In-depth review of the UGREEN DXP4800 Pro: unboxing, teardown, and real-world NAS experience

Industry Exchange Product Review & Teardown
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UGREEN DX P4800 Pro 4-Bay NAS (Network Attached Storage: network-attached storage) Unboxing, Review, and Teardown, i3-1315U (6 cores, 8 threads).

Review video: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1wxKL6AEup/

Preface

The QNAP (TS-466C) NAS I was using before still felt a bit sluggish. I think QNAP’s QTS system optimization is a bit lacking (it may also be because the system is bloated), so I switched to UGREEN. It has stronger performance and better value for money. Although UGREEN’s UGOS Pro is not yet fully mature (fewer apps, fewer features), the system is open enough and highly customizable, and many missing apps can be replaced with Docker.

In addition to replacing the NAS, I also bought four used 6TB mechanical hard drives. Since they are not the same brand, I could not directly move the drives to migrate the data. Storage prices are really crazy right now; even used mechanical drives are more than two to three times as expensive as before… I paid about 780 yuan each for these used 6TB drives.

The NAS I bought is the DXP4800 Pro with 8GB of RAM. When I bought it (2026.6.15), it was 3,158 yuan, which seems to be a little more expensive than at launch.

I also added a 24GB DDR5 RAM module myself: a Lexar DDR5 5600 24GB standard laptop stick. When I bought it (2026.6.16), it was 1,189 yuan. RAM prices are now ridiculously high; in September last year (2025), I bought two 32GB laptop DDR5 modules for only 1,158 yuan…

DXP4800 Pro Overview

The DXP4800 Pro is equipped with an Intel i3-1315U 6-core, 8-thread processor, providing enough computing power to handle multitasking. It has a dual-port network configuration of 10GbE×1 + 2.5GbE×1 to meet high-traffic data transfer needs. The interface coverage is comprehensive for various scenarios: HDMI 2.1 (4K@60Hz), USB 3 Gen2, Type-C, and an SD card interface are all included. With strong hardware, flexible storage, and ultra-fast networking, it serves both as a personal data hub and as a lightweight data center solution for businesses.

What is a NAS?

Simply put, a NAS is basically your own small private server. It stores all your files, photos, and videos, can automatically back up your phone and computer, and can also act as a home theater and photo library.
Most importantly, it can be accessed remotely from anywhere, at any time, without speed limits, without relying on cloud services, and without needing to carry a hard drive or prepare data in advance. You can think of it as a “super cloud drive that will never run away,” or as a “large-capacity hard drive you carry with you,” but compared with these options, it is safer, more efficient, and freer.

Specifications:

Item Configuration
CPU Intel i3-1315U (6 cores, 8 threads, 2P4E, turbo up to 4.5GHz, Intel 7 process, 15W-55W power consumption)
Memory DDR5 5200MHz 8GB/16GB (single RAM module, two RAM slots)
Graphics Intel® UHD Graphics for 13th Gen Intel® Processors (integrated graphics)
System drive 128GB
SATA interface Four 2.5/3.5-inch drive bays, SATA 3.0, maximum support 30T×4
M.2 interface Two 2280 slots, M-key, NVMe protocol, maximum support 8T×2
Network ports Two RJ45 electrical ports, 2.5GbE + 10GbE
Other interfaces USB 3.2 Gen2 / Type-C Gen2 / USB 3.2 Gen1 / 2 x USB 2.0 / SD 3.0 /HDMI

Official product introduction page: https://url.zeruns.com/DXP4800Pro

Download links for various UGREEN NAS client apps (Windows, Android, Android TV, iOS, macOS, Apple TV): https://url.zeruns.com/ugnas_software

Unboxing

First, here are the four used 6TB mechanical hard drives I bought: two Dell enterprise drives (OEM by Toshiba, model Toshiba MG04ACA600E, powered on for 52,000+ hours) + two Hitachi helium drives (model HGST HUS726060ALA640, with powered-on time reset to 0).

The front of the outer box, with the text “Personal Cloud NAS 网络私有云存储” printed on it.

The side of the outer box, with product model and barcode labels, as well as an SN label.

After opening the box, there is another layer of color-printed packaging inside. Front of the inner box.

Continuing the unboxing, the internal layout is very neatly organized by layers: the main unit is surrounded by thick shock-absorbing foam, while accessories such as the power adapter, Ethernet cable, and manual are placed in a separate box on the left. The unboxing experience is not messy or awkward at all.

Opening the accessory box, there are a manual, power adapter, Ethernet cable, screwdriver, screws, thermal pads, and a drive-bay child-lock key. Each accessory is packed in an anti-static PE bag.

The input side of the power adapter uses a three-prong IEC connector, and the output port is DC5525.

The power supply is a Huntkey 19V 7.9A switching power supply, model HKA15019079-6C, supporting 100-240V wide-voltage input. My previous QNAP NAS also used a Huntkey power supply, so this is a pretty good brand.

The NAS body is also packed in an anti-static PE bag.

Device Exterior

The front of the NAS. The metal casing gives it a very noticeable premium feel. The whole device has a balanced weight and a solid touch, without any cheap looseness. The body lines are clean and simple, and the front panel has a minimalist design, with no extra cover plates or complicated button layout. Only the necessary indicator lights, power button, and the most important ports are retained: USB-A (USB 3.2 Gen2), USB-C (Gen2), and the front-facing SD 3.0 card slot that creators love.

The back of the NAS. The cooling fan intake has a dust filter that is magnetically attached, making it easy to remove for cleaning. This design gets a thumbs-up.
From bottom to top on the back, the ports are: HDMI, USB-A (1× USB 3.2 Gen1 + 2× USB 2.0), 2.5G Ethernet port, 10G Ethernet port, reset button, and DC power input.

Remember to remove the paper card sleeve on the dust filter, otherwise it will block part of the airflow.

The bottom of the NAS has four anti-slip feet, plus a label with the brand logo, device model, and device SN code. In the middle, there is a cover plate with a slightly different color. It is secured by two screws. Remove the screws and the cover, and you can add memory and an M.2 SSD here.

Internal Hardware and Upgrades

On the front of the NAS, press the child-lock position below the drive bay to pop out the handle, then hold the handle and pull outward to remove the drive bay. There is a child-lock key ring on the drive bay; use the key included in the accessories to lock the drive bay and prevent others from accidentally pulling it out.

This drive bay design allows 3.5-inch drives to be installed without screws. If you want to install a 2.5-inch drive, you will need screws (included in the accessory pack).

On the back of the drive bay, press and pull outward on the part labeled Press shown in the red circle in the image below, then insert the hard drive and press it back into place to secure it. The quick-release design is very convenient.

The drive bay with the hard drive installed.

The internal frame of the NAS after removing the four drive bays.

Remove the small bottom cover of the NAS to add memory and an SSD. Mine is the 8GB version, which comes with one 8GB DDR5 RAM stick and one empty memory slot; it also has two empty M.2 SSD slots, both marked as PCIE GEN4x4, in the 2280 form factor. The fixing screw holes on the SSD slots already have screws installed, so you can unscrew them directly and reuse them. There is a spring at the lower left of the memory slot, which is used to pop the cover open after the screws are loosened, making it easier to pry off the cover. The design is very thoughtful.

To install an SSD, unscrew the two screws above the SSD slot, insert the M.2 SSD diagonally into the slot, and then screw them back in. Finally, peel off the plastic film on both sides of the two thermal pads included in the accessory box and attach them to the two SSDs respectively.

I added a Lexar DDR5 memory module, 24GB 5600MT/s CL46, model LD5S24G56C46ST-BGS.

The memory chip model on this stick is LD53G08TSD035C, with a single-chip capacity of 24Gbit (3GB). Eight chips make up the total 24GB capacity. The production batch is 2612 (probably the 12th week of 2026), which is consistent with the overall production cycle of the memory stick.

AI analysis:

The LD prefix in the chip marking is the self-packaged chip identifier of Longsys, Lexar’s parent company. The wafer core mainly uses domestic DDR5 DRAM wafers from ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT), representing a typical mass-production application of Chinese memory chips.

It is positioned as a standard consumer-grade general-purpose memory chip, tuned more toward stability and compatibility. It strictly follows the JEDEC 5600MHz specification and is not aimed at overclocking, making it compatible with the native memory frequencies of most laptops, NAS devices, and mini PCs.

The process is a DDR5 standard 1.x nm-class process (16-19nm), with a 1.1V low-voltage design that balances performance and power control for mobile devices.

I forgot to take a photo after installation.

Related Purchase Links

Disassembly

First, let’s take a look at the main controller chip on the hard drive backplane. The model is ASM1164, a PCIe-to-4-port SATA expansion controller made by ASMedia, a Taiwanese company under ASUS. (My old QNAP TS-466C NAS also used this chip.)

ASM1164 Core Specifications (AI-generated):

  • Upstream interface: PCIe 3.0 x2 dual-lane, theoretical total bandwidth of about 2 GB/s, with automatic channel-configuration detection at boot
  • Downstream interface: 4 independent SATA 3.0 ports (6 Gbps), compatible with the AHCI 1.4 specification
  • Feature support: NCQ native command queuing, hard-drive hot swapping, SATA status LED indication, port multipliers, and DEVSLP low-power sleep support
  • Package batch: QFN compact package; the marking 2552 indicates production in week 52 of 2025, making it a very recent production batch
  • Market positioning: A mainstream commercial-grade 4-port SATA expansion solution, one of the most common mature controllers used in NAS systems and desktop expansion cards

Next, I began disassembling it. First, I used tweezers to pull out the four rubber plugs at the corners on the back of the NAS, then removed the screws to take off the back panel. They’re all standard Phillips screws, not any odd-shaped security screws.

Once the back panel is removed, you can see the cooling fan. The fan draws air in from the rear, blows it toward the hard drives, and exhausts it from the front (my old QNAP blows air backward, which is why the front gaps collect a lot of dust). Next, unscrew the cooling fan.

Then unplug the fan’s 4-pin connector and remove the fan. The model is FD14025SM1, a 14 cm DC brushless PWM fan made by the domestic cooling manufacturer FAN-COOLING (Shenzhen Fengpuli Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.). It’s a common, mature cooling solution in 4-bay NAS models.

FD14025SM1 Core Specifications (AI-generated):

  • Size: 140×140×25 mm, commonly referred to in the industry as a 14025 fan; standard case mounting holes, with large blades designed for low RPM and high airflow to meet NAS noise requirements
  • Electrical specs: Rated 12 V DC supply, rated current 0.20 A, only 2.4 W at full speed; the low-power design fits the NAS use case of 7×24-hour continuous operation
  • Speed control: 4-wire PWM intelligent speed-control design, allowing the motherboard to dynamically adjust fan speed based on hard-drive and CPU temperatures, with tachometer feedback
  • Motor type: DC brushless motor, with low wear during operation, long service life, and stable performance suited to long-term storage-device operation
  • Compliance and origin: CE certified, made in China, and classified as a commercial-grade cooling accessory

I replaced it myself with a Thermalright fan, model TL-B14B EXTREM, a 14 cm high-performance dual-ball-bearing PWM fan from the domestic cooling brand Thermalright.

TL-B14B EXTREM Core Specifications (AI-generated + store-listed specs added):

  • Size: 140×140×25 mm standard 14025 fan form factor; mounting holes match the original fan exactly, allowing direct, non-destructive replacement
  • Electrical specs: Rated 12 V DC supply, rated current 0.2 A, only 2.4 W at full speed; the low-power characteristics won’t add extra load to the NAS power supply
  • Speed control: Maximum speed 2000 RPM, supports 4-pin PWM intelligent speed control, can dynamically adjust speed according to system temperature, balancing heat dissipation under high load with quiet operation under low load
  • Bearing type: Dual ball bearing; compared with the sleeve bearings commonly used in the original fan, it offers longer operating life and less speed degradation over time, making it better suited to 7×24-hour uninterrupted NAS operation
  • Airflow positioning: More pressure-oriented, with stronger airflow penetration, allowing it to pass more effectively through the dust filter and gaps in the hard-drive cage, improving overall cooling efficiency in multi-bay drive bays
  • Airflow: 110.4 CFM (MAX)
  • Noise: ≤ 31.4 dBA

After removing the cooling fan, unscrew the eight screws on the middle of both sides of the frame (the silver ones, not the black ones).

The aluminum-alloy frame of the enclosure is 3.3 mm thick, which feels quite solid.

The single-bay power-control chip on the hard-drive backplane has the marking code JTHuA and is a high-side power load-switch chip from the domestic manufacturer Joulwatt. Each drive bay is equipped with two of these chips, for a total of eight on the board, independently controlling the corresponding bay’s 12 V and 5 V SATA power rails.

JTHuA Power Switch Chip Core Specifications (AI-generated):

  • Core function: Single-channel high-side power switch with integrated soft start, current limiting, over-temperature shutdown, and input undervoltage lockout; two chips per drive bay separately manage the 12 V main supply and 5 V auxiliary supply, enabling independent switching and protection for both rails
  • Path characteristics: Built-in low-RDS(on) power MOSFETs provide low conduction voltage drop and low self-heating, can handle the inrush current when mechanical hard drives start, and fully support hard-drive hot swapping
  • Protection value: If a single power rail has a short-circuit or over-current fault, the corresponding channel quickly cuts off power. Fault isolation is precise down to a single drive and single rail, preventing the fault from spreading and burning out the motherboard or other drives
  • Package: Compact SOP-8 surface-mount package, suitable for the high-density layout of hard-drive backplanes
  • Application positioning: A mainstream mature solution for NAS and server hard-drive backplanes, and a key component for achieving full SATA hot swapping and staged power protection

The matching power-filtering capacitors are PolyCap (Shenzhen Boruikai Electronic Technology) polymer aluminum electrolytic solid capacitors. They correspond one-to-one with the switch chips, with two per drive bay responsible for local filtering of the 12 V and 5 V rails.

PolyCap VN613 Filtering Capacitor Core Specifications (AI-generated):

  • Electrical specs: 220 μF per capacitor, 16 V voltage rating, with ample margin to meet ripple-suppression requirements for hard-drive 12 V/5 V power supplies
  • Function: Local energy storage and voltage-ripple smoothing, absorbing current spikes during hard-drive startup and high-speed read/write operations, stabilizing supply voltage and reducing the probability of hard-drive read/write errors
  • Material characteristics: Polymer electrolyte structure, offering longer life and better high-temperature stability than ordinary liquid electrolytic capacitors, suitable for 7×24-hour uninterrupted NAS operation
  • Structural reinforcement: White silicone is applied around the capacitor leads to relieve stress from transport and vibration, preventing lead desoldering or poor solder joints

The independent dual-rail design with dual switches and dual capacitors per drive bay fully follows the SATA power specification. Its finer fault-isolation granularity, better hot-swapping compatibility, and improved power stability make it superior to single-chip solutions, and it’s the standard reliable design for mid-to-high-end NAS backplanes.

Another major reason is likely to power on the four hard drives one by one at boot, avoiding excessive peak power draw from simultaneous startup. Mechanical hard drives have motors, so their startup current is relatively high.

Next, lift the NAS outer frame from the back to remove the entire frame. If you’ve already removed the bottom cover of the NAS, remember to press down the spring, otherwise it will get stuck. After removing the frame, you can see the back of the motherboard. You can also see that the cover area is surrounded by a ring of foam to keep it separated and prevent foreign objects from getting in if the small cover is removed accidentally.

The back of the motherboard looks a little whitish, suggesting there may be flux residue that wasn’t cleaned properly.

The preinstalled NAS system SSD is model APF10-128G-P11031021A, a PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 SSD from AirDisk, a brand under Longsys. As the factory-built-in system drive in the UGREEN DXP4800 Pro, it is responsible for running the NAS operating system. (My old QNAP NAS seems to have used eMMC for the system drive, and booting was extremely slow.)

AirDisk 128 GB NVMe System Drive Core Specifications (AI-generated):

  • Interface and protocol: PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe 1.4, standard M.2 2280 form factor, directly connected to CPU PCIe lanes; 4K random latency is far lower than that of traditional SATA SSDs
  • Rated capacity: 128 GB, precisely suited to NAS system scenarios, with enough space for the system, Docker plug-ins, log files, and temporary cache
  • Controller chip: Domestic Maxio MAP1202C-F2C, DRAMless design with HMB host memory buffer support; low power consumption and strong compatibility make it a mature controller solution for entry-level NVMe SSDs
  • Flash memory: Self-packaged 3D TLC flash from Longsys, marked NTN58AA1222128G. Each chip was produced in week 2551 (week 51 of 2025), and the drive uses two chips to make up the 128 GB capacity. Endurance is suited to light-load long-term system-drive writes
  • Product positioning: Optimized specifically for light-load system-drive scenarios, focused on 7×24-hour operating stability rather than extreme sequential read/write speeds, with emphasis on low latency and long-term reliability

For a NAS, the low latency of the system drive has a greater impact on day-to-day experience than high sequential speed. This PCIe SSD can noticeably improve system boot speed, web-interface responsiveness, and Docker container loading. The 128 GB capacity also avoids wasting money on an unnecessarily large SSD, making it a very practical standard configuration for a four-bay NAS.

The preinstalled NAS memory is model M425R1GB4BB0-CQKOD, a DDR5 laptop memory module made by Samsung in Korea. As the factory-built-in memory in the UGREEN DXP4800 Pro, it provides the working space for the NAS operating system, multitasking processes, and Docker containers.

Samsung 8 GB DDR5 Memory Module Core Specifications:

  • Memory type: DDR5 SDRAM, standard SODIMM form factor, suited to the compact motherboard design of NAS devices
  • Rated capacity: 8 GB, single-module configuration, sufficient for basic system operation and light multitasking in a four-bay NAS
  • Operating frequency: PC5-4800B, equivalent transfer rate of 4800 MT/s, offering a significant bandwidth improvement over DDR4 platforms
  • Chip configuration: 1Rx16 (single-sided 16-bit bus width), Samsung original SEC 207-marked chips; four 2 GB chips make up the total 8 GB capacity
  • PCB version: D0W32 layout, PCB marked M425R1GB4BB0-V07, part of Samsung’s unified original part-number system
  • Product positioning: Aimed at system integration and OEM preinstalled markets, focused on stability and compatibility; not a retail boxed version, and commonly seen in factory configurations for branded complete systems

For a NAS, memory capacity and stability directly affect the smoothness of concurrent multi-user access, Docker container startup, and file-indexing tasks. With an NVMe SSD as the system drive, the bandwidth advantage of DDR5-4800 can further unlock the system’s overall I/O performance and prevent memory from becoming a bottleneck. A single 8 GB stick as the factory standard is a practical choice; for heavy virtualization or users with many plug-ins, it can later be expanded to dual-channel 16 GB to further improve multitasking capability.

After removing the motherboard, this is the front side. The board number is marked as DXP4800 Pro MAIN V1.1, production batch 2532 (week 32 of 2025). It is a dedicated x86-architecture motherboard customized for a four-bay NAS. The board is built around Intel’s low-power processor and highly integrates networking, storage, I/O, and power-supply circuitry. The layout is compact and orderly, with stability optimizations for the NAS use case of 7×24-hour uninterrupted operation.

The embedded controller chip (EC) on the motherboard is model IT8613E, a Super I/O/EC embedded controller from Taiwan’s ITE. It is a core auxiliary management chip for x86 motherboards, responsible for monitoring and controlling the system’s low-level hardware.

IT8613E Core Specifications (AI-generated):

  • Core functions: Integrates Super I/O and embedded-controller functions, responsible for motherboard power-on sequencing, hardware-status monitoring, intelligent fan speed control, button and indicator-light logic, and standby-sleep-wake management
  • Monitoring capability: Supports real-time detection of multiple temperature, voltage, and fan-speed signals; can collect temperature data from the CPU, motherboard, and hard-drive bay, working with the system to provide over-temperature protection, fault alerts, and dynamic thermal control
  • Peripheral management: Centrally controls low-speed peripherals such as the front-panel power button, reset button, power/hard-drive status LEDs, and fault buzzer, while also managing the RTC clock and some standby power rails
  • Package batch: LQFP surface-mount package; the marking 2547 indicates production in week 47 of 2025, making it a relatively recent production batch
  • Application positioning: Widely used in x86 platforms such as NAS systems, industrial-control motherboards, and mini PCs. It is the low-level hardware manager independent of the operating system and suited to 7×24-hour uninterrupted operation

In the DXP4800 Pro, this chip is the core low-level hardware-management unit for the entire system. Even when the main CPU is shut down or sleeping, it remains active in standby to respond to remote wake-up, scheduled power-on, and other commands. It is also the core execution unit for fan speed control, dynamically adjusting CPU and chassis fan speeds based on real-time temperatures to balance cooling efficiency with everyday quietness.

The motherboard BIOS firmware storage chip is model XMC 25QH128DHIQ, an SPI NOR flash chip from Wuhan Xinxin Semiconductor Manufacturing (XMC). It corresponds to the board marking BIOS1 and stores the system’s UEFI BIOS firmware, serving as the core boot medium for x86 platforms.

XMC 25QH128DHIQ Core Specifications (AI-generated):

  • Storage capacity: 128 Mbit, equivalent to 16 MB; ample capacity to store the UEFI BIOS code, boot logo, hardware initialization routines, and vendor-customized features
  • Interface protocol: Standard 4-wire SPI serial interface, supporting high-speed read/write modes. At power-on, the CPU reads the firmware over the SPI bus to complete hardware initialization
  • Chip type: 3.3 V industrial-grade NOR flash with long data-retention life and high erase/write reliability, suitable for 7×24-hour long-term NAS operation
  • Production batch: Marked 2516K, corresponding to production in week 16 of 2025, making it a relatively recent production batch
  • Supporting design: The board reserves JBIOS1 programming contacts, allowing firmware to be read and written offline with a programmer, making BIOS recovery, firmware modification, and upgrade debugging more convenient

The chip marked LN6235 nearby is the matching LDO low-dropout linear regulator. It converts the motherboard standby voltage into a stable 3.3 V to power the BIOS flash and surrounding standby circuitry, ensuring firmware data remains safe while powered off and can be read stably at power-on.

In the DXP4800 Pro, this chip stores UGREEN’s customized UEFI BIOS firmware, including drive booting, hardware initialization, power tuning, and other proprietary configurations. The reserved programming pads also improve later maintenance convenience, making this a standard reliable design for x86 NAS motherboards.

A photo beside the DC power input connector. The motherboard’s high-current synchronous buck power chip is model NDP13701QB, a high-efficiency monolithic DC-DC converter from NDP. It steps down the system’s 19 V DC input to a stable low-voltage, high-current supply, mainly providing core power support for the hard-drive circuit, PCIe expansion slot, and peripheral interfaces.

NDP13701QB Core Specifications (partly AI-generated):

  • Input range: 7.5 V~30 V wide-voltage input, perfectly matching the system’s 19 V power adapter specification, with ample voltage margin and compatibility with adapters from different regions
  • Output capability: Maximum continuous output current of 7 A, supporting both constant-voltage and constant-current modes; it can meet the current demand when four mechanical hard drives start simultaneously and run under full load
  • Conversion efficiency: Built-in low-RDS(on) power MOSFETs; peak efficiency can reach 95% under typical conditions, with very low self-heating and stable operation without an additional heatsink, fitting the NAS design direction of low power consumption and long-term operation
  • Protection features: Integrated soft start, over-current/short-circuit protection, thermal shutdown, and undervoltage lockout. In the event of a load fault, it can quickly cut off output to prevent the fault from spreading and damaging downstream devices
  • Package batch: Compact QFN-20 (5×5 mm) package, marked 22609F; a mature mass-production solution in the industrial power-management field

Surrounding components

  • LN6231 LDO regulator
  • NL5511 power MOSFET
  • 150 μF/25 V aluminum electrolytic capacitor, likely used for input filtering and energy storage in the buck circuit
  • 10 μH molded inductor, used in the buck circuit

There is also a 358 op-amp, probably used for fan-speed signal conditioning.

This area is the dedicated signal-conditioning circuit for the front USB 3.2 Gen2 10 Gbps interfaces, consisting of two ASM1562 chips and one ASM1543 chip, all made by Taiwan’s ASMedia Technology. It fully serves the two front 10 Gbps high-speed interfaces, Type-A and Type-C, compensating for high-speed signal attenuation and distortion caused by the long cable from the motherboard to the front panel and long PCB traces, while also enabling reversible plug orientation and power protection for the Type-C interface.

ASM1562 USB 3.2 Gen2 10Gbps Signal Retimer Chip (AI-generated)

  • Core positioning: Single-channel SuperSpeed USB 3.2 Gen2 Retimer (a retimer chip, stronger than a regular ReDriver), supporting transfer rates of up to 10Gbps. It is the core signal-repair component for long 10Gbps PCB traces. ASMedia Te…
  • Technical principle: Integrates an adaptive equalizer (CTLE), clock and data recovery circuitry (CDR), and transmitter de-emphasis technology. It can repair signal attenuation, jitter, and crosstalk caused by long traces and ribbon cables, reconstructing a clean digital signal and greatly improving the stability and compatibility of 10Gbps interfaces over long links.
  • Channel allocation: Two chips independently handle two high-speed channels. One is responsible for the complete 10Gbps transmit/receive chain of the front Type-A port, while the other works with the ASM1543 to serve the high-speed signal path of the Type-C port, ensuring that the full 10Gbps bandwidth is available in both plug orientations.
  • Design value: The NAS front panel must connect to the motherboard via internal ribbon cables, and 10Gbps differential signals suffer significant loss over long links. These two chips fully compensate for link loss, allowing external high-speed portable SSDs to reliably reach nearly 1GB/s in actual transfer speed, avoiding issues such as failed detection, transfer slowdowns, and occasional disconnects.
  • Package and batch: Standard surface-mount package. The silkscreen batch corresponds to 2025 mass production. It is a mainstream, mature solution for consumer and industrial-control motherboards with front-facing 10Gbps interfaces.

ASM1543 USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C Multiplexer Control Chip (AI-generated)

  • Core positioning: A Type-C-specific interface chip that integrates Type-C CC logic control, plug-orientation signal switching, and power management, supporting switching of 10Gbps SuperSpeed USB signal paths.
  • Core functions:
    1. Plug-orientation detection and switching: Built-in CC-pin detection logic automatically identifies the insertion orientation of a Type-C device. An internal 4:2 differential signal switch changes the high-speed data path, enabling blind insertion in either direction with no loss of speed.
    2. Power management and protection: Manages VBUS power output for the Type-C port, supports VCONN power, and integrates overcurrent protection. If an external device is shorted, power can be cut off quickly to protect the motherboard circuitry.
    3. Signal-integrity optimization: The switch channels have extremely low insertion loss, only -1.78dB at 5GHz, with minimal impact on 10Gbps signals. When paired with the ASM1562, it can achieve optimal signal quality across the full link.
  • Application fit: It is the standard companion solution for front-facing Type-C 10Gbps ports, widely used in NAS systems and desktop motherboards, and fully compatible with the USB 3.2 Gen2 specification.

All interfaces are equipped with ESD protection circuits.

Inside the shield can below is the SD card slot and related circuitry. I don’t quite understand why the SD card section needs a shield can, since its operating frequency and transfer rate are not as high as the USB circuitry above. Can any experts explain?

AI-generated: This area is the core multiphase power delivery module for the i3-1315U processor. It uses Richtek’s RT3624BE as the PWM control core, paired with four integrated DrMOS power stages, low-inductance energy-storage inductors, and low-ESR polymer solid capacitors to form a complete synchronous buck power system. It provides high-precision, wide-dynamic-range stable power to the CPU cores, with sufficient redundancy to meet the reliability requirements of NAS systems running 24/7.

RT3624BE Multiphase PWM Power Controller

  • Specification fit: Produced by Richtek Technology of Taiwan, it is designed for Intel 12th/13th-generation Core mobile platforms, follows the IMVP9.1 power delivery protocol, and is natively compatible with the onboard i3-1315U processor.
  • Phase architecture: Supports a multiphase control architecture of 4 CPU-core phases plus 1 auxiliary phase for the integrated GPU. This board uses a 4-phase CPU-core design. Multiphase interleaved switching greatly reduces output voltage ripple while lowering current stress on the input side.
  • Efficiency optimization: Supports Intel VID dynamic voltage adjustment and can precisely adjust the output voltage in real time according to CPU load. Under light load, it automatically reduces the number of active phases and enables diode-emulation mode, reducing switching losses and fitting the NAS use case of daily low-load, long-idle operation.
  • Protection mechanisms: Includes cycle-by-cycle overcurrent protection, output overvoltage/undervoltage protection, chip overtemperature protection, and input undervoltage lockout. In the event of a fault, it can quickly shut down all power stages to prevent abnormal voltages from damaging the processor.
  • Product positioning: Packaged in a compact QFN package, it is a mature power solution widely used in mobile x86 platforms such as mini PCs, NAS systems, and industrial-control motherboards.

SPT5311B Integrated DrMOS Power Stage (4 total, one per phase)

  • Chip positioning: An integrated power stage that combines the gate driver, high-side MOSFET, and low-side MOSFET in a single chip. It replaces the traditional discrete driver plus dual-MOSFET solution, resulting in a more compact layout, lower drive loss, and faster fault response.
  • Output capability: Each chip supports continuous output current above 30A. With low on-resistance power transistors and a synchronous rectification architecture, conversion efficiency is excellent. With all four phases installed, the total peak output capability exceeds 120A, providing very ample power headroom for the i3-1315U with its 15W TDP.
  • Integrated protection: Built-in overcurrent and overtemperature detection circuits can directly report fault status to the PWM controller, making protection response much faster than in discrete solutions.
  • Batch information: Silkscreen batch 2545, corresponding to mass production in week 45 of 2025. The high-redundancy design lets the power circuitry operate long-term in a low-load range, producing less heat and offering longer life, which suits the uninterrupted-operation requirements of NAS systems.

Matching Energy-Storage and Filtering Passive Components

  • Molded power inductors (4 total, silkscreen R22): Each phase has one 0.22μH magnetically shielded molded inductor. These are the core energy-storage components of the buck converter, responsible for smoothing the switching waveform and providing continuous DC output. The magnetic shielding structure reduces electromagnetic radiation, and saturation performance remains excellent under high current.
  • Output filtering solid capacitors (8 total, 820μF 2.5V PF613): Connected in parallel at the power output, these are polymer solid capacitors with extremely low ESR and strong ripple suppression. They can respond quickly to sudden CPU load changes, keeping output voltage ripple at the millivolt level. The 2.5V voltage rating is optimized for the CPU core’s low-voltage, high-current scenario, offering higher capacitance density.
  • Input filtering electrolytic capacitors (4 total, 150μF 25V): Placed at the input side of the power module, they provide input energy storage and ripple filtering, smoothing voltage fluctuations from the front-end 19V input while also supplying transient current reserves during sudden CPU load changes.

NL5X10 N-Channel Power MOSFET

  • Device identity: A high-power N-channel MOSFET from Nanjing Micro One Electronics, featuring low on-resistance and fast switching speed.
  • Circuit role: Placed on the power input side, it serves as the main power switch for the CPU power domain. Its power-on timing is controlled by the EC chip: it turns on in sequence at startup and powers down in order at shutdown. It can also work with a sampling resistor to implement input overcurrent protection, quickly cutting off the power input in the event of a fault to prevent the fault from spreading downstream.

The chip next to the HDMI1 silkscreen in the lower-left corner is the PI3HDX1204B1, a four-channel HDMI 2.0 limiting ReDriver from Diodes Incorporated (formerly Pericom). It is placed in front of the rear HDMI port to compensate for PCB trace signal loss between the CPU’s integrated GPU and the video connector, ensuring stable high-speed video output.

PI3HDX1204B1 Key Specifications:

  • Protocol speed: Fully compatible with the HDMI 2.0 standard, with a maximum single-channel transfer rate of 6Gbps and a total four-channel bandwidth of 18Gbps, capable of supporting 4K@60Hz RGB 8-bit video output. It is backward compatible with HDMI 1.4 and DVI signals, and also supports DP++ dual-mode level conversion.
  • Signal enhancement: Input equalization supports 16 adjustable levels, with maximum equalization reaching +22.2dB at 6Gbps, compensating for high-frequency signal attenuation caused by long PCB traces and connectors. It also includes 4 levels of de-emphasis and 4 levels of output swing adjustment, with each channel independently configurable.
  • Performance characteristics: Its limiting redriver architecture improves added jitter performance by 1x compared with traditional CMOS solutions, producing better output signal eye diagrams. It also includes a channel activity detector and supports switching between two input termination resistance levels: 50Ω and 200kΩ.
  • Configuration method: Supports both pin-strapping hardware configuration and I2C software programming, allowing signal parameters to be flexibly tuned according to actual trace length and adapted to different motherboard layouts.
  • Electrical package: Powered by a single 3.3V supply, with an industrial operating temperature range of -40℃ to 85℃. It uses a 42-pin ultra-thin TQFN package (3.4×9mm), suitable for compact layouts at the edge of a motherboard interface.
  • Integrated functions: Includes built-in DDC channel level conversion and supports 5V-to-3.3V hot-plug detection signal adaptation, eliminating the need for an external level-shifting chip and simplifying the peripheral circuit.

In the DXP4800 Pro, this chip handles the HDMI 2.0 video signal output from the i3-1315U integrated GPU, compensating for long-trace loss between the CPU and the rear port to prevent external monitors from flickering, displaying artifacts, or failing to support higher resolutions. It is a standard signal-optimization solution for x86 NAS systems and mini PCs with video output.

AI-generated: This area contains the motherboard’s dual Ethernet interface circuitry, including one fully visible 2.5Gbps Ethernet path and one 10-gigabit Ethernet path covered by a heatsink. The two paths are independently designed and separately manage their corresponding network ports, together forming the hardware foundation for the system’s network connectivity.

Intel I226-V 2.5Gbps Ethernet Controller (silkscreen Intel S5433L31 SRKTU)

  • Chip positioning: Intel’s third-generation 2.5G Ethernet controller, S-spec number SRKTU, directly connected to a CPU PCIe 3.0 x1 lane. It is currently the most mainstream 2.5G copper-port solution for x86 NAS systems and mini PC platforms.
  • Speeds and protocols: Supports four adaptive speed levels: 10/100/1000/2500Mbps, compliant with IEEE 802.3ab/802.3bz standards. It supports 9KB jumbo frames, VLAN tags, and QoS traffic shaping. Hardware-integrated TCP/UDP/IP checksum offload can significantly reduce CPU usage during high-concurrency access.
  • Power consumption and reliability: Built on Intel’s 10nm process, its typical operating power consumption is below 1W, so heat generation is extremely low and no additional cooling is needed. It supports EEE Energy-Efficient Ethernet, further reducing power consumption in idle states, making it suitable for NAS systems running uninterrupted 24/7.
  • System compatibility: Mainstream systems such as Linux and Windows provide native driver support, and various NAS firmware packages can directly recognize and adapt to it without additional tuning.

Macronix MX25V80066 SPI NOR Firmware Flash

  • Electrical specifications: An industrial-grade, low-power SPI NOR flash from Macronix, with a capacity of 8Mbit (equivalent to 1MB), single 3.3V supply, and support for a wide operating temperature range.
  • Core role: Specifically paired with the I226-V network card, it stores the NIC firmware program, PHY calibration parameters, factory MAC address, and initialization configuration. When the network card powers on, it first loads firmware over the SPI bus, completes its own initialization, and then connects to the PCIe bus.
  • Reliability: NOR flash has a long erase/write life and strong data-retention stability, making it suitable for storing firmware parameters that are rarely modified and ensuring the network card can still start normally after long periods without power.

10-Gigabit Ethernet Path (Heatsink-Covered Area)

  • Controller inference: The chip covered by the heatsink is likely the 10-gigabit Ethernet controller. Common mainstream choices for 10G copper ports in NAS systems include single-chip controllers such as Marvell Aquantia AQC113C and AQC107, directly connected to CPU PCIe 3.0 x4 lanes.
  • Speed capability: Supports five adaptive speed levels: 100M/1G/2.5G/5G/10G (NBASE-T standard). In 10Gbps full-duplex mode, the theoretical bandwidth is 20Gbps, and actual large-file continuous transfer speeds can exceed 1GB/s, meeting high-bandwidth needs such as high-speed LAN backups and virtualized storage mounting.
  • Thermal design: 10-gigabit controllers consume significantly more power and generate much more heat than 2.5G solutions, so an independent heatsink is used for passive cooling. This keeps the chip temperature stable during long periods of full-speed transfer, avoiding thermal throttling, link disconnects, and similar issues.

Peripheral Circuitry Around the Network Ports

  • Shielded integrated network ports: Both RJ45 ports use integrated modular jacks with metal shielding housings. The internal network transformers provide electrical isolation, impedance matching, and common-mode interference suppression, while also improving electrostatic and surge protection levels.
  • ESD protection arrays: Dedicated TVS/ESD protection devices are connected in series in the differential signal paths of the network ports. They can absorb high-voltage pulses caused by cable insertion/removal or lightning-induced surges, preventing surge damage to the downstream NIC controllers.
  • Independent power filtering: Each network card has independent LDO regulation and multiple filtering capacitors, providing clean, low-ripple power. This reduces power noise interference with high-speed differential signals and improves stability and error-rate performance over long Ethernet cable runs.

Review

Connect the power cable and Ethernet cable, then power on and boot.

After downloading the UGREEN NAS client, I searched for the NAS and initialized it according to the guide. I configured a RAID 10 disk array, the Btrfs file system, and two 500G SSDs in RAID 1 for read/write cache.

The About This Machine information in the control panel is shown below.

Below are screenshots from the mobile client. The interface looks pretty good: clean and attractive, with all functions concentrated in a single app. Unlike QNAP, which requires installing five or six different apps, the user experience is much better.

The photo album can enable multiple AI models to identify and classify photos. It supports face recognition, text recognition, similar/duplicate photo recognition, pet recognition, sensitive-content recognition, image content understanding, and more. It also supports adding your own photos to train a model or importing an already trained model.

UPS settings page. Supported UPS types that can be added include USB, SNMP, and Network UPS slave.

SSH can be enabled. After logging in via SSH, use the sudo -i command to obtain root privileges. UGREEN’s UGOS Pro system is based on Debian 12. As of now (July 2026), the system kernel version is 6.12.30.

The air temperature inside the cabinet is around 32℃. CPU usage is about 10%, with no heavy data read/write activity. The mechanical hard drives in the NAS are between 40 and 45 degrees, the SSDs are between 50 and 55 degrees, and the CPU temperature is around 50 degrees. Both fans are spinning at about 1200 RPM, and the noise is low. Cooling performance is pretty good.

Thermal image of the NAS. CPU usage is about 10%, with no heavy data read/write activity. The highest temperature at the front is around 42℃.

Screenshot of the App Center. There are currently 45 apps in total, some of which are Docker-based.

Docker management. Docker functionality is very comprehensive.

Sync and backup features.

Virtual machine features. At the moment, the VM app is still rather limited and not very easy to use.

The Video Center app has TMDB built in. It automatically scrapes movie covers, ratings, plots, actors, and other information, allowing you to understand a film’s story in a more comprehensive way. This is especially great for movie enthusiasts. It can also search online and download subtitles, so the feature set is quite complete.

Task Manager. You can view the temperatures of various NAS hardware components, CPU usage, GPU usage, memory usage, network speed, hard drive read/write speed, storage pool read/write speed, and more. You can also view and manage various services and processes.

Cloud drive tool. You can log in to various cloud drive accounts, add sync tasks to synchronize NAS files to the cloud, or upload/download files from cloud drives. However, it currently does not support mounting cloud drives in the file manager (QNAP can do this), so managing cloud drive files is still very inconvenient. Also, Baidu Netdisk requires an additional NAS membership to use the sync feature.

Currently supported cloud drives include Baidu Netdisk, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Aliyun Drive, 115 Drive, Quark Cloud Drive, Tianyi Cloud Drive, Amazon S3, and Backblaze B2.

File sharing services support SMB, FTP, NFS, rsync, and WebDAV.

The file manager is reasonably responsive.

After AI recognition is completed in the photo app, you can search photos directly by text. It’s quite accurate and very convenient.

Snapshot and file version management features are supported.

Remote access settings. If your home broadband doesn’t have a public IP, you can use the official UGREEN remote access service (UGREENlink). If you do have a public IP, you can set up DDNS.

Storage management.

You can view basic hard drive attributes and SMART information, and you can also test read/write performance. However, UGREEN’s hard drive read/write performance test has a rather annoying limitation: it can only be run before the drive has been used. Once the drive is already part of a storage pool, you can’t test it anymore. QNAP allows testing in both cases.

Remote access speed test:

  • Upper image: the download speed when China Mobile in Shenzhen accesses my NAS public IP (China Telecom in Foshan, 100 Mbps upload). It’s only around 400 KB/s (it’s probably being throttled by QoS because it crosses different ISPs; today’s cross-network throttling is really outrageous).
  • Lower image: the download speed when China Mobile in Shenzhen accesses the NAS through UGREEN’s official relay service. It can reach around 7 MB/s, which is pretty good. In real-world use, 4K movies on the NAS load instantly.

The ping test shows that UGREEN’s official relay server is a Ningbo BGP server, with an average latency of 33 ms across the network.

What is BGP? BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) is, in simple terms, the protocol used between different Internet service providers (such as China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile) to “exchange routing information and select the best path.” It’s like an “intelligent navigation system” for cross-carrier networks.

The reason UGREEN uses a BGP server in Ningbo for relaying is that BGP data centers connect to multiple carrier networks at the same time and advertise the same IP to all of them, allowing data to automatically take the smoothest route and bypass congested cross-network nodes. So in a “cross-carrier” scenario like China Mobile in Shenzhen accessing a China Telecom NAS in Foshan, direct access may be throttled by QoS down to 400 KB/s. But when using BGP relay, traffic from China Mobile users can basically follow China Mobile-side routes directly, no longer getting stuck at the bottleneck of carrier interconnection. As a result, speeds can naturally reach 7 MB/s. In short: BGP relay is like switching cross-network access to a “highway,” helping you bypass the toll booths where speed is throttled.

10GbE speed test within the LAN, using the iperf3 speed test tool. The NAS 10GbE port connects through a 10GbE switch to the 10GbE port on an iKuai X86 soft router, with a measured peak speed of 9.38 Gbps.

CPU performance test, conducted using UnixBench. The comparison results are as follows:

  • R7-8845H (mini PC): single-core 2269.1 points, multi-core 18165 points, multiplier 8x
  • I3-1315U (DXP4800Pro): single-core 1652.1 points, multi-core 8859.5 points, multiplier 5.36x
  • Apple M4 (Mac mini): single-core 3203.7 points, multi-core 15804 points, multiplier 4.93x
  • E5-2650Lv3 x2 (server): single-core 1023.7 points, multi-core 16933.4 points, multiplier 16.52x

NAS placed in the home network cabinet:

Issues & Shortcomings

Here are the current issues and shortcomings of UGREEN NAS OS UGOS Pro (as of July 2026):

  1. Snapshots cannot be created while a virtual machine is running; the VM feature is too basic.
  2. Once the hard drive has been used (after creating a storage pool), you can no longer run the hard drive read/write performance test. QNAP allows this.
  3. Using the Baidu Netdisk sync feature in the cloud drive tool requires a separate Baidu Netdisk NAS membership (79 yuan/year). QNAP doesn’t require any extra membership. Also, even after purchasing the membership on UGREEN, the number of parallel transfers is only 3. With a large number of files, synchronization still wasn’t completed after several days. It’s too slow…
  4. Unlike QNAP, cloud drives cannot be mounted in the file manager for direct management of cloud files.
  5. Album categories and index data cannot be backed up. I’m worried that if the photo app data is lost, or if I migrate to or replace the NAS, all face labels and album categories will need to be recreated. (I saw on Xiaohongshu that some users lost their album index and category data after updating the photo app, and all photos had to be recognized and categorized again.)
  6. Network settings are basic and do not support VLAN configuration. For example, I want to set multiple VLAN IDs on one network port and connect that same port to multiple different VLAN networks, but this is not supported. QNAP can do this.
  7. The built-in DDNS feature is basic. The same DDNS provider can only be added once. In other words, if I have two domains from the same provider and want both to resolve to this NAS, that won’t work. Or, if my NAS is connected to two broadband lines and I want to set two subdomains under the same domain name to resolve to the two broadband connections respectively, that also won’t work.
  8. Risk files detected by the official Security Manager app cannot be restored after being placed in quarantine. It reports an operation failure. I don’t know if this is a bug, but the file owner is shown as root, not my personal administrator account.
  9. S3 bucket sync/backup is not supported (QNAP supports it). It can only be achieved through openlist + taosync, which is quite troublesome.

…

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English Version of the Article: https://blog.zeruns.top/archives/95.html