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Dear @NASCompares . Since you have done such elaborate reviews of the FS6812x Gen 2, I have gone and bought the 12 bay model. However, to my big dismay, I cannot seem to be able to attach to my TB PC using the USB4 ports. Asustor seems to say on reddit that this kind of connection is not (yet) supported. May I kindly ask how you have managed to get that working please? Also, my 10G network is in great shape (which is to say that I get 10Gb speeds between my other devices) but the top speed I am getting from the 10G connections to this unit is around a weakish 600MB/s. Even when I set up a 4 disk Raid0 just to make sure that there are no bandwidth limitations re the SSDs. Any ideas how this can happen? Your tests seem to indicate that higher speeds are totally possible. PS: I am using Gen 4x4 4TB SSD drives from Samsung and WD. On internet. If you can enlighten me I'd be really grateful. Thanks.
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First, regarding the USB4/Thunderbolt PC connection: unfortunately, as of now, Asustor has not enabled USB4 direct-connect functionality for host-to-host networking or storage bridging. Despite the presence of USB4 ports on the FS6812X, they are currently limited to standard USB functionality (i.e. peripherals, expansion). You’re not alone — a few users on Reddit and the forums have noted this, and it seems more like a “future potential” than an enabled feature right now. If we managed to show speeds that looked like direct-attach in testing, they were always over 10GbE, not USB4. So for now, you’ll need to rely on 10GbE or standard LAN access until/if Asustor activates proper USB4/Thunderbolt networking support via firmware.
Now, onto the 10GbE speed issue. You’re absolutely right that with Gen 4x4 NVMe SSDs in RAID 0, you should be seeing sequential speeds well over 1,000MB/s — our testing peaked between 1,100–1,200MB/s in ideal conditions.
A few things to check:
1. Check Jumbo Frame Settings: Make sure jumbo frames are enabled and matching MTU settings (usually 9000) across your NAS, switch, and PC.
2. Verify Caching and Memory Usage: Asustor’s ADM can sometimes cache-read or throttle write performance depending on RAM availability or background indexing. Try disabling background services temporarily.
3. Multithreaded Transfers: Use multi-threaded benchmarks like AJA, ATTO, or CrystalDiskMark with queue depth >1. Sometimes a single-thread copy (like dragging a file in Windows) doesn’t show full performance.
4. Check PCIe Lane Allocation: Although Asustor claims full Gen4 support, there’s still a chance the NVMe slots are not all running at x4 bandwidth. Mixing SSDs from different brands (even Gen 4x4) can also produce uneven results under some RAID configurations.
5. Network Cabling: Make sure you’re using Cat6a or Cat7 cable for the 10GbE link. Some lower-grade cables cap out below true 10G speeds despite being “rated” for it.
If you’re still seeing 600MB/s max even after these checks, try running a benchmark from within the ADM GUI to verify internal performance, then compare to external throughput. This can help pinpoint whether the bottleneck is in the network stack or storage subsystem.
