Qnap Tvs-471Processor Upgrade

[Michael Cole]

Hi guys.

I am a proud owner of a Qnap tvs-471 i3. I have found that the machine's ram is running close & sometimes over 90% & the cpu around 65%-75% when I have Windows 10 running as a virtual machine.

To lighten the load on the poor baby I have gone ahead & purchased 8gb x2 1600MHz DDR3L CL9 SODIMM that I will be instaliing as soon as it is delivered.
https://www.ebuyer.com/646128-hyper...-kit-of-2-1-35v-hyperx-impact-hx316ls9ibk2-16

Now when it comes to the CPU I would like to know whether there is a chance that it would work if I install the i7-4790S or the i5-4590S as they are used with the larger capacity units (i.e. tvs-671 & tvs-871). Besides the warranty, the thermal would be another issue that one might encounter since both of these CPUs are 65W models and the cooler that came with the tvs-471 is meant for a 54W CPU. I thought, if I place the NAS in a cool environment and keep an eye on the temperature or maybe get a heat sink & a better fan, then I can get a big performance boost for a few hundred bucks ($210 for the i5 and $305 for the i7).

If the above is not possible, would there be another CPU that can be used as an upgrade to the dual core i3 cpu running on the tvs-471?

 

[sfx2000]

RAM will definitely help with virtualization...

Consider the T series CPU's - 4790T is a 45W part, and is very close performance wise to the 4790S - again, i7 is always going to have a premium (even on the older Haswell's) - might consider the i5-4590T, which doing a quick search, one can find them for about $190 - this is a common chip that has found it's way into many SFF and All-in-Ones, and it's a solid performer.

Others have done the CPU swap (search the forums here and at QNAP) - just be advised that it's a fair amount of work to get the mainboard out - I would take notes and pics as one is taking things apart. QNAP does have manuals online that are helpful there.

 

[Michael Cole]

RAM will definitely help with virtualization...

Consider the T series CPU's - 4790T is a 45W part, and is very close performance wise to the 4790S - again, i7 is always going to have a premium (even on the older Haswell's) - might consider the i5-4590T, which doing a quick search, one can find them for about $190 - this is a common chip that has found it's way into many SFF and All-in-Ones, and it's a solid performer.

Others have done the CPU swap (search the forums here and at QNAP) - just be advised that it's a fair amount of work to get the mainboard out - I would take notes and pics as one is taking things apart. QNAP does have manuals online that are helpful there.

Thanks sfx2000. My intentions are to turn my tvs-471 into a little beast & so I will be going for the 4790T CPU as you have suggested. The lower power consumption was the key for my choice as the machine will be running 24/7.

I also came across other people who went for the same mod on this model & they seem to be content with the upgrade.

Now my hunt begins for the biggest bargain for the i7 4790T CPU.

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/making-a-qnap-even-faster/12151/31

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[MarkInEugene]

I also own a TVS-471 with an i3. Here is what I did: I replaced the i3 with a 65w i7 4790S ($186 refurb on eBay) and also added a QM2-2P-244A with 2 Samsung 970 Evo 256Gb drives to use as an SSD cache. After being on for 4 hrs, the CPU shows a temp of 98F, the i3 was 95F, but the case is cool and the air coming out is slightly warm, its been running like this for a week without an issue. I did set the fan to manual and medium speed in the QTS software to speed it up and now the air is cool. The drive temps are all in the low 80's, the case temp is 84, and the Samsung Evo's are 84. The max operating temp of an i7 is 154F, at full load is 136F, at idle is 100F, so I'm not worried about it. The 4790T (45w) is used in the larger NAS offerings in the TVS line with the same mobo, and is available on eBay for $289 (new) last I checked. The 4790 is 84w and the 4790K is 88w. Most of these chips are discontinued, so the prices vary wildly...don't get burned. I saw the S for $735 on NewEgg on 12/22/18. The performance gain was outstanding, QTS runs way faster and all my streamed video's (Bluray & UHD 4k) appear instantly now . Surveillance Station responds quickly showing 6 camera feeds within a couple seconds. This NAS offers 2 choices for the QM2, SSD-Cache or Q-Tier. I tried both and for video streaming, SSD-Cache worked the best with 10% re-apportioning on the drives (default) to maintain their longevity. If you buy 2TB Samsungs then you want to use Q-Tier so they're allocated for storage as well.

When you swap the cpu, you void the warranty (FYI) and it's time consuming...about 3 hours. If you're careful, patient and keep the screws organized, it will go well. Be sure to have silver putty on hand for the new cpu contact to the cooler. Two screws in the front/bottom/left (facing) corner are the most difficult. Remove the screws holding the plastic black face of the NAS. One of the 2 screws holds the bottom left corner of the faceplate. The second screw is hidden in the same general location behind the front/left/bottom of the faceplate and it holds the front mobo extension to the frame. There are many more screws to remove as well, but those should be obvious.

UPDATE 1: If the QM2 does not work in the Black PCIe Slot (Gen 2.0 x 4), you need to get the BIOS updated. QNAP confirmed a bug in the original bios that prevents the slot from working. The White PCIe Slot (Gen 3.0 x 8) will also work, but then you can't use it for a 10Gb card. QNAP support will assist you via TeamViewer to get it working. After they helped me, I got the QM2 working and set it up as 500GB SSD Cache.

UPDATE 2: I ordered a $40 (eBay) refurbished dual sfp+ network Gen 3.0 x 8 Mellanox card to use in the WHITE slot along with 2 Mellanox single port Gen 2.0 x 8 cards with copper DCA cables for $24 ea on eBay for my 2 PC's as well. But then I ran into a problem, the dual port 3x8 card did not work in the 3x8 slot on the NAS...sigh! At this point I was pretty much fried on 10 to 20 times I had to open the NAS case. I then thought that perhaps the 2x8 card would be acceptable to the BIOS controlling the WHITE PCIe slot in the NAS. Sure enough, it worked, so I called it good and put the 3x8 in the PC which configured it without a problem.

UPDATE 3: I've been programming for 30 years, but I'm no network expert and so I had a difficult time dealing with network sharing, subnets, and IP address settings. I unsuccessfully attempted to set up the 10Gb network along side my existing gigabit network. All 3 computers have multiple gigabit ports and are connected to my primary network. Adding the 10Gb was a mess....so... I decided to purchase a 10Gb Switch to isolate the 10Gb network to the 3 machines. The switch is a Mikrotik CRS305-1G-4S+IN ($149) with 4 sfp+ ports and 1 RJ45 gigabit port. The latter will connect to my standard gigabit network and the 3 machines will connect through the sfp+ ports via the Mellanox cards. By doing it this way, I'm disconnecting the gigabit network to the 3 machines and simplifying their network connection to only the 10Gb network via the Mikrotik switch. I'll add one more update to report status on the new switch once I get and complete this upgrade post.

Thanks to sfx2000 for starting this post...its one of just 2 or 3 that I was able to find that specifically address updating a QNAP TVS-471. I scoured the net to find everything I could about updating and thought I'd leave this to the next person attempting this upgrade.

Incidentally, MKV will now transpose 4k UHD disks into mkv files, just follow their instructions. Also be prepared to deal with customizing the metal NIC plates that slid into the rear panels of the NAS since it is a proprietary design.

 

[sfx2000]

When you swap the cpu, you void the warranty (FYI) and it's time consuming...about 3 hours. If you're careful, patient and keep the screws organized, it will go well. Be sure to have silver putty on hand for the new cpu contact to the cooler. Two screws in the front/bottom/left (facing) corner are the most difficult. Remove the screws holding the plastic black face of the NAS. One of the 2 screws holds the bottom left corner of the faceplate. The second screw is hidden in the same general location behind the front/left/bottom of the faceplate and it holds the front mobo extension to the frame. There are many more screws to remove as well, but those should be obvious.

BTW: If the QM2 does not work in the Black PCIe Slot (Gen 2.0 x 4), you need to get the BIOS updated. QNAP confirmed a bug in the original bios that prevents the slot from working. The White PCIe Slot (Gen 3.0 x 8) will also work, but then you can't use it for a 10Gb card. QNAP support will assist you via TeamViewer to get it working. After they helped me, I put a $40 (eBay) dual spf+ network 3x8 Mellanox card in the WHITE slot and now can transfer multimedia files at fast speeds between my PCs and NAS. The matching Mellanox single port cards with fiber cables can be had for $24 on eBay as well.

Cool - thanks for the update - interesting to note that QNAP support was helpful on the expansion card update and helped sort out the BIOS issues...

 

[Rod Martin]

Hi guys.

I am a proud owner of a Qnap tvs-471 i3. I have found that the machine's ram is running close & sometimes over 90% & the cpu around 65%-75% when I have Windows 10 running as a virtual machine.

To lighten the load on the poor baby I have gone ahead & purchased 8gb x2 1600MHz DDR3L CL9 SODIMM that I will be instaliing as soon as it is delivered.
https://www.ebuyer.com/646128-hyper...-kit-of-2-1-35v-hyperx-impact-hx316ls9ibk2-16

Now when it comes to the CPU I would like to know whether there is a chance that it would work if I install the i7-4790S or the i5-4590S as they are used with the larger capacity units (i.e. tvs-671 & tvs-871). Besides the warranty, the thermal would be another issue that one might encounter since both of these CPUs are 65W models and the cooler that came with the tvs-471 is meant for a 54W CPU. I thought, if I place the NAS in a cool environment and keep an eye on the temperature or maybe get a heat sink & a better fan, then I can get a big performance boost for a few hundred bucks ($210 for the i5 and $305 for the i7).

If the above is not possible, would there be another CPU that can be used as an upgrade to the dual core i3 cpu running on the tvs-471?

I had a tvs-471 that i upgraded to an i7-4970s. It was not a heavy use server, but it was on all the time, and I never had any thermal issues. You might want to upgrade the main case fan if you think you are getting too hot. I would go for it. I'm not sure it would be very easy to find a different heat sink due to space constraints. Give it a try. Its an easy update, and I think you will be just fine.

 

[fatice]

https://forum.qnap.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=102210&start=255

I upgraded my tvs-671 to have 16GB ram and i7-4790s. It runs smoothly without overheating. I admit that the x71 series is not as easy as the x82 or any later series for CPU upgrade. Took me almost an hour to get it done with all the photos, drawing along the way in case a miss any screws or brackets.

 

[wkearney99]

UPDATE 1: If the QM2 does not work in the Black PCIe Slot (Gen 2.0 x 4), you need to get the BIOS updated. QNAP confirmed a bug in the original bios that prevents the slot from working. The White PCIe Slot (Gen 3.0 x 8) will also work, but then you can't use it for a 10Gb card. QNAP support will assist you via TeamViewer to get it working. After they helped me, I got the QM2 working and set it up as 500GB SSD Cache.

Wait, what? This is the first I've read of this. Is there a way from the web interface or ssh terminal to see the machine's BIOS version? Or is it only viewable from the local console video during boot?

I ask because I have a QM2-2P card in my 671 and had to use the lower (white?) slot. I want to add a 10gbe card along with it, and am concerned which slots will work (or not).

I seem to recall not being able to use the card in the upper black slot. I didn't have another card so it wasn't a big deal. But now I want to add a card and....

If I move the card will the storage pool stay with the card? Or do I have to re-create that? It wouldn't be a terrible chore though, as I only have one VM running on the pair of NVME cards on it.

 

[wkearney99]

And for anyone else wandering in here, the flash update is easy enough, and you can check your current version from an ssh terminal into the NAS.

# dmidecode -s bios-version
QW56IR12

To upgrade, download the proper flash and use the command:

./flashrom -c MX25L12805D --programmer internal -w QW56IR14.bin

This I found from the google cache copy of the QNAP page. (which has a link to the QNAP download of the firmware)