What’s under the Hood: A Look inside the W2000
Inside the W2000
Thecus offers the W2000 as a compelling server appliance with a very aggressive price-point, but I have a hard time leaving it at that. We are after all a hardware review site, and in that spirit I performed a full teardown of the W2000 to see exactly what’s going on under the hood. Please bear in mind that doing this would in all likelyhood void your warranty (and it's a little tricky to teardown and reassemble properly).
The heart of the W2000 is an Intel Atom CPU, specifically the D2701. This is a dual 2.13 GHz processor with Hyper-Threading providing four logical cores, and is built on the 32nm process with a TDP of 10W. While this is the predecessor to the lower-wattage 22nm SoC parts found in a current mini-PC like the ECS LIVA, the NAS form-factor allows for higher power consumption and active cooling so this is not an issue. Essentially the W2000 has the processing power of a nettop or mini desktop, but I had to wonder if the solution that didn’t provide a great Windows 8.1 experience with a mini-PC would fare much better with an instance of Server 2012 R2. The answer quickly became obvious as I used the W2000, which performed far better than I might have suspected from the modest specs.
With the cover removed you can see that this is a very dense build, and right on top we see a 2.5" Kingston SSD (no eMMC here!). So the W2000 as a small server provides not only the storage capacity of a dual-bay NAS, but a desktop-class SSD is imbedded as the primary OS drive. I first noticed this when setting up my 3.5" drives in the Disk Management console, where the OS drive model appeared to be a standard SSD (which at that point I assumed must be mSATA given the size of this unit).
The specific model is the Kingston SSDNow V300, 60GB capacity. This is an inexpensive drive powered by a SandForce SF-2281 controller, but even with a current price of just $50 its inclusion here appreciably adds to the value of the W2000. Of interest is the fact this is boot drive is partitioned from the factory for only about half of its actual capacity. Such over-provisioning of the drive would theoretically improve long-term performance by keeping a large flash reserve, though this could of course be changed in Disk Management if desired. I left it partitioned as-is.
System Board and RAM
The motherboard in use here gives you an idea of the capabilities of this system. Far beyond a simple appliance, a close look at the system board reveals a custom design with some desktop-class features. The first thing I'll mention is RAM, as this is actually using SoDIMM memory which provides a possible upgrade path to the full 4GB supported by this platform (the W2000 ships with a single 2GB module installed).
It must be noted, however, that any attempts to upgrade the memory yourself will void your warranty (like everything I'm doing here, really). Thecus offers a qualified memory list for this model and upgrades can be performed by an authorized technician. Still, the 2GB stock configuration didn't feel like a problem during use in my small home network setup (your needs will obviously vary).
There are 2 SATA ports on the board itself (one is used to connect that SSD), and for expansion there are both PCIe x4 and x1 slots. The x4 connection is used in this implementation for the SATA riser card that connects the 3.5" storage.
The Atom processor is limited to 4 PCIe lanes so the addition of a x1 slot seems odd, perhaps intended as some sort of expansion option given the external half-height slot opening at the rear of the enclosure.
The space for a x1 card would be very hard to work with without removing the SSD mount, if not impossible. Still, it exists.
Having taken a look at the hardware within the W2000 it's time to put it all back together and set up this server!
What does the “windows
What does the “windows embedded” description mean exactly?
How is this any different than buying an OEM copy of “Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Essentials” and installing it yourself on a standard X86 PC?
The licensing is for that
The licensing is for that device, and 50 clients (vs 25 clients on a standard essentials R2)
Windows Embedded means you
Windows Embedded means you cannot purchase the software from NewEgg for example. It only comes on OEM boxes and as I type this Thecus is the only OEM that offers windows storage server 2012R2 essentials. And FWIW there is no user limit and no cals required. Though the practical limits apply. There are just so many computers that can be backed up in one night and just so many folks could rww in without dragging it to a crawl.
Most of the comments posted
Most of the comments posted here relate to small but fairly sophisticated business applications – not surprising as that’s the W2000’s target market. But I’m sure there are thousands of home users who, like me, want to go NAS but don’t want to go with a Linux-based OS. (It took us too long to master Windows!) With that in mind, I hope you’ll entertainment some questions whose answers may not be so obvious to lots of home network users who know Windows 7/8 well (but are Server-clueless) and would quickly spring for $350 to have a Windows-based NAS.
1)Can you access the NAS via the internet – with PC’s, tablets, smartphones, etc?
2)The mirrored disks you refer to: Is that RAID 1?
3)If one disk dies, can you continue to use the good one while you replace the bad?
4)If the W2000 itself dies, can you connect the removed disks to a PC and easily access them?
5)What is the max. capacity for each of the 2 drives?
6)Is it ready for DLNA and UPnP connections, or will I need to add something?
Not to appear to be fawning, but I’ve got to say that your review is one of the clearest, well written and illustrated that I’ve ever come across. Bravo!
Old post, but I’m reserecting
Old post, but I’m reserecting it. I got one of these off the newegg deal for 100 bucks. I’m not a Windows user & find their implementation of server to be overly complicated in comparison to the many Linux flavors. That being said, I kinda wanted to try it but the embedded system was corrupt. Like any good geek, instead of returning it I cracked it open, upgraded the RAM, upgraded the ssd, and threw openmediavault (had xpenology on it too). I found something very odd when I was in there though. Others have reported this too. There was a single stick of adata 8gb RAM in this thing. I replaced it with 2 sticks of 2x8ddr3l for 16gb. It obviously only recognizes the first 4gb (I wasted the 16gb cause it was lying around). I understand why a system would only be capable of utilizing 4gb on a 64bit unit. No need to explain it. I also understand that Intel rates the processor for 4gb. No need to rehash that. But we all know those limits are usualy bunk. I’ve seen other similar chipset capable of utilizing more. That coupled with several people having 8gb sticks in their units on the w2000 makes me think this is a BIOS limitation & not a hardware one. Any ideas? Anyone edit the BIOS?
I installed windows 10, Plex,
I installed windows 10, Plex, Sonarr, and MCEBuddy for a great media server experience. The Atom can’t handle transcoding but I have the bandwidth to view eveything in original format and works great. Since it runs 24/7 minimal power consumption was my #1 priority and this setup has been flawless.
Necro ? Maybe, but good info
Necro ? Maybe, but good info for those owning.
Not the W2000 but the W4000
I found 8GB(2x4GB) that works in my W4000
G.Skill F3-10600CL9D-8GBSQ
Boot and then reboot and it is discovered in the BIOS and OS of choice.