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Thecus N7700PRO: 10GbE NAS reviewed and rated

by Parm Mann on 16 July 2010, 10:08 4.0

Tags: N7700PRO, Thecus (4978.TWO)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qay5l

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Test Methodology

Network-attached storage configuration

  Thecus N7700PRO Thecus N4200 Armari BrontaStor 4TE QNAP TS-439 Pro
Price (without HDDs) £855 £515 £497.99 Discontinued
CPU 1.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5500
(dual-core, 2MB L2 cache)
1.66GHz Intel Atom D510
(dual-core, 1MB L2 cache)
1.60GHz Intel Atom 330
(dual-core, 1MB L2 cache)
1.60GHz Intel Atom N270
(single-core, 512KB L2 cache)
Memory 4GB DDR2 1GB DDR2 2GB DDR2 1GB DDR2
Disk drives 7x 1TB Samsung HD103SJ 4x 1TB Samsung HD103SJ 4x 2TB Hitachi 7K2000 4x 1TB Samsung HD103SJ
RAID mode RAID 5 RAID 5 RAID 5 RAID 5
Network connectivity Dual Gigabit Ethernet / PCIe 10GbE Dual Gigabit Ethernet Dual Gigabit Ethernet Dual Gigabit Ethernet
Firmware 3.03.00.4 3.02.01 S3115 R1.01 3.2.6 Build 0423

Client

CPU 3.2GHz Intel Core i7 965 Extreme Edition
GPU Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 1,024MB
Motherboard ASUS P6X58D Premium
Memory 2GB Corsair DDR3
Memory timings and speed 7-7-7-20 1T @ 1,066MHz
Network connectivity Marvell Yukon 88E8056 GbE
Network interface card Intel X520-SR1 (10GbE)
PSU Corsair HX1000W
Monitor Dell 30in 3007WFP - 2,560x1,600px
Disk drive(s) Corsair Nova V128 SSD
Operating system Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit

Software

Benchmarks Iometer v2008.06.18-RC2
Intel NAS Performance Toolkit v1.7.1
File copy test (8.83GB)
Power draw

Notes

For comparison's sake, we've included benchmark results for three alternative mid-to-high-end NAS solutions; the Thecus N4200, Armari BrontaStor 4TE and QNAP TS-439 Pro.

The Thecus N7700PRO is configured with seven 1TB Samsung hard drives in a RAID 5 array, and is benchmarked in two scenarios; when connected to a network via a standard single Gigabit Ethernet link, and when connected directly to the client via 10GbE Intel network interface cards (model number X520-SR1).

Readers should note that the Thecus N7700PRO does not ship with a 10GbE NIC as standard. A list of compatible cards can be found at Thecus.com, and the Intel X520-SR1 used in our review fetches upward of £800 at retail.

All four units are tested with Jumbo frames disabled and, when not utilising a 10GbE fibre link, are connected to our client and network via a Netgear GS108 switch.

Iometer, a familiar benchmark in our test suite, is an I/O subsystem measurement tool. For the purpose of our NAS testing, we set a queue depth of 16 (outstanding I/Os) and run the following four benchmarks:

  • 64KB transfer, 100% sequential, 100% read
  • 64KB transfer, 100% sequential, 100% write
  • 64KB transfer, 100% random, 67% read and 33% write
  • 1MB transfer, 100% sequential, 100% read

Our second benchmark - the NAS Performance Toolkit, developed by Intel - is a file-system exerciser specifically designed to provide performance comparisons between NAS devices. Intel's utility focuses on user-level performance using real-world workload traces gathered from typical digital home applications such as HD video playback and record. Intel NASPT reproduces the file-system traffic observed in these traces onto a chosen storage solution and records performance in MB/s.

Taking a look at a simple usage scenario, our file copy test involves copying a mixed assortment of files totaling 8.83GB in size from our client to the NAS. The result is recorded in time taken to complete.

Last but not least, we measure NAS power draw during three states; under load, idle and standby mode if applicable.