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Forum Discussion
NAS204 HD and CPU Temp
I purchased a NAS204 and I am using 2 WD Hard drives in it.... WD2001FFSX, 7200 rpm, 64mb cache, Red Drives @ 2TB each.
I am new to this NAS and slowly getting the hang of it. Seem to work well overall. Set up to access via phone, internet, etc.... and all works well.
I set it up by Netgear defaults.... just put the drives in and let the system auto-config and build the Raid, which shows Raid 1 - not even sure how to make it some other RAID configuration. I also updated
the internal BIOS chip on the NAS to the current version.
I decided to explore the admin page a bit more and saw my 2 hard drives are running around 116 deg F (47C), and the CPU in the NAS is at 136F (58C). I thought this was a bit high
as compared to my motherboard cpu running 28deg C, but it has a large cooler and dual fans. The NAS204 fan is running fine, but wondering if I could change it out for a higher volume and fan speed
without any warranty issues; or is there a way to adjust the fan speed? I have not opened the box up as it has only been running for about 1 week, and I do not want (any) issue with netgear or its warranty.
I am not worried about fan noise as it is in my computer room and I am the only one that uses it in my home.
AGain, would like to bring down the temp or use a replacement fan with higher volume like a Noctua.
Other thoughts.... I am going to be adding 2 more drive to fill the bays up..... so worried about higher temps too.
Thanks,
NH
29 Replies
I just read the specs on my NAS 204 and it claims it is using a 92 mm fan, and that the operating temp is suppose to be 32 deg to 104 F, or 0 to 40C....
Mine unit is NOT running at the temps indicated in the manual of my RN-204
Now I am worried even more.... Unit is working correctly, but do not like the high temps.... definitely want to change out fans for Noctua - will doing that void my warranty?
Another note..... Tried to do a soft-power down (pushing the On/Off button 2 times) but it seems to never power down. Earlier in the week I had to finally just pull the power.
How long does it take for this RN204 to power down and shut off after pushing the power button 2x ?
nh19926 wrote:
that the operating temp is suppose to be 32 deg to 104 F, or 0 to 40C....Mine unit is NOT running at the temps indicated in the manual of my RN-204
The datasheet is giving you the ambient temperature range the unit can run at - not the CPU temp.
nh19926 wrote:
definitely want to change out fans for Noctua - will doing that void my warranty?
Yes it will void it.
You could try 6.5.0 beta, as it has a "run cool" fan control setting.
Your temps do sound too high to me. My RN202 has 6 TB Red drives which use ~5.4 Watts when in operation. Your 2 TB Red Pros use about 6.5 - more than the Reds I have installed, but not that different.. My system temp is 37C, the two drives are 28C and 30C - much cooler than yours. I'm running 6.5 RC2 with the fan control set to "run quiet". Maybe someone from Netgear will comment.
I decided to try and place a computer fan at the front of my RN204, in front of the drive bays. The fan is sitting on a small stand and is a normal chassis computer fan being run from an external power supply.
I wanted to try this to see if I could drop the temp by adding extra cooling, as I believe Netgear's stock fans are not sufficient.
By placing my 4" square fan at the front of the RN204 with the front drive bay door open, I have dropped my cpu temp from 58C to 44C, or from 136F down to 111F currently. I believe if I had a higher rpm fan I could drop it further.
I believe although the unit is working.... the cooling is not good. As I indicated before, this is a new unit I bought.... I did see you said it will void the warranty, but the excessive heat is unwarranted and could further fatigue my hard drives too.Netgear, do you have any explanation why it is running hot? I have only had this running for almost a week..... new out of box.
CPU at 58 degreec C? Luxury!
I too share the concerns over heat of the CPU. Also interesting to note how much cooler the WD RED NAS drive runs than the older drives (although they are also 7200rpm ones)Admittedly this is doing a RAID rebuild but nonetheless, last thing you'd want is for heat to kill it while rebuilding.
After reading your external fan comment, i've ordered a couple of fan options that are USB powered so i'll use those while it spends the next day or two rebuilding. I also ordered a little USB flexi stalk fan, I have a USB stick which is basically an SSD in form factor and it runs great for the first few minutes until it becomes heatsoaked. My office colleague is always entertained when I have to move the desk fan to blow on it when copying for a long time.
- Boy that is hot. Well i returned y netgear n got a new, more advanced qnap. Will see how that goes. In the end i might just build a small nas myself n give it the proper cooling. Have a website that offers free nas software... Not tried it yet but will try qnap first. It is their latest model n has more features.... Got excellent reviews.
Well, with a 120mm fan on the front and an 80mm on the rear:-
Which is really where it should be. I suppose that the one thing about the WD Red drives is that they do run a lot cooler and a bunch of hot drives don't help, especially when they're 3.5" ones and will subsequently restrict airflow but this should really be accounted for.
I also have looked at alternates, installed FreeNAS into a virtual machine yesterday, then attached 3 drives to the PC, gave the VM direct physical access to those, stuck them together in a RAID set in the FreeNAS VMware environment and then offered that volume back to the Windows host as a single iSCSI volume. I've just found a use for an idle miniPC that was sitting around...
Anyway, back to Netgear, more attention to thermals please!
I've come back to this thread as I continue my journey with my new unit.
I've now populated it with 4 x 2TB WD NAS drives which run cooler than the others I had in there. My CPU temp is between 75 to 76 degrees without running my extra fan stuck to the back of it.
I know that firmware 6.5 has some fan control but my question is, what should we expect to see on these units with these drives? 4 x 3.5" drives are going to restrict airflow but this CPU temperature is too high in my view, regardless of whether it's at the alarm point or not. I did read that someone else with 76 degrees was sent a replacement unit so i'm a little concerned about the longevity.
I've submitted the same question to support as i'd have expected this to be a tested and known value and if they ask me to try the 6.5 firmware i'll do that and see where it goes.
- My qnap has 8gb ddr3... N can expand. Has 4 nics n more. Again will see how it goes.
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