Aoostar WTR PRO

The Aoostar WTR PRO presents a compelling hybrid solution for budget-conscious NAS builders and home lab enthusiasts, offering AMD's Ryzen 7 5825U (8 cores/16 threads, up to 4.5GHz) in a compact 4-bay chassis priced at $399. This configuration delivers substantial multi-threaded performance for NAS tasks like Plex transcoding or virtualization, outperforming Intel N100 alternatives by 2-3x in CPU-intensive workloads. The dual M.2 NVMe slots (PCIe 3.0) and four SATA bays support flexible storage configurations up to 88TB raw capacity, while the 120W PSU and thoughtful ventilation design maintain stable operation under load (~41dB at peak). However, the all-metal chassis' side-mounted ports—while space-efficient—may complicate cable management in tight setup.

At its $399 price point (32GB DDR4/1TB SSD), the WTR PRO competes directly with turnkey NAS solutions like Synology DS423+, offering superior raw hardware power but requiring technical know-how for OS setup. The Radeon Vega 8 iGPU handles 4K media streaming competently, though it lacks Intel's Quick Sync advantage for hardware transcoding. Dual 2.5GbE ports provide adequate bandwidth for most home users (279MB/s per port), but the absence of 10GbE or PCIe expansion limits high-speed networking options—a notable omission given the Ryzen 7's 20-lane PCIe 3.0 capability. The included M.2-to-NVMe adapter (Black Friday bonus) creatively repurposes the WiFi slot for additional storage, showcasing Aoostar's pragmatic approach to expandability.

Where the WTR PRO truly shines is in its DIY-friendly design: The tool-less drive trays (despite their stiff mechanism) and Windows 11 Pro pre-installation lower the barrier for entry, while compatibility with TrueNAS/Proxmox appeals to tinkerers. Energy efficiency is impressive (7W idle), but non-hot-swappable drives and lack of ECC RAM support may deter pro users. Compared to the $279 Intel N100 version, the Ryzen model justifies its $120 premium with double the RAM capacity (64GB vs 32GB), dual-channel memory, and 2x M.2 slots—making it the smarter long-term investment. For those needing plug-and-play simplicity, Synology's DSM remains superior, but as a budget powerhouse for Linux-savvy users, the WTR PRO delivers exceptional value.

- GhostKeyboard Review.