Thecus N7710-G 10GbE 7-bay NAS Review

Benchmarks – Multi-Client Test

The Intel NAS Performance Tool (NASPT) is an excellent way to determine NAS performance in a single user environment. Any review that only uses NASPT assumes that only a single computer will access the target NAS at one time. We took issue with this method of testing and spent over a year designing, building, programming, and finally validating the TweakTown Multi-Client Test.

The test uses Microsoft Office data recorded to traces and played back to the NAS from up to 120 client Windows 7 installations (clients). We record total throughput of all clients and average response time per client.

Over time, we'll populate the two multi-client charts with several NAS products from a span of categories. The products range from a dual-Xeon server with two 10GbE ports to a 2-bay NAS with a single gigabit Ethernet connection. The products will fall into their performance categories based on performance and not marketing material or opinion.

Throughput

It shouldn't come as a surprise to see the N7710-G opening up in the multiclient test. When you have an office with several computers working off of the NAS at the same time, 10GbE can increase productivity, reduce wait times, and increase the user experience. In this test, the client computers are running gigabit Ethernet and the N7710-G is running at 10Gb/s.

Latency

There is also a massive reduction in latency with the faster interface. Commands complete faster, and that reduces the latency, allowing the NAS to move on to the next task.