The soul of any DIY NAS system has got to be its motherboard. After deciding to build a new NAS a few months ago, I spent some time to research the parts I would get. I ultimately decided on the CW-8505-NAS motherboard from CWWK. It’s a great choice for a NAS cum home server.
I have two main use cases for this new system. This first is to serve as a NAS for general storage, both offline and online. The other is to run a hypervisor to host some VMs. I want the NAS to support at least 5 or more hard disk drives and preferably more than one NVMe stick. I need a CPU with decent performance, at least 4 cores and at least 32 GB RAM, though preferably more cores and 64 GB of RAM. I don’t want a power-hungry CPU though, since running 24×7, power efficiency is definitely an important consideration. The CW-8505-NAS pretty much nailed everything in my wish list.
CWWK is a Chinese company. I got the CW-8505-NAS motherboard from AliExpress. Their motherboards seem to be often also referred to as Topton’s in several NAS review articles (e.g. Topton DIY NAS Motherboard Rundown! | Butter, What?!). I’m not sure if Topton is just the seller/distributor, or if they are co-branded with or an alias of CWWK.
Here’s a quick rundown of the CW-8505-NAS specifications:
- Mini-ITX form factor 170×170 mm
- Intel Pentium Gold 8505 processor (5 cores/6 threads, 15 – 55W TDP)
- 2x DDR5 SODIMM memory slots
- 2x SATA onboard
- 4x SATA via SFF-8643
- 1x M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4
- 1x M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 x1
- 1x SFF-8543 PCIe 3.0 x4 (for 4x M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 x1)
- 4x Intel i226-V 2.5 Gbps network
- HDMI and DisplayPort dual display 4K @60 Hz
- 1x PCIe 4.0 x4 expansion slot
(Notice the mix of PCIe 4.0 and 3.0 connections.)
The motherboard is offered with optional items:
- CPU cooler (Jonsbo HP400S)
- SFF-8643 cable split to 4x SATA connectors
- SFF-8643-4NVMe backplane with 4x NVMe PCIe 3.0 x1 slots
Maxed out, the CW-8505-NAS motherboard supports 6x SATA drives and 2x NVMe storage sticks, with another 4x NVMe via the expansion backplane.
The CPU on this motherboard is an Intel Pentium Gold 8505. It is a 12th generation Alder Lake mobile processor and comes without an integrated heat spreader. It has a TDP between 15 and 55 W. The motherboard ships with a pure copper slab installed on top of the CPU (photo above). You can see the actual CPU without the copper slab in the photo below. This is a FCBGA1744 socket type meant for processors which are directly soldered onto the motherboard, like is typically the case for mobile processors. The two black blocks house the platform controller hub (PCH) and the actual processor respectively.
The Pentium Gold 8505 is a particularly interesting processor. It has one performance core with 2 threads clocked at 1.2 GHz (turbo to 4.4 GHz), and 4 efficiency single-threaded cores clocked at 900 MHz (turbo to 3.3 GHz). The total of 5 cores may seem a little odd, but together with total of 6 threads, the Pentium Gold 8505 has a slight edge at multitasking over 4 cores/4 thread systems.
The processor supports dual-channel DDR4 and DDR5 memory. However, the motherboard memory slots are of DDR5 SODIMM type, so you will have to use DDR5 SODIMM memory. Since the processor maxes out at 4800 MT/s for DDR5 memory, you don’t need to use faster (e.g. 5200 or 5600 MT/s) DDR5 memory.
I’m quite happy with the Pentium Gold 8505’s performance. Using Geekbench 6 to benchmark, the processor scored 2448 and 5303 in single-core and multi-score tests respectively. This compares favourably with other processors commonly found in NAS builds. The previous generation N5095 and N6005 are left in the dust. The newer generation N100 also lags far behind. The N305 very slightly edges out the Pentium Gold 8505 in multi-core scores, though understandably so given the former has more cores and more threads, and costs almost twice as much. The UGREEN DXP4800 Plus NAS which uses the same Pentium Gold 8505 seems to be generally slower.
A note on the SATA ports: Only the two on-board are detectable by the BIOS and can be used for a boot device. The other 4 are connected via a JMB585 SATA controller are not visible to the BIOS but will work fine with Windows or Linux. TrueNAS sees it out-of-the-box.
If 6 SATA ports aren’t enough, as it is for me as I was looking to get a 8-bay NAS chassis, more ports can be easily added via an LSI SAS HBA. I separately got one with 2x SFF-8087 ports which can support 8x SATA drives using SFF-8087 to 4x SATA breakout cables.
I had considered other processors. The N305 has 8 cores/8 threads, but its official memory limit is 16 GB. Even though some users have reported that 32 GB works, this still seems slightly too little for running multiple VMs alongside a ZFS-based NAS. Furthermore, it only has just 9 PCIe 3.0 lanes, which seems not enough for expandability. The N100 has just 4 cores/4 threads, not enough in my mind for running multiple VMs. Earlier generation Celerons are not capable enough in terms of performance and memory capacity. Options with more capable processors like the Intel i5-1250H and AMD Ryzen 7 are a bit too pricey.
Just so you know, I aim to keep the motherboard and CPU cost to under S$270 (US$200). The Pentium Gold 8505 seems to hit the sweet spot. It has enough cores/threads, enough performance, enough PCIe lanes, enough ports, enough memory, and not expensive.
The CW-8505-NAS motherboard is quite densely packed, particularly since the 2x 2280 form-factor NVMe and 2x DDR5 SODIMM slots take up quite a lot of real estate.
Apart from the PCIe expansion slot, 2x SFF-8643 ports (one SATA and one PCIe), 2x SATA ports, the other ports and headers include:
- 24-pin ATX power and 4-pin CPU power
- Serial COM header
- 2x USB 2.0 header
- USB 2.0 port (for directly connecting a USB device)
- USB 3.0 header
- Front-panel header
- 4-pin SATA power header
- TPM header
- CPU fan header
- System fan header
- Jumper for clearing CMOS
- Jumper for setting power state
There is also a HDMI port onboard which is not used.
On the rear I/O panel, there are:
- 4x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet RJ45 ports
- 2x USB 2.0 ports
- DisplayPort
- HDMI port
- 2x USB 3.0 ports
- Combo audio jack
For the most part, the CW-8505-NAS is quite standard and easy to install like any other mini-ITX motherboard. There is just one thing that I wasn’t sure what to do. This is my first DIY build using a motherboard with a mobile processor. How does one install the CPU cooler?
As I mentioned above, the motherboard came with a thick pure copper slab covering the CPU. I also ordered the Jonsbo HP400S cooler. Normally, you would mount the cooler directly onto the CPU. I removed the copper slab and attempted to put the HP400S directly on the CPU. It did not work. There was no way the HP400S could reach the CPU as other components on the motherboard was in the way. Without the copper slab, the top of the CPU was just too low and close to the motherboard surface.
So, in case you have the same question, the thick copper slab still has to stay on the CPU. It raises the height to the “right level” like that of regular desktop CPUs fitted into a CPU socket so that the CPU cooler will work.
The CW-8643TO4NVME NVMe expansion board in the bundle allows connecting 4x PCIe 3.0 x1 NVMe storage sticks to the motherboard via an SFF-8643 cable. I know a single lane of PCIe 3.0 doesn’t sound impressive, but with 1 GB/s transfers, it’s still better than hard disks. You can use the expansion board to serve a small storage pool to store VMs. You can also use it to install NVMe for a ZFS SLOG vdev.
Do take note that the NVMe slots must be populated contiguously starting from slot 1 (leftmost). The expansion board also requires a molex power supply.
I have one unanswered question regarding this CW-8643TO4NVME NVMe expansion board. How am I supposed to mount this? I see some standoffs and mounting holes on the board, but nothing lines up with anything I can find. No, it won’t fit in a 3.5-inch drive bay. It doesn’t line up with 2.5-inch drive holes. If anyone has the answer, or perhaps a recommendation on what to do, I would love to hear from you. Meanwhile, I have double-sided taped this to my PSU.
The CW-8505-NAS with the Pentium Gold 8505 is very power efficient. At idle, with the CPU fan and one SSD boot drive connected, the power draw measured at the wall is just 20.5 W. I have estimated that the idle power draw of that SSD boot drive is 2.4 W, so that means just the motherboard and CPU fan draws only 18.1 W. This is very impressive! Power efficiency matters for a NAS or home server because it is going to be running continuously all day, every day.
The CW-8505-NAS retails at about US$199 on AliExpress (varies by sellers) for just the motherboard and CPU (with the copper heatsink). The product title might be something like “Topton 12th i5-12450H 6-Bay Mini ITX NAS Motherboard 8505 Max 6*NVMe 6*SATA3.0 1*PCIEx4 4*Intel i226-V 2.5G 2*DDR5”. You can add on options for SFF-8643 to SATA cables, Jonsbo HP400S cooler, and the NVMe expansion board. The bundle with all option sells for US$269.
I found the add-on options not a great value, but they are convenient. You can save at US$20 to US$30 if you get these parts separately from other sources. The cooler and expansion board shouldn’t cost more than US$20 each, and the cables, at most US$10.
The CWWK, or Topton, CW-8505-NAS is a possibly the best mini-ITX motherboard for a DIY NAS cum home server PC. The combination of CPU performance and large RAM capacity makes it well suited to run a ZFS-based NAS like TrueNAS along with a couple of VMs. It has plenty of PCIe lanes with enough expansion options to support plenty of storage. The 4x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet also offers fast network connectivity options. The motherboard is also very reasonably priced.
I am very happy to recommend the CW-8505-NAS for a DIY NAS running TrueNAS with enough headroom to easily accommodate a handful of VMs.
If you’re interested to follow my 2025 NAS build, please do watch this blog for updates! I’ll share my picks for the other components. The NAS chassis, for which I’ve picked the Jonsbo N3, is a particularly nice find. The whole package offers great versatility and is well-suited for a NAS cum home server. That, a NAS cum home server, is after all my ultimate goal.
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