Promise NS4300N: NAS For Small Offices

By Marcel Binder
published

Test Setup And Benchmarks

Although the NS4300N supports jumbo frames, we chose not to implement this feature. All tests were carried out over a Gigabit network, and our reference platform was used to execute the benchmarks. Details regarding the hardware configuration can be found in the table below.

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System Hardware
Intel Platform (LGA 775)Asus P5E3 Deluxe, Rev.1.03G
Row 1 - Cell 0 Intel X38, BIOS : 0810 (02/11/2007)
CPUIntel Core 2 Duo E6750 (65 nm Conroe core) @ 2.26 GHz
RAM2x 1024 MB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600
eSATA controllerJMicron JMB363
System Hard DriveSeagate Barracuda 7200.9, 160 GB
Row 6 - Cell 0 7,200 rpm, SATA/300, 8 MB Cache
Test Hard Drives4x Samsung Spinpoint HD321KJ, 320GB
Row 8 - Cell 0 7,200 rpm, SATA/300, 16 MB Cache
DVD-ROMSamsung SH-D163A , SATA 1.5 Gbps
Graphics CardGigabyte Radeon HD 3850 GV-RX385512H
Row 11 - Cell 0 GPU: 670 MHz, Memory: 512 MB DDR3 (830 MHz, 256 Bit)
Sound CardIntegrated
Power SupplyCooler Master RS-850-EMBA, ATX 12V V2.2, 850 Watt

The firmware used on the NAS has the following version number 01.04.0000.11.

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Operating systemWindows Vista Enterprise SP1
DirectX 10DirectX 10 (Vista-Standard)
DirectX 9Version : April 2007
Graphics driverATI Radeon Version 7.12
Intel chip set driverVersion 6.9.1.1001 (20/02/2008)
JMicron chip set driverVersion 1.17.15.0 (24/03/2007)

Intel NAS Performance Toolkit

We tested the Promise NS4300N using the Intel NAS Performance Toolkit. A more detailed description of the benchmark can be found in the article on NAS testing procedures.

Marcel Binder
Marcel Binder
18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ecka
    On the second page:
    The current maximum is 6 GB, made up of four 1.5 TB drives available from Seagate.

    I think it should be 6TB
    Reply
  • danielkza
    Actually it should be 8TB with the introduction of WD's new 2TB drives.
    Reply
  • chovav
    Can someone explain me why all of these NAS devices are delivering such poor performance over 1GBit LAN? they should be able to get to (more or less) 100MB/s in an uncomplicated raid 0 or such.. is the processor so slow that it can't handle it? not enough cache? what's going on?! :)
    Reply
  • russofris
    Unfortunately, the article is as light on details of the internal components as Promises' so-called datasgeet at http://www.promise.com/upload/datasheet/NS4300NDatasheet_20080709.pdf

    I would really like a thorough investigation of the internals, including the processor (it's a SoC, but which one), controller chip, and underlying OS. I suspect that it is a BSD derivative due to the lack of published source code available on the promise website, though "Billy" from the promise NAS focus group seemd to indicate that it was Linux using a special promise RAID technology (and not LVM or MDRAID)

    There are multiple posts on the avsforums regarding the unit. Of the 25 or so pages that I read, I found that the unit is not a stellar performer, and can be purchased for around $300.

    Ultimately, it looks as if you're better off purchasing a full featured $200 Atom based platform, tossing in 4 disks, and utilizing linux LVM/MDRAID for a full fledged NAS.

    Frank
    Reply
  • Sad Panda
    Seriously? You want us to pay 420 bucks for a POS that will underperform a standard desktop machine you can put together on Newegg for less?

    MicroAtx MOBO with onboard video = $80
    Dual Core CPU = $60
    2 Gigs of DDR2 800 Ram = $24
    Case with 6 HDD slots and 4 external slots = $40
    Linux Operating System = $0

    Total = $204 aka half the fucking price for more hard drive slots and much more customizable.

    Seriously who buys this over-priced NAS shit.
    Reply
  • SilentBob999
    Many NAS have poor power supply coming with, it will be a good idea to test with high consumption hard drive or at least talk about this fact... I heard about some NAS system of this type that come unstable with 4 1.5TB hard drive...

    For people who talking about the price, don't forget that its a Ready-To-Use solution, a lot of people want this type of gadget but doesn't have the technical knowledge require to setup a linux system able to share data over a network with an web interface for configuration....
    Reply
  • @sad panda:
    So true... not to mention you'd still have enough left over to buy a real RAID card and absolutely blow these things out of the water.

    4-port Hardware RAID cards going for under $300 on newegg.
    Reply
  • Sad Panda
    asdfzxc@sad panda:you'd still have enough left over to buy a real RAID card and absolutely blow these things out of the water.4-port Hardware RAID cards going for under $300 on newegg.
    What's wrong with getting a MOBO that does RAID for you?
    Reply
  • FreeNAS on an ASUS + RAID board. Does all the protocols not just the three mentioned and FTP. Oh boy, hardly call that NAS-centric.
    For RAID10 to be worth the effort the minimum you should use is 3 pairs of hdd (didn't see RAID 10 as an option). 6 hdds with 50% redundancy. So if you were to use 2TB drives you would get a max of 6TB storage and 6TB of redundancy.
    Want to run a heavy database driven application?
    RAID 100 or plaid RAID would be the better one to go for. Many small businesses or startups do this. This product couldn't support that.

    $420 can buy you a small form case with a number of designs that house many drive bays, mobo with onboard RAID, Graphics, multiple Gigabit ethernet adapters, good powersupply.

    You can then go even further and utilise USB2.0 and throw external USB drives for another layer of data sharing.

    All this and more and not stuck with a poorly put together product that limits the imagination because of its short comings.

    All that and more from your local computer needs store.
    Reply
  • chookman
    Im with you sad panda, i just don't get why people buy these when a cheap low power dedicated box is superior in every way.

    As for the additional card, a good hardware RAID card will give you a noticeable speed increase over any motherboard controller, provide more features and better security (failure wise). So if you needed speed and had the cash it would be better for sure.
    Reply