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AOOSTAR WTR MAX 11 Bay NAS (AMD PRO 8845HS, DDR5, 6x 3.5", 5x M.2 NVMe, OCuLink) US$675.18 (~A$1052.17) Del @ Aoostar AliExpress

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AOOSTAR WTR MAX 11 Bay NAS (AMD PRO 8845HS, DDR5, 6x 3.5", 5x M.2 NVMe, OCuLink) US$675.18 (~A$1052.17) Del @ Aoostar AliExpressAffiliate
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Last edited 03/08/2025 - 09:21
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For a lower price than the title - combine coupon codes with 5% off with Coins (US$38.47), 12% cashback at TopCashback and join Team OzBargain for 5% back as Shopping Credit.

Still in stock. Price is now US$690.56 after coupon codes. Coins and cashback will still drop it lower!

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The long awaited WTR MAX NAS is finally here and while the price is high, it's still cheaper than Aoostar.com direct and you'll have trouble finding something with similar specs in the same price range. Especially from Synology/QNAP. A quick and informative review can be found here. The Intel N150 WTR PRO has been shared here.

Featuring 11 drive bays with 6x 3.5/2.5" SATA slots and 5x M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD slots paired with an AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 8845HS 8 core, 16 thread CPU, AMD Radeon 780M integrated graphics, USB4 + OCuLink port for external GPU support, dual DDR5 SODIMM RAM slots with ECC support, 2x 10GbE Intel X710 SFP+ ports, 2x 2.5GbE LAN ports and 3 screen display output via HDMI, DisplayPort and USB4.

Additionally there's a customisable display on the front, vapor chamber cooling 3 fans. For I/O ports on the front there is an SD card slot, USB 3.2 Gen 5Gbps and USB-C 5Gbps port. On the rear there is a 3.5mm audio jack, HDMI, DisplayPort, 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 10Gbps, Oculink, USB4, 2x 2.5G, 2x SFP+ and a DC jack port.

For the SSDs there are 4 slots together with 2x PCIe 4.02 x2 and 2x PCIe 4.0 x1, while the 5th SSD is located on the bottom with the RAM slots and is PCIe 4.0 x2.

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Comments

  • Dyl on 02/08/2025 - 17:39
    +8

    8845HS as well, impressive

    With OCuLINK that's basically a NAS and gaming PC AIO

    • WheelieGoodTime on 02/08/2025 - 17:54
      +1

      How would you go about this? Windows in a WM? Steam on Linux? Something else?

      • Dyl on 02/08/2025 - 18:40

        Windows “storage spaces” with parity enabled is essentially software RAID5

        Unsure how it is performance wise vs zfs or xfs

        Alternatively you could potentially do it the other way around - windows host then the physical disks all mounted to wsl or a VM and zfs/xfs

    • brainjk on 02/08/2025 - 22:50
      +1

      How would this be at running LLMs?

      Am new to self-hosting, but wanting to set something up that can do the usual media stuff, but also expand into LLMs and other AI applications in the future. My guess is that it's a fruitless endeavour without getting GPUs - can I expand this setup with GPUs in the future?

      • wisc on 02/08/2025 - 22:55

        I was doing some reading, the m780 should do it…. But not at the scale of discrete graphics…

        It's got an OCuLink, so you could get one in future…

        With that said, if you don't need as much storage minisforum n5 pro's not bad… Better for ai
        That npu sounds interesting…
        https://www.minisforum.com/pages/n5_pro

        $$$$ though.

      • Dyl on 03/08/2025 - 07:03
        +1

        Is it purely for that or for NAS storage too?

        You'll need at least 96GB RAM usually for AI https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0C79K5VGZ

        GPU is essential if you don't want to wait for ever, this supports one via a dock. The docks can be costly though.

        An alternative is a miniforums board https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CZ8QRWJ3 and DIY build. It has 7945HX (16 cores) which flogs this CPU in multithreaded (almost double performance). Slightly slower single threaded. Full size PCIe in it so no dock needed, just ensure the case you get fits the GPU (many ITX cases only fit 2fan not 3fan).

        Note you need your own 120mm fan for the CPU, includes mounts but no fan. 4pin pref as it's a full CPU 4pin header. The 4 raised things you see in picture is the fan mount, it mounts directly ontop of the headsink and slightly over the NVMe slots

        • brainjk on 03/08/2025 - 09:17

          Probably more for NAS storage than anything else, but just leaving the option to expand for LLM use in the future.

          If I end up going the GPU route anyway then will the multi threaded performance of the core matter at the end of the day?

  • bchliu on 02/08/2025 - 17:40
    +3

    That's some serious streaming pron server there..

    Or presuming a VM farm..?

    • Ooops on 02/08/2025 - 18:10

      What's a VM farm?

      • Telios on 02/08/2025 - 18:12
        +14

        Where you grow baby VMs obviously

        • Ooops on 02/08/2025 - 18:18

          I get that, but beyond 1 VM or 2 max, what do you need more?

          Genuine question.

          • Clear on 02/08/2025 - 18:26
            +1

            @Ooops: I follow /r/homelab/ and many have an excessive amount of VMs. Docker, Kubernetes, Pi-hole, Unifi controller, Nextcloud, TrueNAS, Plex, Jellyfin, Home Assistant, game servers, Sonarr/Radarrr/Lidarr, qBittorrent. The list goes on.

          • impoze on 02/08/2025 - 18:33

            @Ooops: Not necessarily VMs but LXCs

          • wisc on 02/08/2025 - 20:34
            +2

            @Ooops: I use my server for photo backup (instead of google photos)
            URbackup for backup all of my physical machines. (ghettovbc to backup the VMs)
            pfsense - router - extremely powerful, VPNs, remote access
            (IIS/apache/NGIX) web servers
            mail server (and web mail portal)
            game servers (minecraft - handy for the kids and there friends)
            Multiple linux boxes
            Database servers.
            coding boxes,
            Teamspeak/messenger apps like open fire
            monitoring software
            Cloud storage while away
            and of course the plex server

            • cski on 02/08/2025 - 23:13
              +1

              @wisc: Using an 11 drive nas for photo backup sounds a lot like those that buy playboy for the articles

              • wisc on 02/08/2025 - 23:15
                -1

                @cski: "Linux iso's"

                To be fair though… That was only the first line, there are plenty of other uses for it that I've listed in that post.

          • Dyl on 03/08/2025 - 07:07

            @Ooops: Docker stacks mainly

            I have pihole, multiple rclones, plex, couple of monitoring things, cloudflared (reverse proxy), multiple apps which definitely don't infringe copyright, etc. All that can be done on an N100 with like 4GB RAM though (which most VPSs are), so I'm not sure.

            The AMDs aren't great at encoding either as the Intels have good hardware acceleration (an N100 actually keeps up with 5825u encoding apparently), so personally not entirely sure of a use case for this processing power if I'm honest. As long as you CPU pin plex and stuff correctly so scheduled stuff doesn't gobble up the entire server you're fine with anything for the above realistically.

            Could host a few game servers, those can use some decent processing power… And windows VMs obviously gobble resources but there's guides online to disable every service that's not needed which fixes this.

            Overall though, the CPU is more for the extra PCI lans to have so many M.2 slots, IO ports, 2x 10Gbe, etc. I don't think it'll end up doing much beyond that.

    • bjt on 02/08/2025 - 19:58

      For a VM farm, k8s cluster…etc, big question is memory - I can't find how many DDR5 slots it has and what's it's maximum motherboard RAM capacity (not that the printed maximum RAM value cannot be exceeded, often it can). But the diagram indicates only two DDR5 slots.

      Regarding cores, 8 cores is okayish as a VM farm, 16 would be preferable but it's great value what it is and given it has optical connectors, could cheaply be networked with another.

      It would make a great home datalake server and could network it with another miniPC as a compute server.

      I like the idea of buying miniPCs as home servers because you can spreadout your capex and purchase more smaller servers rather than splash money on one server which ages quicker.

      • aragornelessar on 03/08/2025 - 00:27

        It's 2x DDR5 SODIMMs up to 128GB and ECC compatible. I think I read that the 96GB config only works with ECC too (but didn't affect me as I've only got 64GB)

        • bjt on 03/08/2025 - 13:06

          The problem I find with ECC is the motherboards in this market are usually 8xDDR5 minimum (and expensive motherboards of course due to the chipset), and so consequently the high capacity ECC RAM modules cost way more compared to non-ECC.

      • Dyl on 03/08/2025 - 07:12

        two slots is like 128GB RAM these days or 96GB at a decent price

        • bjt on 03/08/2025 - 13:09

          Not enough RAM unless you buy multiples of these and cluster them via LAG bundles over 10GbE Multimode fibre, but 10GbE switches are too pricey these days.

      • Dyl on 03/08/2025 - 07:14

        Tbh for a full VM farm or cluster I would go miniforums MB for 16 cores instead of 8 cores here, you lose the sata ports though. Could potentially use a PCI or NVMe to SATA for 6 ports+.

        Also don't have the 5x NVMe slots… But you could gain those through a PCIe to 4x NVMe, then use one main NVMe slot for NVMe to SATAx6. Totals 6x SATA, 5x NVMe too then.

        Missing the 10Gbe though.

        • bjt on 03/08/2025 - 12:51

          Even with Miniforums line up, do they have any 4xDDR5 MiniPCs? The brochures specify max 128GB, I saw one seller spec 3xDDR5.

          It's handy how they've got 10GB pluggable ports now. Optical being cheaper than 10GBase-T ethernet and runs cooler. 10GB Switches remain pricey against 2.5GB though.

  • afayd on 02/08/2025 - 17:55
    +1

    I was wondering when this was going to drop on AliExpress. I couldn't wait any longer so I ordered one directly from Aoostar through their pre-sale about a week ago. It still says shipping on the 20th on Aoostar, when on AE it says delivery by 16th… damnit!

    • aragornelessar on 02/08/2025 - 18:02
      +1

      Me too! I ordered last pre-sale though, just after the EOFY for 20th Jul shipping. Arrived and had a little play installing Proxmox and then Windows. Learnt my old M2 drives were SSD and not NVME so weren't compatible and had to wait for new NVME drives to come.

      Still unsure what I'm going to install - I want to replace my Synology but I also want to do a virtualisation homelab (work-related). Was thinking Proxmox then virtualise Unraid or TrueNAS but I've not seen anything that really says that it's a great combo.

      • Deelirium on 02/08/2025 - 18:12
        +2

        I have a old HP Box i currently have with Proxmox and virtualised TrueNAS.

        It Works fine and been happy with it, Note that you want to be able to pass through the hardware controller for the drives that live on TrueNAS not virtual Drives if possible. That was the biggest recommendation i have seen in my research.

        However in hindsight i feel like i would be better off setting up ZFS Raid through Proxmox and ditch the TrueNAS VM. The TrueNAS VM hasnt really gained me anything over what i could do with just Proxmox and LXC Containers.

        In Saying all this, i Set this all up about 18 months ago, with other services running in a mix of LXC containers or Docker Containers on a Debian VM and basically havnt had to touch it since except for running the ocassinal update.

        • aragornelessar on 03/08/2025 - 00:30

          Yeah the passthrough where I'm unsure how it works with this system as I imagine the same controller controls either the HDD bays (which is also where the 4x NVME expansions are), so you'd have to pass them all through or none. I would prefer to have the slower disks passed through to the TrueNAS/Unraid while the NVME used as a storage for applications/VMs

      • afayd on 02/08/2025 - 18:17

        How long after the shipping date did it take to arrive? Also, did you get hit with customs tax?

        I'm really not sure myself as this is my first NAS. I'm just purchasing it for video editing 4k and storing all my data. Basically I'm trying to ditch cloud storage providers as I had enough of them. I know it's an overkill but I'm sure I'll be able to find some more complex uses as I play around with it. I'm leaning towards Unraid with the upcoming 20% off deal that was posted.

        • aragornelessar on 03/08/2025 - 00:21
          +1

          So the pre-order said shipping on the 20th July, but I got a notification that it was shipped on Thurs 17th. Ended up getting delivered on the 23rd. No customs tax for mine, it did cross my mind but it was smooth sailing

    • Osiris on 02/08/2025 - 22:02

      Just curious what was the $usd price presale?

  • BanannaMan on 02/08/2025 - 18:16
    +12

    Man I wish our exchange rate was better..

  • Pab23q on 02/08/2025 - 18:23
    +1

    Would there be a customs tax applied to this being over $1000?

    • Clear on 02/08/2025 - 18:34

      Potentially. In my experience with orders over A$1000 from Ali I haven't had to, or rather it hasn't been picked up by customs or declared by Ali. YMMV.

      • xslasherzz on 02/08/2025 - 18:59
        +4

        Isn't GST already charged? What else do they want?

        • Pab23q on 02/08/2025 - 19:01
          +1

          Our money?

          Nah but seriously i got no idea

        • Clear on 02/08/2025 - 19:02

          No. International sellers can't collect GST on purchases over A$1000.

          • xslasherzz on 02/08/2025 - 19:04

            @Clear: So AliExpress won't charge GST for this? Nice, probably work out slightly better. Either you get away with nothing, cause it wasn't declared or charged, or you need to pay 10% correctly, as opposed to AliExpress broken math GST.

            • Clear on 02/08/2025 - 19:30

              @xslasherzz: Yep. It's supposed to be collected by Customs once it goes over A$1000.

  • FoxJump on 02/08/2025 - 18:48
    +1

    geezus
    i feel like a tool for buying my gmktec k8+ 6months ago

    • deadfish on 04/08/2025 - 08:53

      from amazon? I just sent a message on customer support asking to return my k8+ and they accepted, it will be collected tomorrow

      • FoxJump on 04/08/2025 - 19:07

        yeah but 6months ago?

        • impoze on 05/08/2025 - 07:19

          It's Amazon, just use their live chat

        • deadfish on 05/08/2025 - 12:55

          yep

  • Kabal on 02/08/2025 - 18:50
    +1

    Damn thats a pretty cool piece of hardware.

  • AUSTRALIAMATE on 02/08/2025 - 18:56
    +1

    Anyone have a Drive deal to pair with this?

    • Pab23q on 02/08/2025 - 19:04

      Drives and ECC ram are going to be pricey hey

    • deadfish on 05/08/2025 - 12:57

      any idea if it works with an 128gb ecc kit?

  • buffalo bill on 02/08/2025 - 19:03
    +1

    I don't need but i want

  • skittlebrau on 02/08/2025 - 19:27
    +3

    That's a seriously nice hardware package in a small case.

    Proper ECC support, quality dual 10GbE Intel x710 NICs (not the crappy Marvell/Aquantia ones), 5x NVME slots, and a good amount of hotswap bays.

    Well-priced too.

    If this was sold locally with an actual warranty, even just pricing it 20% more would still be a good deal.

    • Kabal on 02/08/2025 - 19:41

      so much nicer than my 5600GE + Silverstone CS382 i want it lol

    • RiseAndRuin on 02/08/2025 - 20:16
      +1

      I'd expect this to be available on Amazon at some point in the near future, but who knows for how much.

      • aragornelessar on 03/08/2025 - 00:43

        The 4-Bay version on Amazon (by AOOSTAR-AU - dunno if they are actually affiliated) is actually slightly cheaper than direct - $569 for the past month ($609 before that). $400USD direct which is about the $620 mark, so there is hope…

  • wisc on 02/08/2025 - 19:52
    +1

    as a fan of BYO, I am a fan of this…
    if someone had a sale on 8TB NAS drives, ($25 per TB could be nice) I don't think i could resist this.

    Very nice upgrade from a gen 8 microserver - then its just a case of which hypervisor.

  • reece8 on 02/08/2025 - 20:15
    +1

    Just pulled trigger on this coming from three generations and wow nearly 20 years of synology, qnap and qnap!

    Any recommendations for ECC RAM and best value nvme drives would be appreciated as I'll run this box in parallel with my trust qnap tvs-672xt.

    I don't know where to start with a decent RAID array of drives?

    Then what OS to install, surely over Windows?

    Main use cases 1) Plex 2) Dropbox alternative for photo backup from mobiles 3) VPN for home nbn.

    Dummy guide would be appreciated :)

    • wisc on 02/08/2025 - 20:24
      +5

      beginner, probably proxmox, then create the VMs, there where some nice 4tb lexer drives on sale the other day for 335, i think they will be on sale again soon.

      install pfsense for VPN and replace your router, (just use it for a wireless access point)
      create a ubuntu vm for plex.
      I use Immich for photo backup on a Debian VM.
      look into Nextcloud, though i haven't so cant tell you much about it.

      use ZFS2 or RAID 6 with this many drives of decent size.
      (unsure if it supports RAID 6 natively)

      no idea in regards to ecc - Try chatGPT or Copilot, ive been having much luck with it.

      I use ESXI (and xcp-ng) as I want the type 0 hypervisor. though esxi is going down the toilet with there pricing model, I initially ran it to lean the tech, but feel its probably not as prevalent now for anything but huge companies. (and many of them are migrating to at least hybrid cloud)

      I use my server for photo backup (instead of google photos)
      URbackup for backup all of my physical machines. (ghettovbc to backup the VMs)
      pfsense - router - extremely powerful, VPNs, remote access
      (IIS/apache/NGIX) web servers
      mail server (and web mail portal)
      game servers (minecraft - handy for the kids and there friends)
      Multiple linux boxes
      Database servers.
      coding boxes,
      Teamspeak/messenger apps like open fire
      monitoring software
      Cloud storage while away
      and of course the plex server

      • reece8 on 02/08/2025 - 21:27

        Thanks for your quick and comprehensive reply!

        Beginner indeed. Previous NAS experiences have always been put in drives power up, setup Raid, plug in LAN yo router and enter IP address for Web interface. How would it even work for this one? Read it comes with Windows 11 pro. I'm used to hundreds of days of uptime with my qnap, only for upgrading firmware so I reboot. Windows updates are almost daily?

        As for RAM I see that Kingston 32GB 5600MT/s DDR5 ECC has been recommend. Found https://www.techbuy.com.au/p/542695/MEMORY_ECC_DDR-5_RAM/Kin…? - seems like the only legit au store selling.

        As for drives, what Lexar nvme are you referring to that'll likely be on sale again?

        Your guru help greatly appreciated to get started and will follow your lead for photo backup solution and plex.

        What's the main OS I launch all these VM's from? Would love to learn, and will figure out. So your help is amazing!

        • wisc on 02/08/2025 - 22:31
          +1

          https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/917508
          Have a look at the comments BPCTech was 335.. but has gone up now unfortunately.

          It won't come with an os, as it doesn't come with any drives.
          Basically download your choice of base os (some of the thousands of options are:
          proxmox, unraid, esxi, xcp-ng, truenas - I saw a post earlier about unraid having a sale - never used it myself, but sounds more like a plug and play thing that you may like)

          There are typically instructions on how to load the installer to a USB drive

          Start the nas, go into bios and tell it to load from the USB (you created with the os install), run though a fairly intuitive wizard, which will install the hypervisor,…
          step one complete.

          Next the guest os, where you will run your apps
          Download Linux installs (typically an iso), copy them onto the nas,

          Then use the os tool to create an empty VM (usually log in via a web browser like you would with your old nas), select the Linux install as a boot drive (typically as a dvd) and install the client virtual machine.

          It's far easier than I've made it sound, though the learning curve is steep.

          Proxmox even allows you to run docker images directly, so you don't even need to install a base os.

          You could even install guest windows os if you have the licensee…. Then you just remote into them.

          For Linux you configure vnc, or SSH (terminal) into them.

          • reece8 on 03/08/2025 - 21:50

            @wisc: Ahh yes of course no OS, I was going off the review videos where review units came loaded with Windows.

            I'm leaning towards a) unraid straight up as per sale and ease of use or as per your suggestion b) proxmox+unraid if I'm feeling adventurous.

            Sounds like either way I'll need to set it up hooked up to a monitor keyboard mouse first eh.

            Will prob come down to whether option b) comes with a dummy proof guide, main vm I want to spin up is plex, then some sort of torrent dler. Thoughts?

            Disk wise whilst I'm experimenting best setup I was thinking of going for 3x of those Lexwr 4TB nvme's, would b) setting up storage be straight fwd vs unraid storage sell of mixing, matching and incrementally adding drives?

            How soon can I remove the monitor setup and do everything via Web browser or SSH for b)? I assume with a) unraid will allow me to do this as soon as it's installed and IP address is known.

            • wisc on 04/08/2025 - 10:30

              @reece8: if you go proxmox, you probably wont need unraid as well, (and vice versa).

              You should be able to run KVM from unraid (so use it as a hypervisor) and you should also be able to get a plugin as highlighted earlier for the iscsi. But keeping in mind that unraid is mainly NAS software (plus addons) proxmox mainly a hypervisor. Truenas scale does try to be both and is another decent option.

              The great thing about unraid is the ability to add disks adhoc, so if you plan to buy more in the future it will be a good option, if you plan on buying them all up front, then proxmox would probably do and its free, and because so many people use it, there will probably be some great guides on anything you try to do on the net. (so do you like tinkering and not paying, or do you like things to just work?) - by the time you need to add more drives, you may be an expert and know what you want… the biggest issue i find though is getting data off the current system to build a new system. (too lazy to copy all the data) - but it is possible.

              I was going to say, you could test if proxmox works (or truenas) for you before buying unraid, but given the special on unraid (and you might not get the NAS for some time), you might want to buy it now anyways (Just keep in mind from the sounds of it, the license on unraid is now a subscription for updates, - but you should get to keep your current version - unless you pay the 250 dollar life time license)

              that said, it may also be worth your while to see if proxmox (or trunas) does what you want, and if its too difficult just spend the extra 20% (and not get the unraid special.) risk vs reward…

              In regards to initial setup, it doesn't look like these have IPMI/ILO/idrac (one of the only misses!), so, typically what i do is have them on my desk next to my main PC, and either use split screen/switch my monitor input, or have it on a second screen, the initial set up is probably like half an hour, if that…. then once that's configured you can disconnect everything and move it to its final home, as you will likely use the management tools/remote into it.
              (though i do have a network KVM for exactly this purpose!
              I got one like this,
              https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004300651081.html
              though i wish i had gotten KVM over IP, rather than over cat6 - as it doesn't work over a network, just over a cable - so need to unplug the cable from from the switch and it uses an extra wall port - given how cheap they are may be worth considering though. I find i use mine every now and then for either my servers or NVR.)
              there is some cool rasperri pi extensions for KVMs which is kinda cool (think its an add on shield)

              depends on what you want in regards to downloader, something like couch potato?

              in regards to drives, it will also depend if you ZFS them (make them into one big drive) or just have separate drives with different mount points, i like to do one large drive then just share them out via NFS from my main OS. they are making some improvements on ZFS, but the ability to add drives in unraid so easily is a huge selling point, and (i feel) one of the main reason to get unraid.

              yeah, in regards to removing the monitor set up, ive sort of addressed this above, but i like to keep it on the desk next to me, as i find im fiddling with it, or power cycling it, but realistically - once it has the base os, your done. (whether that be proxmox /unraid/hyperV/Esxi/xcp-ng/other KVM/Truenas core or scale)

              I think ive covered everything there.

              just to reiterate, based on research - not actual use of unraid (as , as i said above, i use esxi and xcp-ng - with a tinkering in a other VMs - hyperV/Virtual box)

              if you are happy to tinker, plenty of good free options, then, based on the comments in the unraid, if you want to plug it in and go (and dont mind spending a small amount of cash) unraid. heck, you could even try the 30 day demo of unraid.

              • reece8 on 04/08/2025 - 13:57

                @wisc: My only thought based on various reading was why not go proxmax + unraid as a VM that'll give the flexibility to launch other VM's in the future (i.e. could be anything, other OS's, specific services) etc given the oomph this AOOSTAR box would afford.

                I have a KVM, no dramas, will get that setup, or worse case just have it by my desk before setup, during and until it's stable to control remotely via web browser, I guess a more pointed question is that for both option a) and b) - they both have robust web browser intefaces that is sufficient to use yeah?

                For ease of landing on a path forward, let's say I will invest in the unraid lifetime offering. Then the decision is on either a) or b), let's say i'm the tinkering type by nature, but at this time of life I would rather set and forget, but have the flexibility to tinker in the event I get the time, so leaning towards b). That said, If I decide to invest some time, are there dummy resources to read, understand and have a go to go with b) and setup proxmax first, then unraid as a VM? I'm confident if it's just a) native to the box, I could figure unraid out as I read it's very user friendly (given it's a paid product).

                As to the drive setup, as I mentioned earlier, I'm thiking of just investing in 3x 4TB NVME's to begin with and play, then add the larger + additional NVME drives incrementally over time as I figure out how to patiently transfer over the data from my existing QNAP NAS.

                More I think about it the deiciosn between a) and b) comes down to my original use cases 1), 2) 3), can they all be achieved with just unraid (a)? Or is it best to set them all up with unraid? Or better to segregate and create the flexiblility / design from the beginning via proxmox (b) to begin with not at the cost of performance in the event also giving me ability to add more use cases whether it be a mail server, or what not.

                Thoughts and guidance as always much apprecaited.

                But for b)

                • aragornelessar on 04/08/2025 - 14:21

                  @reece8: I'm leaning towards Proxmox + Unraid also. I want the VM capability as its related to my work and also the capability to deploy VMs for various needs (plex, frigate, photo backup, game servers etc)

                  Found this reddit post with someone successfully doing the same, and answered a few questions about passthrough and USB booting (which you need for Unraid).

                  https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/1m9v95q/got_the_ao…

                • wisc on 04/08/2025 - 14:34

                  @reece8: You could go proxmox + unirad if you can pass the storage controller to the unraid VM, but don't forget, that with KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine - a hypervisor not the phisical device "keyboard, video, and mouse") unraid can run VMs anyways. So it is kinda redundant to also use proxmox as the underlying host OS. There may be features that unriad doesn't have i guess - but will you use those advanced features? proxmox may also be "better" at running VMs/dockers. but Id try it (use unraid VMs)first and confirm it does what you need

                  In my device, as the raid controller was not supported by ESX, I pass the raid controller to a centos instance (which would be unraid if you insist on going down this path), then i share it back to the host via an NTFS share, so you would be doing something similar - but it just seems like extra overhead, when you could use unraid to host docker images, or VMs. - so unsure why you would do something like this.

                  note you need to boot of something like a usb drive as well so the hypervisor can handle the storage, as this wont be configured until the OS has loaded (unless of course you have a bootable raid card - then that kinda defeats the purpose of everything we've discussed.)

                  in regards to unraid VM management see:
                  https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/manual/vm/vm-management/
                  disclaimer i have not read this
                  from what i see its built into the OS directly, so you don't even need to install anything. (again making proxmox redundant)

                  typically these systems are designed to be managed remotely. - however, as i havent used these two directly, someone else should be able to provide further details in regards to remote access.. but both appear to have a web interface (so basically just point your browser at them and away you go)
                  so realistically all you need to really do is install the hypervisor (weather you use proxmox or unraid) - then you can do there rest from there. (even if that is install unraid on proxmox)

                  if you did want to tinker, Id probably set proxmox up as the VM, as that would still allow you to tinker and just use unraid as your main hypervisor. (if it is just to tinker) once youve paid for unraid you may as well just use it.

                  if you plan on adding drives later down the track, unraid will probably be the better choice. dont forget though, with most redundant system, 1 drive of data will be used for parity. (EG, if you have 3x4TB drives, you will only get 6TB of it, and 3TB will be used for parity, to ensure redundancy - ie if one drive dies you dont loose everything)

        • giovannip on 03/08/2025 - 13:31

          That ram is a registered dimm. You want an ECC Sodimm. Problem with searching is that most DDR5 have on-die ECC, which is not the same. Try searching for EC4 PC5 sodim. I am pretty sure EC8 does not work with AMD.

      • Osiris on 02/08/2025 - 22:04

        Thanks for sharing your list of uses. Whats a coding box though, just a wm you use for a specific language/set up?

        • wisc on 02/08/2025 - 22:22
          +1

          Yeah just Ubuntu desktop with a IDE that I can vnc into… so I don't have to have additional tools on my main PC, and I can vnc into them from anywhere (doesn't have to be my main PC) , don't really use them to be honest, but the idea was there.

          All my other vms are typically console only to save CPU/memory.

          Easy to keep these shut off and fire them up as required. Can even use them as jump hosts inside my networks… But with VPNs I don't really need to.

          But yeah exactly what you said.

      • aragornelessar on 03/08/2025 - 00:38
        +1

        Thanks for sharing your setup! Good reference to have as I'd be after something similar

      • afayd on 03/08/2025 - 07:26
        +1

        Quite a few ideas there—thanks. I'm a beginner as well and was primarily thinking about using this NAS for storage and 4k editing/streaming. Most of it has gone over my head, but I'm getting some ideas that I might wanna play with such as vm, setting up a web & mail server for the first time. Because it's going to be my primary storage device and I need reliability, how easy is it to screw things up while experimenting with things like that?

        • wisc on 03/08/2025 - 09:24
          +2

          not overly easy, but possible, basically as everything is virtualised, normally, in a worst case scenario, You'll only loose one component of the setup. You can always reinstall the hypervisor (base OS) then just reattach the existing virtual machines, or if you break a VM, it only relates to that VM. if you mess with the storage that houses all of your VMs, that could be a bit more of an issue, but with that said you should have backups anyways. (so break a single VM, its a backed up, break the storage, its also backed up - these should be backed up to different storage - USB or cloud provider)
          The backup server will be just another VM that the machine hosts.

          most changes can be reversed or the system can be reconfigured after a bad configuration as well, for example if you change some network settings that you potentially shouldnt have, when you start creating multiple switches, VLANs etc it can get fun.

          if your looking at 4k streaming / editing and using part of the NAS for storage for it, look into iscsi - this may affect the base OS you choose to use. (perhaps trunas scale - so you can create a iSCSI target easily, though it would appear proxmox does it as well: https://forum.level1techs.com/t/has-anyone-here-tried-to-cre…, unraid also does this via a plug in apparently - you could also potentially use just use one of the VMs as the iSCSI target - so base hypervisor doesn't matter as much.)

          There can be some challenges setting iSCSI up (as it can be somewhat technical), BUT, if you plan on using the NAS for the storage (and not editing/streaming directly from it), you could attach part of the NAS storage (iscsi target) to your local PC, where it appears as a local disk. (so you'd save and load to D: drive for example) - making editing much smoother and faster.

          the underlying host are generally extremely reliable (especially with ECC RAM), I really haven't rebooted my ancient esxi hosts for years at a time. remember this is enterprise level software. so reliability is a key component of the development mindset.

          feel free to ask any questions. most of the setup will be just following guides, now that we have AI, this has gotten far easier (and harder - if it gives you commands meant for a different OS mixed in with the commands you are following?) as well, but I find AI is good at explain concepts and providing options for doing different things. (as there are usually 10 different apps to do the same thing)

          E-mail can be a little tricky, but follow the step by step guides and you'll be fine.

          I should run an interactive session on this (where everyone can follow a run though and ask questions - though i'm no pro by any means), IE install the hypervisor, access the hypervisor, create a VM, install a guest OS, access the guest (so would cover some troubleshooting as well). - plenty of video tutorials on this though. (being able to ask questions may be helpful?)

          Maybe a Q&A on the forums so everyone can get involved as well.

          • afayd on 03/08/2025 - 10:18
            +1

            @wisc: Wow.. quite a helpful response. Thanks! It's something I'd definitely I'll refer to when I get this unit.

  • Larsson on 02/08/2025 - 21:04

    Great specs…

  • gromit on 02/08/2025 - 21:12

    My main issue with it is you are limited to 32gb ram. Otherwise would be perfect home lab server to replace my niw dated self built nas.

    • Clear on 02/08/2025 - 21:16
      +2

      This is the note from Aoostar. I heard that the non-ECC 48/96GB not working is due to an AMD bug with the CPU.

      3:Does not support Laptop sodimm 2*48,96GB RAM, but support 96GB DDR5 ECC SODIMM RAM。

  • Osiris on 02/08/2025 - 22:22

    Probably overkill for my needs tbh even if I started to dabble more, but given the HP has been going strong for over a decade and all the storage expansion this has, almost seems the better buy over the wtr pro if its going to be used for years

    • wisc on 02/08/2025 - 22:44

      I have a HP as well, my concern is it's running well… Until it isn't. This hardware is getting very old now.

      Had a drive fail recently, has also crashed a few times on startup… Replaced the drive, rebuilt the raid, added a hot spare.. there are still 4 old drivers in it though.
      3am wasn't fun. (Buzzer for raid going nuts)

      Would be good to have some new gear as if that motherboard dies I'll be sol.

  • id on 03/08/2025 - 01:01

    hmm tempting. might scrap the diy jansbo n5 case route. this looks to be a good compromise almost ready to go.. ram and storage… all set! banging specs. do some proxmox cluster.. even good enough as a replication server for your veeam backups.

  • poppingtags on 03/08/2025 - 02:46

    Has the price changed? I can only get it down to US$ 690.43

    • Clear on 03/08/2025 - 08:46

      Have you got the barebones selected and applied the coupons?

      • metalhead on 03/08/2025 - 09:19

        same with me, i can only get it down to US$687.11.

        There is only barebones option anyways.

        • Clear on 03/08/2025 - 09:20

          Looks like it's gone up.

  • Dyl on 03/08/2025 - 07:20
    +1

    Wish this existed when I built my DIY server, probably spent $700 pre drives as is.

    Not sure I'd ever use the extra CPU power, but the proper 10Gbe is decent and extra PCI lanes (M.2 slots) compared to an N100 board which has 2 slots and running at allegedly 1x.

  • maxwellian on 03/08/2025 - 07:35
    +5

    Almost a good deal except for when it’s shits the bed in 9 months and you’re stuck without any warranty. The Ali express fanboys here will tell you it’s no problem, just buy another, then all of a sudden a domestic sold alternate becomes a lot cheaper.

    • Clear on 03/08/2025 - 08:45

      That's the risk of buying overseas. Aoostar themselves seem to be pretty good, as they've been shipping the WTR Pro via DHL. Dunno about their customer service.

  • msze on 03/08/2025 - 08:38

    Seems pretty similar to the $699 USD price on their website? Would it be better to buy off their website rather than AliExpress or is it the same thing?

    https://aoostar.com/products/aoostar-wtr-max-amd-r7-pro-8845…

    • Clear on 03/08/2025 - 08:44
      +1

      Once you factor in the coins discount and cashback it becomes more than US$50 lower than the title. AliExpress store is run by Aoostar.

    • afayd on 03/08/2025 - 10:20
      +1

      Definitely buy it off AE with all the additional discounts. The shipping date is even sooner than their own website. I would have purchased it from AE if I didn't place the order on their website 10 days ago.

  • poppingtags on 03/08/2025 - 11:10
    +1

    Very curious to hear if it gets hit with GST/Duty. Would appreciate if anyone can report back, once it arrives.

    • aragornelessar on 03/08/2025 - 11:50
      +2

      I bought direct from Aoostar @ $699 USD and didn't get any extra fees from customs, YMMV though.

  • SmileSydney on 03/08/2025 - 11:22
    +1

    Xpenology? Plex hardware transcoding?

  • tekkabot on 04/08/2025 - 22:22

    I already ordered as soon as this preorder batch dropped, missed last one by a few hours :-(

    Planning to replace my ageing TrueNAS running on HP Microserver NL40.

    Thoughts are Proxmox, run TrueNAS as a VM and passthrough the SATA controller and import my pool - https://gist.github.com/mietzen/6174d04a560fa0bb35f8e752f474…

    NVME drives for VM's/homelab stuff. My TrueNAS is still Core due to my media stack still being iocage jail based (plex, *arrs, bitwarden, transmission, etc). Current thinking is to move these over to LXC's by creating them fresh and can move TrueNAS to Scale, but then also thinking of just running ZFS natively on Proxmox.

    • qwijibo on 04/08/2025 - 22:38

      I run zfs directly on proxmox, and have a debian 12 LXC container set up for running samba (using cockpit to do the sharing setup). I don't think cockpit is as good as truenas, but if you rarely have to tweak the share settings (adding new shares, users, etc), then it's fine. It also saves VM overhead, and fussing with pcie device passthrough.

      For the other stuff, you should be able to run most of those in LXC containers - I run qbittorrent in a container, with a zfs dataset mapped in to store the torrents.

      • tekkabot on 04/08/2025 - 22:44

        Interesting. Thanks for the info. It's literally just a media NAS atm with a few other tidbits. It doesn't change much at all in regards to the shares, just when I add another arr :D - I'm all for less complex setups, so will look in to it. Thanks.

      • aragornelessar on 04/08/2025 - 23:11

        I had been thinking Proxmox then TrueNAS/Unraid on it which handled the storage for Plex/backups etc. I hadn't thought of Proxmox handling the storage itself. Do you know what the difference would be in regards to Plex and other VMs (or networked PCs) accessing that zfs store? Do the VMs just need to map it?

        • wisc on 05/08/2025 - 08:17
          +1

          Why not just use unraid and create vms from there? What benifits does adding proxmox as the hypervisor add?

          Unraid should still vms anyways?

          • aragornelessar on 05/08/2025 - 10:09

            @wisc: From what I've read, virtualisation isn't as good via Unraid/TrueNAS as it's not a hypervisor. I do a bit with ESXi and Vmware at work, and with the way vmware is going with costs a part of me thinks I should branch out in the virt space a bit to give me some flexibility. So having Proxmox would let me experiment and sandbox at a true hypervisor level - and not touch the NAS portion which the family would want for Plex/backups

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