If we need a powerful platform to build our NAS this motherboard with Intel Core Ultra 9 can be an interesting alternative at a price.
This motherboard offers the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor manufactured in 7 nm with 16 cores and 22 threads, an ideal solution to launch any task that requires high computing power. On this board we can mount 2 M.2 NVMe drives and link with up to 12 mechanical SATA3 disks. Adding all 8TB disks together it is easy to reach up to 96TB of data at a very affordable price, perfect for the ultimate digital Diogenes.
By default it comes with a rather useless heatsink that we must change for an active fan, we can use any one that is compatible with the LGA1700 socket, basically all those on the market.
Intel Core Ultra 9 185H NAS motherboard specifications
This Mini-ITX board offers the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor manufactured in 7 nm. A chip that reaches up to 5.1 GHz, with 16 cores (6 high performance, 8 efficient and 2 LE) and 22 threads, NPU of 10 TOPS, with normal consumption 35/45 W and a maximum peak up to 115 W. The GPU that this processor uses is the Intel Arc graphics with 8 Xe-Cores, with image and performance improvements with XeSS.
As for the RAM memory we have two SO-DIMM DDR5 5600 MHz slots expandable up to 96 GB in Dual Channel. In the storage section we have two slots M.2 PCIe4.0 NVMe 2280 and allows us to connect up to 12 SATA disks with SFF-8643 extender cables.
Other notable features
In the connectors section we find 3 USB-A 3.0 ports, a USB4 port (with Alt DP output), 3.5 mm audio jack, SD reader, a 10G and two 5G Ethernet ports. As video outputs we have HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 2.1 connectors with support for up to 8K@60fps resolutions, we have a total of three video outputs if we count the USB-C. We also have a PCIe 4.0×8 slot to use a dedicated GPU.
To use it we need a power supply with 24 pin 4 pin connector to an ATX power supply, but it can be compact and underpowered. The operating system supported is Windows 11 Pro, but we can also install Linux or any NAS-specific distribution.
Price and availability
- This motherboard with Intel Core Ultra 9 can be purchased on Amazon from 767 € with free shipping included.
- We have other cheaper options as NAS boards if we want to compare.
