At a glance
Product	Thecus NAS Server (N7770-10G)   [Website]
Summary	Intel Core i3 seven-bay BYOD NAS with USB 3.0, HDMI and 10 GbE port, supporting multiple volumes and filesystems with many serving options.
Pros	• Standard 10GbE port • Chart-topping File Copy Write 10 GbE performance for RAID 5 & 10 • Aggressively priced, especially for 10GbE NAS
Cons	• Runs older Thecus OS 5 • Firmware still has quirks • Problems with attached and rsync backup • Ranked fairly low if just considering Gigabit performance

Typical Price: $1299  Buy From Amazon

Introduction

When we reviewed the 7-bay Thecus N7710-G last year, we noted that it was one of the more aggressively-priced NASes that had more than four bays and built-in 10 GbE. Since then, Thecus has produced a next-generation version, the N7770-10G that is the focus of this review.

Thecus N7710-10G

Looking at the product comparison chart below generated on the Thecus website, you see the two products are virtually identical with the exception of the processor and the amount of included and total memory supported. This comparison provides a good overview of common features and specifications of the two devices.

Thecus N7710-G and N7710-10G product comparison

Thecus' seven-bay chassis hasn't changed since the N7710-G, or, for that matter from when we first saw it in the N7700. The front door still has is secured with a push-push latch and no lock. And each of the drives sits in a lockable tray that has light pipes to carry power and activity / error lights forward from the drive backplane. Since the cases are identical, I'm going to just re-use the callouts from the previous review.

N7770-10G Front panel callouts

The rear panel view below shows four more USB 2.0 ports for a total of six. There are also two USB 3.0 ports, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports that support link aggregation and both HDMI and VGA ports for monitor attachment. The blank slot at the top of the photo below should show the single RJ45 10GbE port provided by Thecus' C10GT PCIe card. The NIC compatibility list shows other 10GbE NICs from Emulex and Intel and other vendors that alternatively could be user-installed.

N7770-10G Rear panel callouts

Inside

The table below summarizes the N7770-10G's key components, plus two other NASes we'll be using for comparison later. The Thecus N7770-10G was fairly difficult to disassemble to free the main board. So CPU and RAM information was taken from the specification sheet. The other components listed were assumed to be the same components used in the N7710-G. As shown, the memory is expandable up to 32 GB using compatible memory.

Four WD Red 3 TB (WD3000FYYZ-0) provided by WD were used for testing. Total power consumption with all drives spun up was 51 W and 35 W with them spun down. Fan and drive noise was rated Medium High - mostly because of the system fan.

Introduction, Inside Features, Performance, Performance-10GbE, Closing

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