CONCLUSION

   Much like with previous NAS models by QSAN our charts pretty much speak for themselves when it comes to performance. That being said even though we did record stellar performance from the XCubeNAS XN7008RE in both 1GbE and 10GbE we can’t say the same about TB3 since the results weren’t what we were expecting, always based on what we saw with the XN8008T. Even though we can’t say for certain this probably has to do with either the different CPU models (i3/i5) or with the amount of installed RAM (8GB/16GB). We will ask QSAN for two more RAM modules to test our theory and if it does pan out, we will update our charts with those results as well. Build quality is almost excellent and when it comes to power draw, we were actually expecting slightly more based on what we’ve seen by other rackmount models to date. Unfortunately, noise levels can climb very high but even though we did find them extremely annoying during our tests (especially TB3 tests) the truth of the matter is that rackmount models are almost always very noisy so we don’t really expect this to be a deal breaker for interested businesses or organizations. While we were testing the XN7008RE we thought the same thing we did when testing the XN8008T and the XN5008T and that was that the lack of available apps was a huge drawback. However, since the XN7008RE is aimed towards offices, small businesses and organizations (primarily at least) the lack of available apps should matter very little. Instead such interested parties are looking for an extremely fast centralized storage/file server with redundant power supplies and honestly this is where the XCubeNAS XN7008RE excels at. As for the very useful XReplicator software by Acronis which is bundled with QSAN's NAS models you can read our in-depth look in our review of the XN8008T here.

   Availability in both the EU and the USA has always been a serious issue with QSAN products and the same applies to the XCubeNAS XN7008RE since we were unable to track it inside the USA. Still we did manage to find it inside the EU for a price of 2719Euros (SPAN.COM) not including the CX312B 10GbE SFP card which should set you back another 275Euros or so (adding up to a total of around 3000Euros). So once again availability and price are two undeniably serious drawbacks which we sincerely hope QSAN can one day address. That being said aside being the overall fastest model in our charts (TB3 excluded – at least for now) the XCubeNAS XN7008RE also delivers on everything QSAN markets it for and for that it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Excellent Build Quality
- Dual Core Intel i3 7100 CPU
- Top of the Charts Performance (1GbE/10GbE)
- 8GB DDR4-2133 RAM (Expandable To 64GB In Our Sample)
- 4 RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet Ports (Link Aggregation Supported)
- 2 PCIe Slots (PCIe x4/x8)
- 8 Drive Bays (8x3.5”/2.5”)
- 4 USB 3.0 Ports
- HDMI Output (Service Menu)
- Power Consumption (For A Rackmount Model)
- Drive Temperatures
- XReplicator Software
- RAID 0/RAID 1/RAID 5/RAID 5 + hot spare/RAID 6/RAID 10/RAID Z3/RAID 60/JBOD (Up To 128TB / 3200TB With Expansion Units)
- Dual 250W Redundant Power Supplies
- QSM 3.1 OS

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Global Availability (Currently)
- Limited Apps (Both NAS And Mobile)
- Noise Levels