CWWK/Changwang AIO-T6 NAS

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vamega

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Nov 8, 2022
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So while going deep into a rabbit hole of the Storaxa NAS over the last week, I ended up being made aware of the Changwang AIO-T6 NAS by this Reddit Comment.

At the time it was only on TaoBao, and I went down the rabbit hole of looking into TaoBao agents, and even had an ex-coworker who was from China reach out to see what the logistics and cost of buying this would be like.

However I knew that there was a CWWK store on AliExpress, so I messaged Topton, KingNovy and the CWWK store via Aliexpress to ask if they had plans to list the AIO-T6 NAS. KingNovy and Topton responded saying they had no plans, but CWWK asked if I was interested, and when I said I was had a listing up less than 24 hours later (including having the information images translated to English!).

The pricing on AliExpress is much higher than from TaoBao (1880 CNY = ~ 280 USD for the N6005 barebones on TaoBao, $428 on Aliexpress). So not sure I'm going to get it instead of getting just the motherboard and putting it in a case I have.

I'm not sure this case has the same motherboard as the one discussed on these forums earlier. Might be a minor variation?
* The Topton board seems to have 2xUSB3 ports, and the NAS has only one.
* The two USB 3.0 ports are on the back plane of the motherboard, but the USB 3.0 port on the NAS is up front.

I also don't know if those USB3.0 ports are rated at 5gpbs or 10gpbs, but I'll ask the store and report back

Seems like a perfect little home NAS at an attractive price point (although I wish there was less of an Aliexpress premium).

PS - The Aliexpress messaging system did automated translation of the messages to CWWK, and I'm very impressed with both CWWK's responsiveness and the ability of this system to allow me to communicate with a company representative without speaking a company language! I was fairly certain this message would go into a black hole and I'd never hear back.
 
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newabc

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Jan 20, 2019
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The NAS case's size is pretty good. And looks like CWWK changed a little bit from its original design:
The m2 nvme ports were reduced from 2 to 1, comparing to the original CWWK board.
 
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dazgluk

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Jan 25, 2023
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I've received the board today.
It seems to be original topton board there are two internal USB3.0 ports and MIcroSD

Also there is a type-c port, which is not sure how fast.
PSU has a spare molex.
Interesting that a single NVME is occupied by all the SATAs, second one is free.

I'll receive NVME and a RAM tomorrow, will check what's the PCI-E lane distribution. Hope it's 2x3.0 for the SATAs, but most likely 1x3.0

Looks like this is this board.
cwwk.net

New upgrade V5 version N6005 i226 four network card 10 black layer PCB board feature: double m. 2 NVME | DP | | TYPE - C m. 2 Wi

【CWWK 5th Edition N5105】Mini PC is equipped with the new Intel 11th generation JasperLake quad-coreprocessor, the original i225-V B3 is upgraded to Intel-i226-V, with lower power consumption and more stable performance. 【New upgrade】The original Intel i225-V B3 network card has been upgraded to...
cwwk.net
 

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vamega

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Fascinating, I had assumed this would have been based on top of the mini itx board, but instead it seems to be based on their router.

The router board iirc had its processor on the underside, with heat pipes to the chassis of the router. Any chance you could upload a photo of the CPU and any associated cooling solution when you have a chance?

Thanks
 
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vamega

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Thanks. Indeed doesn't look like the fanless cooling from the router board.
That makes sense given that the case doesn't seem built to dissipate heat like those router cases.
 
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dazgluk

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Jan 25, 2023
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Spend last night, trying to setup unraid on this device.
Found an interesting "trick" they are doing with NVME
I'm having problems that sometimes MP34 I bought, is not detected in this adapter, If I filp Sata and SSD, it seems working, but I won't be able to close the cover because of sata cables.

Will try upgrading the firmware on MP34, or may have to swap the SSD (was reading somewhere that MP34 are having issues on those MBs)

BTW CPU fan is pretty noisy, it's not a problem since the box will be standing in garage, but be aware.
 

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dazgluk

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Jan 25, 2023
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yeah, thanks Chris.
I was planning to use Teamgroup MP34 due to decent write speed and not overprised.
However getting it not detected by Motherboard from time to time, even in BIOS.
Having limited spare hardware to troubleshoot. Both devices are working, however can't guarantee it across reboots :(
 
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PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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newabc said:
CWWK released a newer version AIO-T6 with the J6412/J6413 board and an newer 6-bay NAS case. I asked myself why CWWK removed the old AIO-T6 NAS just after it was released, and then the J6412/J6413 board with 2 i226 ports was released. And then this updated NAS:

Click to expand...
That looks really interesting for a lightweight NAS.

I would like to see a proper block diagram to understand how they are distributing the PCIe lanes. There are just 8 lanes available on the J6413 but the platform layout seems to require at least 13-14 lanes to run everything at full speed (8 lanes total for 2x M.2 NVMe, 2 lanes for SATA controller, 2 lanes for 2x i226, and 1-2 more for the extra USB, etc., plus they at least suggest there is a PCIe slot available). So unless they have added a switch they are oversubscribing something, most likely just running 1 or 2 lanes each on the NVMe and maybe 1 lane on the SATA controller. And if they are adding a switch I'd want to know which switch chip and what is running off of it.

Its really not a show-stopper to oversubscribe like this for a pure NAS as you are likely bottlenecked on the 2.5gbe links anyway. But before I would consider buying something like this I'd want to know.
 
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vamega

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> 2 lanes for SATA controller

In their Mini-ITX motherboard, they've used only 1 lane for the sata ports via a JMB585, so it's easy to think they're doing the same thing here.

My own guess at this is something like this
2 lanes for the i226
1 lanes for the RTL8125B
1 lanes for the JMB585 port
1 lane for the USB3.0
1 lane for the PCIE expansion slot
2 lanes for the m.2 slots (these are likely PCIE 1.0 m.2 slots, not PCIE 4.0 slots).

Just my guess from what I've seen in their other products. I've reached out to them on Aliexpress, they've been very responsive in the past, hopefully can get more information as to what it's like.
 
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dazgluk

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Jan 25, 2023
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Wow, that's an interesting upgrade.
CPU is slightly worse, but not significant.
ark.intel.com

Intel product specifications

Intel® product specifications, features and compatibility quick reference guide and code name decoder. Compare products including processors, desktop boards, server products and networking products.
ark.intel.com ark.intel.com
But you get better ports layout.
PCI-E extension:
Extra m.2, I am now considering of using an internal usb-c for the second NVME, but may go with Coral TPU instead.
and a sound card. (I'm using USB-audio, it's great to have spotifyd in the garage :) and NAS is the only computer I have)
Plus the PSU is internal now, not sure if it's good or bad, but I have mine laying around.

Not sure why RTL8125B is there, propably there is a reason.
Interesting also, how SATA is layed out, are all 6 ports on JMB585 or one port is on the CPU lane?

Overal, I'd say, if I didn't have the old board already, I would buy this one, but since I do, not worth upgrading from the previous board.
 
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PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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dazgluk said:
Not sure why RTL8125B is there, propably there is a reason.
Click to expand...
It may be tied to the native Ethernet interface of the J6413 (that is a guess - still need a block diagram). If that is the case then it won't take up a PCIe lane at all. Some the the "supported" OS they list do not natively support I-226 yet so having the Realtek may be useful for booting them to a state where you can more easily add drivers. End of the day though it is just wasting a PCIe lane if they are not using the native Ethernet interface.

dazgluk said:
Interesting also, how SATA is layed out, are all 6 ports on JMB585 or one port is on the CPU lane?
Click to expand...
The J6413 does have 2 native SATA ports on the SoC. So it could be doing 4 on the PCIe-tied SATA chip and 2 on the SoC, which would make having a single lane on the SATA chip a bit more tolerable. Or they could be doing 5+1. If they are still using a JMB585 then they have to be taking at least one SATA from the SoC as that chip only support 5 SATA ports.

Both questions are just more fodder for why seeing a proper block diagram would really help understand this platform.
 
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dazgluk

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Jan 25, 2023
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Original AIO-T6 had one M2 pre-populated with ASM1166 that's why I'm curious.
but as you're saying, yeah, it's whole speculation and just need somebody to reach out CWWK for the specs :)
 
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vamega

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Nov 8, 2022
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I was told via The AliExpress chat that the mainboard on the new NAS is the same as the one they sell here:

So you’ve got one native SATA port. The m.2 are indeed pcie 3.0 x 1 lanes.

Don’t have an answer as to if the RTL8125B is using a PCIE lane or if it’s using the support built into the processor.
 
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