Page 7 - Performance and Power Consumption
For our tests, the ASUSTOR AS7004T is connected to our central home network with CAT5e wiring. Our test station is located two stories away from the NAS to simulate real world performance in a centralized networking environment. One Seagate NAS HDD ST4000VN000 4TB was installed in the AS7004T for the purpose of benchmarking. The client computer is configured with the following specifications:
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K @ 4.60GHz
CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-D15 (Single fan)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK
RAM: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile PC3-17000 4x8GB
Graphics: Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 970 4GB
Chassis: SilverStone Raven RV05
Storage: OCZ RevoDrive 350 480GB; SanDisk Extreme PRO 480GB; OCZ Vector 150 240GB
Power: Seasonic Platinum 1000W
Sound: Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater HD
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional x64
Compared Hardware:
- ASUSTOR AS7004T
- QNAP TS-470
- QNAP HS-210
- Thecus N2310
Equipped with the Seagate NAS HDD ST4000VN000 4TB, our ASUSTOR AS7004T is ready to roll. From our experience in benchmarking, Intel Gigabit LAN adapters -- at least on the client side -- perform much better than their Realtek and Marvell counterparts. Therefore, to prevent any bottlenecks on the client side, our Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK motherboard is connected to the network via its integrated Intel Gigabit LAN adapter. We also conducted the above test on our OCZ Vector 150 240GB solid state drive on the client side to ensure there is nothing limiting the performance of our ASUSTOR AS7004T than the NAS itself. In turn, the results were downright impressive. As you can see in our graphs above, the ASUSTOR AS7004T is capable of doing approximately 110MB/s for both read and write using the Seagate NAS HDD. In fact, it is even faster than the renowned QNAP TS-470, which is regarded as one of the best performing network attached storage systems here at APH Networks. I will attribute the ASUSTOR's superior performance to its speedy processor and SATA 6Gb/s controller. While the QNAP is able to do 117MB/s using an SSD, it certain was not able to hit those numbers using a HDD, as you can see in our graphs above. At this point, the bandwidth of Gigabit LAN starts to become a limitation.
ATTO disk benchmark provides valuable insight into evaluating disk performance; it is especially valuable since it is not local disk limited like Windows file copy -- but rather the network adapter itself. After first using it in our QNAP TS-559 Pro+ review four years ago, ATTO has been an integral part of our storage benchmarks; used in everything ranging from USB flash drives to solid state disks. Venturing in the area of 118.697MB/s in read and 117.645MB/s write for pretty much everything 64K and up, remember that the theoretical maximum of Gigabit Ethernet is 'only' 125MB/s (1000Mbps / 8) with overhead -- this is downright impressive. The read and write curve is almost identical, as you can see in our charts above. In comparison, both curves are practically the same as the QNAP TS-470. This means the ASUSTOR AS7004T is limited only by the network interface, and not the performance of the NAS itself. Needless to say, this is a seriously fast system.
With one Seagate NAS hard drive installed, power consumption for our specific configuration is at an excellent 24W idling and 36W under load. Power consumption will drop even further if the hard drives are configured to turn off if they are not used, or when the ASUSTOR AS7004T is sent into S3 standby mode. Even with more powerful hardware, it uses slightly less electricity than the QNAP TS-470, which is quite impressive. Considering it is going to be running 24/7, every watt will definitely add up.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware (External)
3. A Closer Look - Hardware (Internal)
4. Configuration and User Interface, Part I
5. Configuration and User Interface, Part II
6. Configuration and User Interface, Part III
7. Performance and Power Consumption
8. Conclusion
