U-G 8-Bay 10GbE Rackmount NAS for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The Thecus N8810U-G 8-Bay 10GbE Rackmount NAS retails for $1743.55 at Amazon.

Canada: The Thecus N8810U-G 8-Bay 10GbE Rackmount NAS retails for CDN$2488.81 at Amazon Canada.