QNAP causes a stir with its new NAS: Unlike usual, it does not use processors from AMD or Intel, but those from the Chinese manufacturer ZhaoXin – and the device is offered worldwide.
Eight-core processor with moderate computing power
The KaiXian KX-U6580 processor used has eight cores with a clock rate of 2.5 GHz, just like the top models from AMD and Intel, but only offers moderate computing power per core. The processor with 16 nanometer structures is manufactured by the contract manufacturer TSMC. The processor is designed for the x86 instruction set, which is made possible by a VIA license granted to ZhaoXin.
It is interesting to note that the KaiXian series was previously only intended for the Chinese market and was primarily aimed at breaking the hardware dependency on Western companies like AMD or Intel. Accordingly, no devices based on a processor from this series have been available in Europe so far. Nevertheless, HP, a US-based company, has already used a KaiXian processor in production; however, the resulting product is only available in China. Thus, QNAP’s new NAS represents a novelty that breaks with previous developments.
Barely competitive in price
However, the new NAS is unlikely to be particularly successful. With six hard drive bays and two multi-gigabit Ethernet ports, it is indeed solidly equipped; however, the called-up price of around 1,140 euros is significantly higher than that of comparable products. QNAP itself also has comparable products on offer that only cost a bit more than half. NAS with 10 Gbit/s Ethernet or SFP+ slots are already available on the market for more than 1,100 Euros – qualities that the QNAP product cannot offer.
