4-Bay NAS with low power usage

[Enquiries]

Dear Nas-Compares Team,

I was scrolling through your site the last days to get my head around a suitable NAS to purchase.
I sold my QNAP TS673, however kept my two Seagate IronWOlf 10TB HDDs, that a totally fine to start with.
I was looking at the Aoostart WRT Pro, Ugreen 4800 Plus or self build NAS and am not certain what could be the best pick.
10 GBE would be nice, however 2,5 are fine and given the upgrade from the old QNAP this is already a change (2,5GBE Switch will be purchased as well, got new CAT7 cables since renovation.

Low power consumption and some CPU reserves would be great, N100 not ideal.
I am using the NAS only as data storage (KODI), remote backup.
Eventually considering to migrate my HomeAssistant from a Raspberry 4 onto the NAS, alongside with Adblocker/PiHole. No virtualization planned for the time being, enough to work with at the job

Chinese mainboards as an option, if the hardware is durable enough.

Any recommendation is welcome! Best, André

[ed]

Thanks for reaching out! Sounds like you’ve got a good setup already with those 10TB IronWolf drives, so let’s find something that fits your needs without breaking the bank or the power meter.

Between the options you mentioned, here’s a quick take:

Asustor WRT Pro — Solid, mid-range NAS with 2.5GbE, decent CPU performance (usually an Intel or AMD chip), and pretty efficient power use. Great for data storage and running services like HomeAssistant or PiHole without any hiccups. Asustor’s build quality is generally good, and their OS is quite user-friendly.

UGREEN DXP4800 Plus — This is more of a barebones mini NAS device with a focus on 10GbE and a compact design. It’s a good pick if you want something simple and low power, but it might lack the full app ecosystem and expandability you get from a proper NAS OS. Also, check if it supports your IronWolf drives and offers enough CPU power for your planned services.

Self-build NAS with a Chinese motherboard — This is a mixed bag. You can tailor exactly what you want, and often get good bang for your buck. But durability can vary—some Chinese boards are rock solid, others less so. If you go this route, look for well-reviewed boards with a good community following. Pair that with a low-power but capable CPU (Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 would be sweet spots), and you’ll get solid performance without power-hungry overkill.

Given you want low power use but also some CPU headroom for HomeAssistant and PiHole, I’d lean toward a compact Intel or AMD-based NAS like the Asustor WRT Pro or a similarly specced QNAP/ Synology if you find one on sale near your budget.

Also, 2.5GbE with CAT7 cables and a switch is a great sweet spot for home networking — it’s fast enough for your needs without the cost and power draw of 10GbE.

One last tip — check the NAS power consumption specs before buying, and consider enabling sleep modes or scheduled spin-downs to save energy when you’re not accessing files.