Introduction
QNAP has released a QuTS Hero-based NAS with the QNAP TVS-h1688x and h1288x. How do you like these devices? What are the differences and above all; what are the possibilities? In this review, I will explore that further!
Specifications
First of all, the specifications of the TVS-h1688X!
CPU: Intel® Xeon® W-1250 6-core 3.3 GHz processor (boost up to 4.7 GHz)
CPU Architecture: 64-bit x86
Graphic Processors: Intel® UHD Graphics P630
Floating Point Unit
Encryption Engine: (AES-NI)
Hardware-accelerated Transcoding
System Memory: 32GB ECC UDIMM DDR4 (2 x 16 GB)
Maximum Memory: 128 GB (4 x 32 GB)
Memory Slot: 4 x Long-DIMM DDR4
For dual-DIMM configurations, you must use a pair of identical DDR4 modules.
Flash Memory 5GB (Dual boot OS protection)
Drive Bay: 12 x 3.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s + 4 x 2.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s
Drive Compatibility:
3.5-inch bays:
3.5-inch SATA hard disk drives
2.5-inch SATA hard disk drives
2.5-inch SATA solid state drives
2.5-inch bays:
2.5-inch SATA solid state drives
Hot-swappable
M.2 SSD Slot 2 x M.2 22110/2280 NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 slots
SSD Cache Acceleration Support
2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Port (2.5G/1G/100M): 4 (also support 10M)
5 Gigabit Ethernet Port (5G/2.5G/1G/100M) Optional via an adapter
10 Gigabit Ethernet Port: 2 x 10GBASE-T (10G/1G)
25 Gigabit Ethernet Port: Optional via an adapter
Wake on LAN (WOL)
Only the 2.5GbE port
Jumbo Frame
Thunderbolt Port: Optional via the QXP-T32P 2-port Thunderbolt 3 PCIe adapter
PCIe Slot: 3
Slot 1: PCIe Gen3 x8
Slot 2: PCIe Gen3 x4
Slot 3: PCIe Gen3 x4
*Slot 1 is preinstalled with a 2-port 10GbE network adapter.
USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Port: 2 x Type-C
4 x Type-A
HDMI Output: 1, HDMI 1.4b (up to 4096 x 2160 @ 30Hz)
Audio Input: – (No longer available on units manufactured on or after 2021/1/1)
Audio Output: – (The line out jack and speaker are no longer available on units manufactured on or after 2021/1/1)
Form Factor: Tower
LED Indicators: System status, LAN, USB, Disk 1~16, M.2 SSD 1~2
LCD Display/ Button: Yes
Buttons: Power, Reset, USB Auto Copy
Dimensions (HxWxD) 303.84 × 369.89 × 319.8 mm
Weight (Net): 13.41 kg
Weight (Gross): 16.3 kg
Operating temperature: 0 – 40°C (32°F – 104°F)
Storage Temperature -20 – 70°C (-4°F – 158°F)
Relative Humidity: 5-95% RH non-condensing, wet bulb: 27˚C (80.6˚F)
Power Supply Unit: 550W PSU, 100~240V
Power Consumption: HDD Sleep Mode: 91.26 W
Power Consumption: Operating Mode, Typical: 108.67 W
Tested with drives fully populated.
Fan: System fan: 3 x 80mm, 12VDC
CPU fan: 2 x 97mm, 12VDC
Sound Level: 25.8 dB(A)
System Warning: Buzzer
Kensington Security Slot: Yes
Max. Number of Concurrent Connections (CIFS) – with Max. Memory: 10000
TVS-1288x
And the specifications of the TVS-h1288X.
CPU: Intel® Xeon® W-1250 6-core 3.3 GHz processor (boost up to 4.7 GHz)
CPU Architecture: 64-bit x86
Graphic Processors: Intel® UHD Graphics P630
Floating Point Unit: Yes
Encryption Engine: (AES-NI)
Hardware-accelerated Transcoding: Yes
System Memory: 16 GB ECC UDIMM DDR4 (2 x 8 GB)
Maximum Memory: 128 GB (4 x 32 GB)
Memory Slot: 4 x Long-DIMM DDR4
Flash Memory 5GB (Dual boot OS protection)
Drive Bay: 8 x 3.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s + 4 x 2.5-inch SATA 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s
Drive Compatibility:
3.5-inch bays:
3.5-inch SATA hard disk drives
2.5-inch SATA hard disk drives
2.5-inch SATA solid state drives
2.5-inch bays:
2.5-inch SATA solid state drives
Hot-swappable
M.2 SSD Slot: 2 x M.2 22110/2280 NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 slots
SSD Cache Acceleration Support: Yes
2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Port (2.5G/1G/100M): 4 (also support 10M)
5 Gigabit Ethernet Port (5G/2.5G/1G/100M): Optional via an adapter
10 Gigabit Ethernet Port: 2 x 10GBASE-T (10G/1G)
25 Gigabit Ethernet Port: Optional via an adapter
Wake on LAN (WOL): Yes
Jumbo Frame: Yes
Thunderbolt Port: Optional via the QXP-T32P 2-port Thunderbolt 3 PCIe adapter
PCIe Slot: 3
Slot 1: PCIe Gen3 x8
Slot 2: PCIe Gen3 x4
Slot 3: PCIe Gen3 x4
*Slot 1 is preinstalled with a 2-port 10GbE network adapter.
USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Port: 2 x Type-C
3 x Type-A
HDMI Output: 1, HDMI 1.4b (up to 4096 x 2160 @ 30Hz)
Audio Input: – (No longer available on units manufactured on or after 2021/1/1)
Audio Output: – (The line out jack and speaker are no longer available on units manufactured on or after 2021/1/1)
Form Factor: Tower
LED Indicators: System status, LAN, USB, Disk 1~12, M.2 SSD 1~2
LCD Display/ Button: Yes
Buttons: Power, Reset, USB Auto Copy
Dimensions (HxWxD) 234.6 × 369.9 × 319.8 mm
Weight (Net): 11.27 kg
Weight (Gross): 14.95 kg
Operating temperature: 0 – 40°C (32°F – 104°F)
Storage Temperature: -20 – 70°C (-4°F – 158°F)
Relative Humidity: 5-95% RH non-condensing, wet bulb: 27˚C (80.6˚F)
Power Supply Unit: 550W PSU, 100~240V
Power Consumption: HDD Sleep Mode: 85.216 W
Power Consumption: Operating Mode, Typical: 97.492 W
Fan: System fan: 3 x 80mm, 12VDC
CPU fan: 2 x 97mm, 12VDC
Sound Level: 26 dB(A)
System Warning: Buzzer
Kensington Security Slot: Yes
Max. Number of Concurrent Connections (CIFS) – with Max. Memory: 10000
Unpacking
TVS-h1288x
Time to unpack the two machines. So let’s start with the h1288x.
QNAP provides an extensive package, with the h1288x.
– 1x UTP cable,
– 1x power cable,
– Manuals, etc.,
– Cooling fins for an onboard NVMe SSD,
– Keys to screw on the brackets – so one cannot just take out the SSDs/HDDs,
– Screws to hold the SSDs/HDDs in place.
At the top left of the QNAP TVS-h1288x are four SSD slots. I fill both of these with the Kingston KC600 1TB SSDs.
The HDD slots I fill with 6TB WD Reds.
Both sides of the QNAP NAS are ‘bare’.
The 1288x is quite a big thing. There are at least 3 fans on the back to keep the HDDs cool. You would expect that the NAS would also make a lot of noise, but that is not that bad. Especially for a large NAS, I don’t think it makes much more noise than a ‘normal 4 bay NAS’. At least, you certainly don’t have 3x more noise than a 4-bay NAS.
The TVS-h1288x and TVS-H1688x both have 3 PCI slots.
Slot 1: PCIe Gen3 x8
Slot 2: PCIe Gen3 x4
Slot 3: PCIe Gen3 x4
Slot 1 contains the 2x 10GbE network interface.
Furthermore, on the back – apparently no longer with the newer models, as of January 1 of this year – there is an audio input and output.
In addition, there are 4 2.5GbE network connections available. I would have preferred to see 1x 10GbE or even 2x 10GbE on the motherboard. Then you have room for other things such as even a graphics card, Thunderbolt, and other PCI expansions.
In addition, there are the following connections: USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Port: 2 x Type-C, 3 x Type-A, HDMI Output: 1, HDMI 1.4b (up to 4096 x 2160 @ 30Hz).
Of course, the Kensington lock and power connection are not missing.
Remove a few screws and the cover can be slid away.
Still, it’s great to see how compact such a NAS can be made. The biggest part here is the motherboard. And even that I think is small for a Xeon build.
The blower above cools the memory, NVMe SSDs, and PCI slots. On the other side is also one PCI slot with the 2x 10GbE network interfaces.
The blower at the bottom left ensures that the CPU is kept cool by the passive block.
The nice thing about this NAS is that it is reasonably decorated. At the bottom left are two M.2 22110/2280 NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 slots.
The 1288x comes with 16GB, the 1688x gets 32GB. Both are expandable up to 128GB (4x32GB). Together with the Xeon W-1250 6-core, you should be able to make reasonable progress. I thought the TVS-872XT was a beast at the time. But this one – also in terms of bays and possibilities – surpasses that considerably.
The two NVME slots are filled with two Kingston NVMes (SKC2500M81000G).
Photo of the KC2500s in the 1688x.
The rest of the slots will be filled with WD Red 6TB as well as four Kingston KC600 1TBs.
The SSDs are held in place by ‘clicking’ them into their casing.
The WD Reds are in the HDD bay. Clicking the sides in holds the HDDs.
As we are used to with every NAS, pushing the bay into the slot makes contact with the SATA connector.
The 1288x has some light: blue light on the right side. But this is not disturbing. Not even in the evenings. This can be turned off in the menu.
TVS-h1688x
Time to unpack the TVS-h1688x. The h1688x has 4 more HDD slots than the 1288x. This also makes it a gigantic NAS – with plenty of storage options.
Like the 1288x, the 1688x is on the sides – clean.
Like the 1288x, the 1688x has 3 fans. However, these are situated slightly differently.
The TVS-h1288x and TVS-H1688x both have 3 PCI slots.
Slot 1: PCIe Gen3 x8
Slot 2: PCIe Gen3 x4
Slot 3: PCIe Gen3 x4
Slot 1 contains the 2x 10GbE network interface.
Furthermore, there are at the back – apparently no longer with the newer models, from January 1 of this year – an audio input and output.
In addition, there are 4 2.5GbE network connections available. I would have preferred 1x 10GbE or even 2x 10GbE on the motherboard. Then you have room for other things such as even a graphics card, Thunderbolt, and other PCI expansions.
In addition, there are the following connections: USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Port: 2 x Type-C, 3 x Type-A, HDMI Output: 1, HDMI 1.4b (up to 4096 x 2160 @ 30Hz).
Of course, the Kensington lock and power connection are also included here.
QNAP also provides an extensive package with the 1688x:
– 1x UTP cable,
– 1x power cable,
– Manuals, etc.,
– Cooling fins for an onboard NVMe SSD,
– Keys to screw on the brackets – so one cannot just take out the SSDs/HDDs,
– Screws to hold the SSDs/HDDs in place.
The current network interface PCI card with 2x 10GbE is already included in PCI slot 1.
On the other side of this slot are the other two slots.
For example, you can choose a QNAP QM2-2S10G1TA. This card has 2 NVMe slots and a 10GbE port.
When removing the blower, the memory can be adjusted and the NVMe slots can be filled. The bottom blower cools the passive heat sink on the CPU. The top one also cools the PCI slots and the NVMe/memory slots at the same time.
It is still a remarkable sight to have so many slots in a NAS.
However, the 1288x and 1688x are also not ‘standard’ consumer NASs. Both are developed for business use. However, as a consumer, you can get pretty good use out of them.
The 1288x and 1688x (actually all QNAP NASs I’ve had the opportunity to review so far), use a system where plug-and-play bays can be used to add and remove HDDs.
Also with this NAS, I use the two Kingston NVMes (SKC2500M81000G), WD Red 6TBs, and four Kingston KC600 1TBs.
Software
Installing both the QNAP TVS-h1288x and TVS-h1688x is quite easy.
You can choose to actually install QuTS Hero, or just use QTS.
During the installation, you are immediately prompted to download the latest firmware.
The little beast gets a name and learns to take its first steps. In this case, I call my NAS, 1288x – super original too! Password is of course (always) qwerty.
If you have your own NTP server within the organization, it can be selected, of course, you can also do it manually!
Just as important is to give the NAS a static or dynamic IP. Fortunately, with the display on the NAS itself (if you leave it on dynamic) you can see what it has become.
You can also set which file transfer services should be enabled via the menu.
In the end, an overview is shown with all settings.
After clicking Apply you will be asked if you want to empty the storage media. After that, the NAS rattles for a while and QuTS Hero is installed in a few minutes.
The QuTS Hero login screen looks like this. The login screen can be configured as desired, with even your messages.
QNAP asks if you agree with their data & privacy policy and then the party can start.
Let’s also start creating a storage/partition AND share right away. QuTS Hero throws in quite a few information screens in the meantime, I’ll spare you them (this review is getting long enough).
In this case, I set up the four 2.5-inch SSDs as RAID 0 (yes, RAID0 to test what the NAS can do to the maximum). I don’t recommend using RAID0 by default. After all, only one SSD has to fail, and everything is gone!
Via the menu, you can choose to enable ‘over-provisioning’. This ensures that, for example, only up to 90% can be used. SSDs should never be filled to almost 100%, which shortens the lifespan. Fortunately, QNAP also takes this into account.
There is also a possibility to set a guarantee for a snapshot space, this means that, for example, 20% can be reserved so that snapshots can also be stored. With the above, you would reserve 30% by these two options, of which in total (snapshots included) 90% of the SSDs are used.
QTS and QuTS Hero have the option (on virtually all data pools) to set an alert. For example, a mail/beep/notification is displayed on the screen when this threshold has been reached.
A small summary indicates what you have chosen.
I think QuTS hero works better than QTS. QuTS is just a little easier to set up in my opinion. And yet both have quite a learning curve.
Within Storage & Snapshots, we create a folder called “SSD”. I use this to write data for the benchmarks.
A new shared folder is easy to set up by choosing which folder name, under which storage pool, and which way of space allocation should be used (thick or thin – with thick it is already reserved on the entire pool. With Thin, only what it needs is used on the pool). Encryption and size.
Well, the previous was the basic settings. Here you also have options for block size, retention, etc.
Of course, there is a possibility to give rights at the user level. However, this can also be done for groups. But then again, this is through another menu.
Advice; do not use the admin account by default. Ideally, this is disabled and personal accounts are used.
Once the share has been created, the overview is as follows:
QNAP has a pretty active community, so there are a lot of applications to install. In addition, there is also a possibility to install 3rd party applications.
Fortunately, the standard ‘App Center’ already has a lot of apps.
The nice thing about QNAP is that there is an option to install the apps on different volumes. Suppose you have a volume with SSDs and a volume with HDDs. Then you can eventually choose to transfer an application in its entirety to another volume. For example, if you have an application that needs to be on an SSD, it can be transferred within a short time.
The current apps are displayed in the ‘App Center’ under the heading ‘My Apps’.
Yes, there is also a possibility to install Ubuntu on the QNAP (besides of course the ‘Container Station’ and Virtualization Station’). When a graphics card is also put in the TVS-h1688x and TVS-h1288x (I hear the 3080 is easy to obtain…) then Ubuntu Desktop can also be controlled by peripherals and a monitor.
The ‘Control Panel’ is also quite extensive which allows the NAS to be set up to your liking. The only negative of this is that some tabs open a new window.
Suppose you click on Storage & Snapshots – while you’re in your control panel, a new window will open. Since it works like this with several options, it feels a bit messy. Ideally, I would have liked to see a button saying ‘click here to open Storage and Snapshots’.
When you are searching for an option in the Control Panel, you are almost continuously clicking away extra windows so that you can look around in your current window.
The advantage of both systems is that there are many interfaces on them. So there are plenty of fall-back options!
There are many things to customize in the QuTS OS. From the piece of text above the login screen, wallpaper to 2FA. In the latter case, it is advisable to enable 2FA.
Via the ‘disk health’ menu, it is possible to check and perform tests on the SSDs/HDDs. Automated periodic checks can also be set through this menu.
I have described a further explanation of the possibilities in the Control Panel in my review of the QNAP TVS-872XT. [url=https://tweakers.net/productreview/238146/qnap-tvs-872xt.html#part_4
]This can be found here!/url]
Mobile App
QNAP also has an app with QManager that allows you to control your NAS.
On the home screen, add the NAS, enter the IP address, and account details, and press Connect. The first overview shows the ‘health status’ of the NAS.
Inside the app, there are also a fair number of options. For example, updates can even be performed from the App Center and software can even be installed.
The resource monitor displays information about temperatures, use of the system, etc.
At the bottom, there are several tabs where CPU, RAM, Storage, Bandwidth, Processes, and users can be viewed and managed.
For example, under the processes tab, all running processes are displayed. And under the users tab the users connected to the NAS (via which service – e.g. Samba, HTTPS, etc.) are displayed.
You can also monitor background tasks via the menu. This shows, for example, if a RAID is scrubbing.
Users can be managed under the Privilege Settings. In the next tabs, you can manage the user groups and additionally adjust the shared folders.
The nice thing about the app is that it is easy to disable or enable a service. If you don’t always want to leave an FTP or SSH open, it can easily be turned off or on using the app.
The apps in the App Center can also be managed via the app. For example, the currently installed apps can be managed. In addition, it is also possible to install additional apps via the App.
Even though there are options to be kept continuously informed via push messages, e-mail, etc., there is also a possibility to view the logs via the app (I’ll spare you the logging ;)..)
Via the connection logs, you can at least keep an eye on who is logging into the NAS.
Of course, there is also a backup that can be set up via the app.
In addition, the download station can also be operated via the app to download your daily portion of Ubuntu installations… ahum…
The external devices can be managed under the System tools tab. One tab further allows users who are on the ban list to be managed.
The last tab allows one to restart or even update the NAS.
I like the app, there are plenty of options to configure/monitor the NAS.
Before I started my first review of the TVS-872XT at the time, I had to get used to QTS a lot. I was very used to DSM from Synology. Yet, I must confess that once you keep playing with QTS and QuTS Hero you get used to it. It’s like switching from one OS to another. Many things are the same, and yet there are also differences. Both work in their way, and that makes it interesting in my opinion.
QuTS Hero is a kind of improvement of QTS in my opinion. A nice OS if I do say so myself! 🙂
Benchmarks
I try testing the QNAP TVS-h1288x and TVS-h1688x in several ways.
The situation is as follows: from a computer from a PCI-e (WD Black) and 10GbE adapter on the motherboard (ASRock x570 Creator) via the M408-4C switch to the 10GbE PCI-e slot in the TVS-h1288x and TVS- h1688x.
Test 1 with the TVS-h1688x:
From PC to the h1688x (4 SSDs in RAID0) a file of ~45GB is written at just under 1040 MB/s (1.04GB/s).
Test 2 with the TVS-h1688x:
From the TS-h1688x back to the PC, the same file is written at approximately 1100 MB/s (1.10GB/s).
Test 3 with the TVS-h1288x:
In this test, we write the 45GB file to the two onboard NVMes on the h1288x (the 1688x achieved the same result).
The file is written at approximately 1.10GB/s. The maximum of the 10GbE port.
Test 4 with the TVS-h1288x:
Of course, we are also curious about what happens when it is written back to the PC, from the TVS-h1288.
Writing the 45GB file goes from the NVMes with again the highest attainable speed of the 10GbE. Still, there was a small dip followed by a stable transfer. This did not happen again when I tested it again.
Test 5 with the TVS-h1288x:
I also want to know what the 4 SSDs in RAID 1 do.
Writing to the h1288x is still quite stable and smooth. The NAS eats the data like it’s nothing. 😀 This goes at 1.07 GB/s. The near maximum for the 10GbE port.
Test 6 with the TVS-h1288x:
Also here it dips briefly when writing back to the WD Black on my motherboard (from the PC). However, it continues to its maximum achievable speed. This of course is great! 🙂
In short, back from the 1288x to the PC in 1,10GB/s – with two small dips.
To test the maximum speed of the HDDs I need to have 12 or 16 HDDs. Unfortunately, I could not receive it at short notice to test with. The 6 drives (RAID5) I was using at the time provided a transfer rate of about 330MB/s.
The fact that the 10GbE port is used does not mean that this is its maximum speed. Unfortunately, I don’t have a Thunderbolt card that I can test. Should that be the case, you could look at how far the NVMes can be squeezed as a cache.
For example, there are options to fill the 12 or even 16 bays and then use the NVMes as a cache to send/receive Thunderbolt 3 data. In that case, it will (theoretically) be a lot faster than the 10GbE ports.
Conclusion
I had the opportunity to take a closer look at the QNAP TVS-h1288x and QNAP TVS-h1688x since December (if you look closely you can even see a Christmas tree in a photo). It strikes me that QuTS becomes a little more mature with each update. The fact that there is an option to even install QTS is of course particularly convenient. In the end, QuTS is slightly different from QTS.
QuTS Hero uses ZFS, whereas QTS generally uses EXT4.
What I did notice is that QuTS Hero is easier than QTS itself. Setting up a shared folder, partitions/data pools is also much easier in my opinion than with QTS. In my opinion, they can also implement this at QTS.
In my opinion, the 2x 10GbE is fast enough to fill the NAS in no time! 🙂 Still, I would have liked it better if these two network interfaces were just on the motherboard itself. That way you would have had more options for other PCI plug-in cards. On the other hand, there are four 2.5GbE connections instead of the ‘normal’ 1GbE, which is already progress.
I understand that four times a 2.5GbE is very nice for redundancy and trunking – after all, you hook them up to different switches to exclude a single point of failure, but that was just a nice extra option if there were multiple connections onboard. Anyway, you can keep wishing for so much… I also wish for a Ferrari Portofino with a pack of butter, but I keep missing out. For the time being, I keep doing it with my Alfa Romeo Giulia, which still has a bit of Italian hum.
I must confess that I am quite impressed with the systems. The Xeon in combination with the memory and the NVMe SSDs and 2.5-inch SSDs makes for a real powerhouse. The fact that it contains 12 or 16 bays for HDDs also provides massive data storage.
I was also able to run several OSs via the virtualization station and play around with them. Using Plex and watching 4K movies was also no problem at all. The Xeon smiles at the 4K movies and is strong enough to play anything.
The hilarious thing about such a QNAP NAS is that you can also just put a graphics card in it (such an RTX 3080 seems to be easy to obtain) allowing you to control an OS via a monitor + peripherals. QNAP also has a lot of other options to fill the PCI-e slots, such as a QM2-2P10G1TA card, which I used.
For an amount of approximately €2550 (1288x) and €3000 (1688x), they are certainly not cheap machines. And yet you get a lot in return. I know there is an endless debate between building your system yourself and using a pre-build system. But business-wise, not every employee feels like managing a system and keeping it up-to-date. A pre-built NAS just provides more convenience and therefore time – if it does exactly what you want it to do.
The QNAP TVS-h1688x and TVS-h1288x get 5 out of 5 stars from me.
