TerraMaster’s place within the NAS market was once constructed round competing on the low and mid-range by matching its rivals on specs whereas undercutting a bit on worth. Typically talking, this felt like an inexpensive compromise because the software program wasn’t as polished or fully-featured in comparison with extra established manufacturers.
Whereas that technique in all probability isn’t precisely over, a brand new facet of TerraMaster has been rising recently. It began with the F4-424 Professional, which shipped with maxed-out RAM and a CPU that’s already fairly highly effective for client or small enterprise use. It has solely been a couple of months, and TerraMaster is already upping the stakes once more, this time with the F4-424 Max. This unit has a Core i5 processor, essentially the most highly effective I’ve ever seen in a NAS on this market, and the capability to go as much as 64GB of RAM for essentially the most demanding energy customers. Should you do not thoughts the worth tag, it is simply the most effective NAS techniques obtainable.
Editor’s alternative
TerraMaster F4-424 Max
The F4-424 Max is TerraMaster’s 2024 flagship for house and small enterprise customers that want the utmost efficiency out of an area server. It is a 4-bay NAS with an Intel Core i5 and 8GB of RAM that may be upgarded to an enormous 64GB. There are two 10GbE ports and three USB 3.2 ports (2x type-A and 1x type-C), enabling loads of I/O bandwidth the place customers want to maneuver information as quick as potential.
- Excessive-performance CPU with built-in GPU
- Two 10Gb Ethernet ports
- Easy setup and upkeep
- Costly for a 4-bay NAS
- Bland aesthetics
Value, availability, and specs
The F4-424 Max is successfully the flagship of TerraMaster’s client NAS merchandise, and as such, it is formally retailing for a reasonably hefty $900. Nevertheless, throughout the launch interval, there’s a $100 coupon obtainable on this mannequin and any of the opposite newly launched items. You may order instantly from TerraMaster’s on-line retailer or by means of Amazon. When you’re at it, remember that you will have to order some HDDs match for a NAS.
TerraMaster does not have customization choices whereas ordering, however in the event you’re involved in a 6-bay variant that’s in any other case almost an identical, take a look at the F6-424 Max for $100 extra. It is unavailable by means of Amazon on the time of writing, so you will have to have a look at TerraMaster’s retailer.
What’s good concerning the TerraMaster F4-424 Max?
Preventing above its weight class
As I mentioned earlier, the specs are principally pretty much as good because it will get for a NAS on this class. If Ugreen hadn’t simply used the identical Intel Core i5-1235U chip in a few of its new highest-end fashions, I’d by no means have anticipated to see a CPU this highly effective outdoors of a rackmount. I doubt that’s a coincidence. Regardless, if you need to use this a lot processing energy in a house or small workplace, you’ll need it on this desktop chassis, not a rackmount.
There weren’t any surprises after I stress examined system efficiency, it saved up with all the things I threw at it. The CPU homes 10 cores (2x efficiency + 8x effectivity), delivering quick outcomes with giant database queries. It additionally helps most of Intel’s trendy virtualization applied sciences, so digital machines and app containers (e.g., Docker) can function extra effectively. In my testing, it barely tickled the CPU as well and run a couple of VMs whereas working a couple of small servers in docker. And, after all, I additionally had no bother working a number of Plex shoppers with compelled transcoding on pretty normal media. The CPU handed with flying colours in typical situations.
However this isn’t simply concerning the CPU; nearly each different spec is on the excessive finish. To reply one in every of my greatest criticisms concerning the Professional solely having a pair of two.5GbE ports, the Max replaces these with 10GbE ports. Because of hyperlink aggregation, these may be mixed for a complete of 20Gb/s to the community. There are three USB 3.2 ports, two being type-A and the opposite being type-C. In contrast to the Professional mannequin, which incorporates 32GB of RAM, the Max solely comes with 8GB out of the field; nonetheless, it may be upgraded to a whopping 64GB.
Many of the frequent options of every other TerraMaster NAS, just like the
F8 SSD Plus
, are right here, like toolless drive set up (with 3.5-inch drives), and the LEDs on the entrance are inset and pretty dim to scale back gentle air pollution.
Within the F8 SSD Plus overview, I briefly mentioned a few of the enhancements within the current main replace to TOS6, however I wish to spotlight a couple of particular particulars right here, too. To start with, the place some NAS producers solely help utilizing NVMe drives as a cache for sustaining increased community efficiency, TerraMaster helps incorporating them into the storage pool. Sizzling swapping drives is now supported in TOS6, although it’s nonetheless not advisable with some file techniques and RAID configurations.
TerraMaster is especially pleased with its low-noise design, which purportedly produces simply 21dB whereas idling. The fan is actually nonetheless audible whereas all the things is idling, however I’ve to agree — it’s perceptibly quieter than any Synology I’ve had on my desk. Having mentioned that, it hardly issues as soon as the storage drives are in operation as a result of they produce the lion’s share of the noise. However if you wish to keep away from HDD noise, take a look at a solid-state NAS just like the F8 SSD Plus.
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Evaluation: TerraMaster’s F8 SSD Plus is the NAS I wish to journey with
Tremendous quiet, tremendous quick, principally transportable
I wish to remark shortly on the packaging earlier than transferring on. Older TerraMaster packages all the time got here in a sturdy, pretty good, yellowish-brown cardboard field with simply the corporate brand on the lid. The brand new line doesn’t compromise on the cardboard high quality, but it surely’s now black, and high-resolution pictures of the NAS are printed on two sides. I’m unsure if TerraMaster intends to put these on retailer cabinets, however the field lastly seems retail-ready. And further cheers for sticking to recyclable supplies and avoiding extreme indulgences like nested packaging.
What’s unhealthy concerning the TerraMaster F4-424 Max?
With nice energy comes larger energy payments
The basic trade-off of a extra highly effective chip is extra vitality consumption. Whereas it’s not fairly an ideal apples-to-apples comparability, the documented variations between the Professional and the Max verify there’s an added price to easily having an i5 inside. In response to TerraMaster’s tech specs for the Professional totally loaded with drives, it’s going to want 13W whereas these drives are hibernating and 33W with all 4 drives energetic. With the Max, these numbers soar to 17.5W and 46W, respectively. In fact, when evaluating the chips instantly, each have a base TDP of 15W, however the i5-1235U within the Max can technically ramp up as excessive as 55W with Turbo Increase.
How a lot this prices will fluctuate primarily based in your electrical firm. For me, this implies the Max provides an additional $4/yr over the Professional simply to idle 24/7, however that goes up as disk entry and CPU utilization improve. It’s in all probability not a major expense, however this can be value contemplating in the event you’re energy-conscious or preserving a decent price range. Then again, let’s say you’re doing consulting work and the NAS is working some demanding digital machines or executing heavy database queries, and the quicker processor can legitimately velocity up productiveness in a significant approach, it’s certainly paying for its personal electrical invoice.
Shifting focus to different parts of the {hardware}. I nonetheless have a few of the identical minor complaints about TerraMaster’s present design. For instance, the detachable facet panel isn’t significantly enticing, principally due to the seam alongside the highest. The all-black design additionally seems so plain and desires a few accents to spice it up. I do know these are aesthetic particulars that don’t matter in the event you’re hiding the NAS out of view, but it surely makes me miss the older design of the
F4-423
.
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TerraMaster F4-423 NAS overview: Streamlined community storage on a price range
Fewer frills and decrease price
I’ll once more make my transient remark that I had hoped to see TOS6 make extra use of the HDMI port. Whereas it’s helpful for diagnostic functions, and you may run instructions on the terminal after plugging in a USB keyboard, having this port and no different approach to make use of it with out switching to a completely totally different working system nonetheless appears like a waste.
Must you purchase it?
This isn’t the NAS for everyone, it’s the NAS for those who want loads of horsepower in an area server. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s just for skilled use as a result of I can actually consider some energy customers and lovers who would make use of this {hardware}. Nonetheless, I anticipate the goal market to be small companies and software program engineers who have to run native servers with some demanding operations. Nevertheless, I may additionally think about any person might want it simply to allow them to host a Plex server for a big household.
However that additionally illustrates the purpose of such a spec-heavy construct. The {hardware} is quick sufficient that the NAS ought to hardly ever be a bottleneck for something you wish to do with it. Between the pair of 10GbE ports and three USB 3.2 ports, there’s loads of bandwidth for I/O. So long as it’s packed stuffed with HDDs and SSDs in an excellent RAID configuration, it’s real looking to edit video footage over the community with little or no lag. Should you merely want (or need) to get top-tier efficiency, and it doesn’t matter that it’ll price a bit extra, this can be value each penny.
TerraMaster F4-424 Max
The F4-424 Max is TerraMaster’s 2024 flagship for house and small enterprise customers that want the utmost efficiency out of an area server. It is a 4-bay NAS with an Intel Core i5 and 8GB of RAM that may be upgarded to an enormous 64GB. There are two 10GbE ports and three USB 3.2 ports (2x type-A and 1x type-C), enabling loads of I/O bandwidth the place customers want to maneuver information as quick as potential.