Minisforum MS-A1 - A Good DIY 4 Bay NAS Server? (Review)

Video Chapters
00:00 - Introduction to Minisforum MS-A1
00:31 - Features Overview: 4 NVMe Slots & DIY Setup
01:12 - Power User Edition: AMD 8700G CPU
01:55 - Power Supply and Consumption Discussion
02:31 - Memory, Storage, and Cooling System
03:34 - Fans, Ventilation, and Noise Levels
04:09 - Performance Testing: File Transfers & CPU Load
05:14 - Temperature and Throttling Tests
06:22 - Power Consumption in Idle State
06:51 - NVMe Slot Lane Distribution
07:46 - Performance Results: Read/Write Speeds
09:06 - Internal Drive Data Transfer Speeds
10:07 - Impact of CPU on Lane Distribution
10:33 - Ports and Connectivity Overview
11:05 - Limitations: No PCIe Slot or 10GbE
12:15 - OCuLink and Expansion Possibilities
13:20 - Is It Worth the Investment?
14:33 - DIY NAS Building vs Buying Pre-built
15:07 - Conclusion & Shoutout to Tech Notice Review

The NAScompares Podcast - Let's Talk Data

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[RolandSvak]

5:00 "That's the chair - not my spine!"
Of course. We believe you. Totally. 😉🤭

[yusky]

The search continues for small form factor ECC compatible server... One day my dream will be a reality.

[Andy_Panda]

Computer hardware manufacturers need to start producing peripherals utilising OCuLink. So many more possibilities than just a graphics card.

[jugonby]

Thank you for your video, always useful and interesting. I would like to hear some recommendations on what you consider the best CPUs to build a NAS server on the barebone MS-A1.

[chriswarren]

Yeah, too much was given up for that oCulink port. All they had to do was create AMD version of the MS-01 and have this alternative SKU.

[Pi_Maker_Education]

Thanks for you video, that's very nice!

[RodrigoLozada]

I really wish this was a full width 1U short delph server with 4, 2.5 sata disk on the side

[AlphaConde-qyvi]

Can you address the issue of "difficult" (euphemism) after-sale service with small-ish Chinese brands, including Minisforum ? A NAS is too critical a device to take the risk of buying a malfunctioning device that won't get repaired by the manufacturer.

[ronwatkins]

The issue is that you can't order it (at the time of this comment) with a CPU, you have to go DIY aftermarket. Will any AM5 socket cpu just work? I suspect that you need to stick to the 65W TDP? Just wondering if you can get a better CPU which will still work and stick within the TDP?

[vishwanathbondugula]

If not for the network ports would you recommend the Aoostar Gem 10 over this?

[KevinR]

Be interesting to know what the cheapest practical (ie. Enough pci lanes) cpu would be.

It's between interesting and sad to see that this ryzen based system has the same weird *internal copy speed limit" that the N100 types suffer from. Especially as you managed *simultaneous traffic* at like 9GB/sec. It's like there's a weird side effect when switching the disk lanes from read to write. It feels like the decades old mistakes like using the wrong packet/block sizes, or doing byte instead of block transfers.

Did you get appropriate speeds in both simultaneous reads and simultaneous writes across all nvme channels? If so the the bottleneck is something to do with interleafed read & writes... As with the N100s. Very weird as on pcie & m2 there should be independent read and write data channels.

[ckckck]

Yeah why does mini forum always have these varied nvme slot speeds? We want them identical so we can mirror!

[ConorHanley]

Fans seem rather loud for having on ones desk but stuck away as a home server would be fine.

[onhagen]

What about the M.2 2230 Wi-Fi card slot, could you put a 2230 size SSD there as boot drive, and then have 4 x 2280 slots for storage?

[Deletistjerk]

Love the hardware, but they really need to clarify what CPUs are supported, ECC support, and if A300 (AM4) Chipset is a typo.

The socket and TDP will support EPYC 4464P, but needs more clarity.

[gaboguerra]

thanks for sharing. for you, what would be the best (speed and reliability) NAS enclosure for SSD NVMe PCIe 4, with RAM and processor, (and if Thunderbolt, better) ? If money was not the problem

[dktol]

Another youtuber put a 7950x cpu in the MS-A1. It ran surprising well and cool - the latter probably a result of the cpu limited to 65W. Guess that would be equivalent to running in ECO mode. I wonder if there's a difference in PCIe lane allocations between the 7950x and the 8700g?

[hpi]

Well, its upgradable. AM5 and DDR5. You only must check if the maximum TDP not exceed 65 W as the AMD Ryzen™ 7 8700G and AMD Ryzen™ 5 8600G, from Zen 4 and better...

[jingomeme]

Can you address what less powerful AMD CPUs would be compatible with this device? That seems to be the way to go for a NAS application.

[natearrigoni]

Just a heads up for anyone getting this. The NVME post for the 2 top drives that also anchors the heatsink for the ram and drives broke off while I was test fitting the heatsink. No screw inserted, I really just set in on the post the way it was designed and the top broke off. The broken piece is also really smooth where it "was connected" so I feel like QC missed this or maybe it a bigger issue, idk. BUT just be very VERY careful with that thing.