A ‘private digital employee’ now lives inside this fanless NAS, and the bare-bone model is the cheaper way in | Daily Reports Online
- Minisforum’s fanless NAS supports five NVMe SSDs and up to 40TB
- Intel’s five-core processor reaches boost speeds of 4.3GHz
- The system combines 10GbE, 2.5GbE networking, and dual 40Gbps USB4
Minisforum’s S5 is a fanless network-attached storage system designed for users who need fast shared storage without mechanical drive noise.
Its five M.2 NVMe slots support up to 40TB of solid-state storage, allowing owners to choose capacities that match their requirements.
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Five NVMe slots combine speed with silent operation
The S5 uses Intel’s Core 3 304 processor, featuring five cores and boost speeds of up to 4.3 GHz.
Minisforum claims sequential read speeds can reach six times those of hard disk drives, with random reads reaching up to 100 times faster.
However, the actual performance of this device will depend on the installed SSDs, workload characteristics and the storage configuration.
Connectivity includes one 10GbE port, one 2.5GbE port, Wi-Fi, and two USB4 interfaces supporting transfer speeds up to 40 Gbps.
These connections allow the S5 to serve multiple users while supporting external storage devices and compatible peripherals.
Instead of using conventional fans, the system relies on heat pipes and cooling fins to dissipate heat.
The company says its system draws about 15W of CPU power under combined stress testing at a 25°C ambient temperature, although that figure does not represent total system electricity consumption.
The S5 also includes an NPU rated at 15 TOPS for INT8 operations, supporting local AI applications alongside conventional storage functions.
Its proposed uses include running background agents continuously, maintaining shared creative project files, and serving household entertainment libraries.
Calculate the savings before choosing your SSDs
Minisforum lists the bare-bones S5 at $599, discounted from $749, with 12GB of LPDDR5x memory and 128GB of UFS storage.
Its five NVMe slots remain available for buyers to populate with compatible drives purchased separately.
Online pricing provides a practical way to assess whether this configuration beats the preconfigured 20TB model, listed at $3,759 after a discount from $4,699.
According to online 4TB SSD price listings, five Silicon Power UD90 drives cost $2,549.85, bringing the complete system to $3,148.85.
That combination saves $610.15 against Minisforum’s preconfigured 20TB option, before taxes, shipping, or other additional costs.
Five WD Black SN850X drives cost $3,022.45, producing a combined system price of $3,621.45 and a saving of $137.55.
However, five Crucial T500 drives cost $3,995, bringing the complete system price to $4,594, which exceeds the preconfigured model by $835 but still costs less than the original price.
Buyers can reduce costs further by comparing retailer promotions, seasonal sales, manufacturer discounts, and bundle offers before purchasing their SSDs.
They should also check refurbished or open-box drives from reputable sellers, provided warranty coverage remains acceptable.
Combining discounted drives with the $599 barebone system could widen savings without sacrificing the storage capacity they need.
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