Kobol, the Singapore based manufacturer of Helios4 is set to launch pre-orders for its latest open HW/SW NAS system called the Helios64. The system which was created as an upgrade to the Helios4 NAS system will be available as a Nano-ITX SBC and a complete enclosed system, running the more powerful 64-bit Rockchip RK3399 compared to the Cortex-A9 based Marvell Armada 388 on the Helios4.
One of the major upgrades to the Helios4 is the use of the RK3399 SOC which comes with 2 x 1.8GHz Cortex-A72 cores, 4 x 1.4GHz Cortex-A53 cores, and a Mali-T860 GPU. To rain in utmost performance levels, the board ships with 4GB LPDDR4 RAM along with a 16GB eMMC 5.1, and a MicroSD slot which could be used to further increase the storage.
Asides the upgrade in the SOC used, the new Helios64 comes with a 2.5Gbs LAN port(1 Ethernet port more than Helios4), a UPS, and an additional SATA interface to bring the total number of SATA III interfaces on it to five(5) (compared to the 4 on Helios4), with the possibility of configuring one of them for use with an SSD via an M.2 slot. In addition to the upgraded interfaces, the board also ships with:
- 3x USB 3.0 host ports
- USB Type-C that supports DP for displays or DAS (Direct Attached Storage) modes.
- GPIO and special-purpose I/Os that support I2C, SPI, UART, and 2x PWM fan
- Dual DC inputs Power Supply
- Built-in UPS with optional battery.
The Nano-ITX SBC comes in a 120×120 size that is slightly larger than the Helios4, while the full five drive systems with enclosure comes in a 250 x 222 x 134mm size with an exposed USB 3.0 port, a control panel and an internal space for dual 80mm PWM fans, and five 3.5-inch HDDs via a hot-plug tray system.
