I used a variety of NAS servers over the course of the final decade, and it isn’t typically there is a new model on this class. That is what IceWhale is doing with the introduction of the ZimaCube. The Chinese language model is best-known for its ZimaBoard single board server — consider it as an x86 different to the Raspberry Pi 4 — and having used it for the higher a part of the 12 months, I prefer it fairly a bit.
The ZimaCube is a way more bold effort that’s designed to go up towards the greatest NAS servers obtainable in the present day. So what’s fascinating concerning the ZimaCube, you ask? Properly, is has six drive bays, respectable internals that go as much as a 10-core Core i5 on the Professional mannequin, 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet as customary, M.2 bays, and even Thunderbolt 4 connectivity. You get 256GB of M.2 storage out of the field together with 8GB of RAM with the bottom mannequin, and the {hardware} prowess mixed with the elegant design makes it worthy of consideration.
IceWhale is crowdfunding the ZimaCube proper now, and I used to be despatched a unit a month in the past for testing. I used it alongside the likes of the DiskStation DS923+, so here is what you have to know concerning the ZimaCube, and whether or not you need to put money into the NAS in lieu of extra established manufacturers.
ZimaCube NAS: Pricing and availability
The ZimaCube is presently being crowdfunded on Kickstarter, with common gross sales slated to kick off subsequent 12 months. There are two variants of the ZimaCube obtainable: a quad-core mannequin that is powered by Intel’s Alder Lake-based N100, and a Professional model that has the 10-core Intel Core i5-1235U.
The ZimaCube with Intel N100 will be purchased for $499, a reduction of $200 from its estimated retail value of $699. The ZimaCube Professional is out there for $899, which is $300 off its $1,199 retail value. The ZimaCube Professional has twin Thunderbolt 4 ports, and Ice Whale can be introducing a ZimaCube Professional Creator Pack for $1,599 that features the ZimaCube Professional, 64GB of reminiscence, 1TB SSD, and an NVIDIA Quadro RTX A2000. The Creator variant is slated to debut at $1,999 as soon as it hits retail, so that you’re taking a look at financial savings of $400.
ZimaCube NAS: Design
Earlier than we get began, I must level out that the model of ZimaCube I am utilizing will not be the retail mannequin. IceWhale despatched an preliminary model of the NAS so I might take a look at the {hardware}, and it would not even have the ZimaOS software program that is going to be put in out of the field on retail items — it as an alternative runs CasaOS, the identical OS that is on the ZimaBoard. That mentioned, I used to be capable of flash the ZimaOS construct on the NAS with relative ease.
Because it is not a retail mannequin, I acquired the ZimaCube in a nondescript field, and aside from the enclosure itself and its energy adapter, I did not get any equipment. As soon as the ZimaCube begins going out to backers, it should embody customized packaging and all of the equipment.
The design of the ZimaCube has rather a lot going for it; the chassis is made totally out of steel, and the commercial aesthetic permits it to face out. I although the NAS had an inside PSU after I took it out of the field, however the heft is all all the way down to the steel chassis. Meaning you get good sturdiness, and truthfully, I’ve zero points with the construct high quality of this factor.
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The drive bays are situated behind a entrance panel that attaches magnetically, and it’s the solely space the place IceWhale might have completed higher. You may must wedge a fingernail contained in the panel to pry it open, and the magnets have a tendency to return off the panel and fasten to the chassis. I do not know if a revision is deliberate or if that is the model that may exit to prospects, however the panel wants a rethink. The panel additionally attracts a variety of mud, and it is arduous to wash.
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One other quibble is that the drive set up is not tool-less; even the three.5-inch HDDs want screws, and that is not the norm as of late with most NAS servers.
Outdoors of that, there aren’t any issues with the design of the ZimaCube — it is a NAS that is constructed to final, and IceWhale did a good job with the chassis. You get a novel 6+1 configuration that sees six drive bays for putting in 3.5-inch and a pair of.5-inch drives, and a slot that homes two M.2 bays. Additionally, I just like the accessibility of the ports, and it’s simple to entry the DRAM module and the M.2 drive that is put in out of the field.
ZimaCube NAS: Options and ports
One of many greatest promoting factors of the ZimaCube is the intensive feature-set. IceWhale is actually delivering one of the feature-packed NAS on this phase, so let’s begin off with the fundamentals. The bottom mannequin ZimaCube that I am utilizing comes with an Intel N100 that has 4 cores going as much as 3.4GHz.
My unit had 16GB of RAM put in, however the usual mannequin often comes with 8GB out of the field, and it will probably go as much as 32GB; the draw back is that there is only a single SO-DIMM slot on the NAS.
Curiously, the ZimaCube comes with a 256GB M.2 SSD put in out of the field, and this principally serves because the boot drive. My unit got here with the Samsung 980 Professional, however I doubt IceWhale shall be wherever as beneficiant with consumer-facing fashions — these are seemingly to make use of a white-label SSD as an alternative. Even then, the truth that you get a drive in any respect is a nifty addition.
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Persevering with with the positives, the ZimaCube has a superb assortment of ports: you get two USB 3.0 ports on the entrance alongside a USB-C port, and a 3.5mm jack. Around the again, you get two 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports, 4 USB ports — two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 — and an HDMI in addition to a DisplayPort 1.4 port. There’s additionally a PCIe Gen3 x4 slot, and that provides you the choice of including a networking card down the road.
If you need one thing that has extra energy, there is a ZimaCube Professional that comes with an Intel Core i5-1235U, and this mannequin has 10 cores and has 16GB DDR5 RAM out of the field, two SO-DIMM slots, and the identical 256GB M.2 drive out of the field. You get the identical six bays, however you possibly can add an extra 4 M.2 drives, and also you get 4 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports, six USB 3.0 ports, and twin Thunderbolt 4 ports.
The Professional mannequin additionally will get a PCIe Gen4 x16 slot along with a Gen4 x4 slot, so you’re getting a substantial improve for those who go together with the Professional variant — way more so than the likes of the DiskStation DS1621+.
ZimaCube NAS: Efficiency
This part goes to be comparatively quick as I could not do a lot testing with the ZimaCube. It is nice that the NAS comes with a NAS preinstalled, and this serves because the boot drive for the web-based ZimaOS.
ZimaOS is a light-weight OS that is designed for single-board servers, so it runs nice on the ZimaCube. You get a dashboard with widgets outlining system standing, storage, and community exercise. The built-in app retailer has all of the utilities you want in a NAS server; there is a native Plex consumer, Emby, Residence Assistant, Portainer, Jellyfin, and so forth. You may also set up Pi-hole or AdGuard on the server for those who’re seeking to arrange network-wide advert blocking, and all these utilities are straightforward to put in and configure.
What I like is the seamless Docker integration; you possibly can simply add containers straight from the dashboard, and it’s considerably simpler to do that than within the likes of DiskStation Supervisor 7.2 and TerraMaster’s TOS 5. There is no Roon integration proper now, however you possibly can set up the Docker picture with out an excessive amount of of a problem.
That is the place the positives finish; I could not use the ZimaCube to any measurable diploma because it would not acknowledge the HDDs I slotted in. I attempted with six totally different drives, and so they simply would not present up within the ZimaOS interface. I confirmed that the drives had been working in one other NAS, however attempt as I’d, they weren’t acknowledged within the ZimaCube. The SATA controller was related to the motherboard, and I reseated the cables simply to make sure — however to no avail.
This meant that I might solely do restricted testing by utilizing the M.2 drive slots. These labored hassle-free, however not with the ability to use the SATA HDDs finally prevented me from writing a full-fledged evaluate. On that word, there are some things to notice on the software program entrance as properly. Whereas it’s light-weight, it misses out on configurability, and also you simply do not get the standard settings to configure port forwarding, utilization entry, safety and privateness choices, and so forth.
You aren’t getting any fan management both, and this has been a degree of frustration with the ZimaCube. The built-in fan will get very loud even when the NAS is idling, and there is no technique to change its default conduct. Anyway, IceWhale is sending me a brand new mainboard and backplane, and I’ll slot them in as quickly as they present up and check out testing the NAS at a later level.
ZimaCube: The competitors
As at all times, my go-to alternative on this class is the DiskStation DS1621+. It might be just a few years previous at this level, nevertheless it continues to ship excellent efficiency in every day use, and also you get all of the options you want. There is no 2.5GbE connectivity right here, and since the unit runs a Ryzen V1500B, you miss out on the power to make use of {hardware} transcoding in Plex. That mentioned, you get rock-solid reliability, and whereas the DS1621+ is costlier, you get the very best software program within the enterprise.
ZimaCube NAS: Must you purchase it?
You can purchase this if:
- You need a 6-bay NAS with excellent {hardware}
- You want light-weight software program that has all of the utilities you may use
- You need a highly effective Plex media server
- You want multi-Gigabit networking
You should not purchase this if:
- You need secure software program
- You want hassle-free reliability
The ZimaCube clearly excels on the {hardware} facet of issues, and this is likely one of the strongest sub-$1,000 NAS servers I used. The software program has rather a lot to supply as properly, and whereas it’s presently not secure, that ought to change by the point the ZimaCube begins going out to backers — finish of Q1 2024, by the most recent estimates.
IceWhale has all of the elements with the ZimaCube to problem established NAS manufacturers, and whereas there are many bugs that should be ironed, it appears engaging. So for those who want a NAS with highly effective {hardware} and are keen to take a danger with a brand new entrant, the ZimaCube has loads to supply. You may simply must cross your fingers that you just get a unit that works out of the field.