QNAP is a Taiwanese corporation that provides comprehensive network attached storage (NAS) and video surveillance solutions, they have specially made their mark in providing the NAS devices since their inauguration in 2004.
The QNAP TS-1677X is the NAS device that is announced a few days ago, it completely shattered its already proven predecessor TS-1685, based on the Ryzen APU with the I/O that will complement the devices that you already possess it promises to be the device that you can use potentially as your data management device, with services provided by QNAP that will help in managing the huge amount of data required to process AI when equipped with a high-end Graphics Card, if you are into AI. The pricing and availability of the device are already announced.
Specifications
Starting with the specifications, it comes in different configurations of Ryzen CPUs depending upon the memory, the 64GB and 16GB version comes with the AMD Ryzen™ 7 1700 8-core CPU clocked at 3GHz, 8GB version is supported by AMD Ryzen™ 5 1600 6-core CPU clocked at 3.2GHz, while the 4GB version has AMD Ryzen™ 3 1200 4-core CPU clocked at 3.1GHz all CPU configurations are overclockable.
The memory type is DDR4, with AES-NI that serves as the encryption engine. The Drive Bay has a combination of 16 SATA 6Gbps bays 12 of them are 3.5- inch interface that supports 3.5-inch SATA hard disk drives, 2.5-inch SATA hard disk drives and 2.5-inch SATA solid-state drives while the last 4 of them are a 2.5-inch interface that only supports 2.5-inch solid state drives.
There are six Gigabit Ethernet ports two of them are 10GBASE-T Rj45 ethernet ports that can support internet speed up to 10 Gigabit and four of them are Rj45. The USB I/O includes 7 USB 3.0 type A ports and one USB 3.0 type C port, one of the type A port is at the front that supports one-touch copy functionality, the rest of them are at the back, in addition to this it also supports 3 PCIe slots configured as Slot 1: Gen3 x8, Slot 2: Gen3 x4, Slot3: Gen2 x4, one of the PCIe slots can be used for an HDMI output with the PCIe card expansion.
Regarding audio support, it has two 3.5mm dynamic microphone jacks, one 1/8-inch line out jack, one speaker,and an Alarm for security purposes, note that the line out jack and speaker cannot work simultaneously.
Design
If you thought that you had seen it previously, it would be due to its design as it shares the same chassis as its predecessors TS-1635 and TS-1685 with dimensions 11.96 x 14.56 x 12.59 inch, the front end is strikingly similar the back end is where the story becomes black and white due to the increased connectivity options in the TS-1677X.
The cooling department is also fairly similar; it uses the same 9.2 cm fan that requires 12V DC supply for the system while the CPU requires two 9 cm fans. It runs cool even when the CPU is overclocked due to the efficient cooling design the optimal temperature is around 40 Degrees Celsius. It weighs around 13.3 kg due to the huge power supply 550 W 100-240V AC; it uses to run the components.
Performance
Due to its multi-threading capabilities the TS-1677X can run multiple virtual machines at the same time, it is also ready for the Windows Server 16, Microsoft Hyper-V environment as the QNAP is claiming this device to be “efficient all-in-one-server” while also supporting snapshots and virtual machine backups. Also, due to the vQTS support that allows multiple virtual machines on a single NTS that can be beneficial for many financial and physical benefits.
OS
It runs on the QTS operating system like any other NTS device that not only allows many benefits like the restoration, management,and backup features but also allows installation of hundreds of install-in-demand apps due to the built-in App center, this include QRM+ managed centralized solutions that provide managerial solutions for graphical topology diagrams.
Verdict
It is currently retailing at around $2500, such a hefty price tag for a device thatis providing specifications, and portability with so many utilities, it indicates that this device is only marketed towards firms that deal with data management mostly, while a common consumer can also buy it, but only one unit is sold per customer.