Delivering flagship NAS performance with a burly 10-core Intel CPU, dual 10GbE, Thunderbolt 4, Gen4 NVMe and 272TB of storage potential. This is one very capable 8-bay NAS.
Product on Review: NASync DXP8800 Ultra
Manufacturer & Sponsor: UGREEN
Street Price: $1799 USD
UGREEN is wasting no time expanding its NAS lineup, and today sees the launch of its latest and most ambitious storage appliance yet: the UGREEN NASync DXP8800 Ultra. As the name rather boldly suggests, this isn’t intended to be a run-of-the-mill NAS sitting quietly in the corner serving up a few family photos. With eight drive bays, a powerful Intel processor, dual 10GbE networking and a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports, the Ultra is built for users who want serious storage and serious performance from a single box. With an MSRP of $1,779.99, it also moves firmly into enthusiast, professional and small-business territory.
The hardware certainly backs up those ambitions. The Ultra is powered by Intel’s 150U processor, packing 10 cores and 8 threads, and comes equipped with 8GB of DDR5 memory, with the capacity to be expanded all the way to 96GB. Storage starts with eight SATA drive bays supporting drives of up to 32TB each, while two M.2 NVMe slots accommodate SSDs up to 8TB apiece. That gives the Ultra a quoted maximum capacity of 272TB, before even getting into the various RAID configurations available. The NVMe slots can also be used for SSD caching or configured as a dedicated high-speed workspace, adding another layer of flexibility for users who don’t want every workload travelling at hard-drive speeds.
Then there’s the connectivity, where things get particularly interesting. Two 10GbE ports provide plenty of network bandwidth for moving large datasets around, while dual Thunderbolt 4 ports offer up to 40Gbps connectivity for compatible peripherals and high-performance storage. Around the chassis you’ll also find two USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, an SD 4.0 card reader, HDMI supporting up to 8K at 60Hz, and a PCIe x4 expansion slot. In other words, the Ultra isn’t short on ways to plug things into it — whether you’re transferring footage from an SD card, connecting Thunderbolt devices or building out a high-speed network, there is a good chance UGREEN has already thought of it.
With the Ultra launching today, we’ll be checking out this new flagship, seeing how easy it is to set up and installing UGOS Pro.
Hardware Specifications
Below are the hardware specifications regarding DXP8800 Ultra:
MODEL
DXP8800 UltraCPU: Intel Core 7 150U (10 Core / 8 Threads)
Memory: 8GB DDR5
Drive Bays: 8-Bay
Max Storage: 32TB x 8
LAN Ports: 2x 10GbE
Connectivity Ports: 2x USB-C (TB4), 2x USB-A (10GB/s) 2x USB-A (5GB/s) 1x HDMI 8K 60Hz, SD 4.0 slot
Closer Look
The DXP8800 Ultra arrives in a substantial box befitting what is UGREEN’s most capable NAS platform to date, with the enclosure and accessories securely packaged inside for transit. Alongside the NAS itself, UGREEN provides the necessary power cable, Ethernet connectivity, drive installation hardware and documentation required to get the system up and running. One particularly welcome aspect of the package is that the Ultra uses a conventional IEC C13 mains power connection rather than an external power brick, keeping the desktop area considerably tidier and making replacement or longer power cables much easier to source if required. As with the other NASync models, storage drives are not included, leaving users free to populate the eight bays with their preferred NAS-grade HDDs or SSDs.
Ultra is built around Intel’s Core 7 150U processor, offering a 10-core, 8-thread configuration, and is supplied with 8GB of DDR5 memory. Storage is handled by eight SATA drive bays, supporting up to 32TB drives per bay for a potential 256TB of HDD storage, while two additional M.2 NVMe slots support drives of up to 8TB each and bring the quoted maximum capacity to 272TB. The front of the chassis is dominated by the eight vertically arranged drive bays, alongside the system controls and high-speed connectivity, including two Thunderbolt 4 ports capable of up to 40Gbps and a 10Gbps USB-A connection, there is also an SD 4.0 card reader, providing a particularly useful addition for photographers and content creators who need to move large amounts of footage or images directly onto the NAS.
Moving around to the rear reveals two 10GbE RJ45 network ports, an additional USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A port, two USB 2.0 connections, HDMI output supporting up to 8K, the PCIe Gen4 x4 expansion slot, cooling fan and the IEC C13 power input.
UGREEN has opted for a substantial aluminium-alloy enclosure for the Ultra, giving the NAS a suitably premium appearance while providing the rigidity expected from a system designed to house eight drives. Measuring 365 × 258 × 189mm, the chassis has a relatively understated industrial appearance, with the metal construction also helping with heat dissipation from the processor, storage devices and high-speed networking hardware. Cooling is handled by tw rear-mounted fans (COOLCOX CC12025H12S), while dust protection is provided through a rear removable mesh arrangement designed to prevent debris from accumulating inside the system. The result is a robust enclosure that feels more like professional workstation hardware than a conventional consumer NAS, with the extensive ventilation and metal construction providing a practical balance between thermal management and physical durability.
The eight drive bays use removable trays designed primarily for 3.5-inch SATA hard drives, making it possible to populate the Ultra with a considerable amount of storage without requiring a screwdriver for standard HDD installation. Each tray slides out from the front of the chassis, after which the side sections can be moved sideways to create enough space to position the drive. Once the HDD is sitting correctly in the tray, the side sections are pushed back into position, with the locating notches engaging with the corresponding mounting holes in the sides of the drive to hold it securely. The arrangement is simple but effective and makes swapping or installing multiple drives considerably less cumbersome. UGREEN supports drives of up to 32TB in each of the eight bays, providing up to 256TB of raw HDD capacity before the two M.2 NVMe slots are taken into consideration. With two supported 8TB NVMe drives added, the Ultra can reach its quoted maximum storage capacity of 272TB.compatible with U.2 SSDs, giving users the flexibility to deploy enterprise-grade solid-state storage where higher performance is required.
Unlike NAS systems that require the enclosure to be stripped down before accessing upgradeable components, UGREEN has provided a dedicated access panel on the underside of the Ultra. Removing this cover exposes the memory sockets, with the system supplied with an 8GB DDR5 5600MHz module and a second slot left vacant for expansion. This provides a straightforward upgrade path, allowing additional memory to be installed without having to dismantle the main chassis. The same compartment also provides access to the two M.2 NVMe SSD slots, making it possible to install high-speed storage or caching drives through the same easily accessible service area. With support for up to 96GB of system memory and two NVMe drives, this is an especially useful design decision for a NAS intended to handle demanding workloads, virtual machines and Docker applications, where additional RAM and fast storage can make a significant difference.
Setting up, UGOS Pro and Usage
Despite having eight drive bays and enough hardware to make a typical NAS look rather under-qualified, getting the Ultra configured is remarkably painless. Once the drives are installed and the system is connected to the network, UGOS Pro walks through the initial setup, including device configuration, administrator account creation and storage pool preparation. The process is largely self-explanatory, with the browser-based interface quickly getting you to the main desktop. Creating volumes, shared folders and user accounts is similarly straightforward, meaning you can go from a rather large aluminium box sitting on your desk to a fully operational NAS without needing to spend the afternoon buried in a manual.
UGOS Pro retains the clean, desktop-style approach we experienced with the DXP4800 GT, but on the Ultra there is considerably more hardware available to put to work. The interface is logically arranged, responsive and easy to navigate, with storage management, system monitoring, permissions, applications and networking all readily accessible. Storage pools can be configured using RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 or 10, while snapshots, shared folders, backup and synchronisation tools provide plenty of options for protecting and managing data. The OS has also continued to evolve since our previous experience with the platform, with new features and applications being added regularly. This ongoing development is particularly important on a flagship eight-bay system such as the Ultra, where users are likely to explore considerably more than basic file storage.
The networking capabilities are where the Ultra starts to feel like a serious workstation rather than simply a NAS with lots of drive bays. UGOS Pro provides configuration options for its dual 10GbE interfaces, while features such as network bridging, link aggregation and multiple network configurations allow the system to be integrated into more sophisticated environments. The two Thunderbolt 4 ports add another particularly interesting option, allowing a compatible computer to establish a direct high-speed connection to the NAS without relying entirely on the conventional network infrastructure. With 10GbE networking and up to 40Gbps Thunderbolt connectivity available, the Ultra is well equipped for moving large video projects, image libraries and other sizeable datasets at considerably more entertaining speeds than traditional Gigabit networking.
Where the Ultra really demonstrates its capabilities is in everything it can run beyond simply storing files. UGOS Pro incorporates Docker and virtual-machine support, allowing the 10-core Intel platform and expandable memory to host additional services and operating systems directly on the NAS. There is also UGREEN’s Photos application with AI-assisted organisation, backup and synchronisation tools, remote access through UGREENlink, and a growing selection of applications available through the App Center. For a high-end eight-bay platform, this makes considerably more sense than treating the Ultra as a glorified network hard drive. It can act as a centralised storage server, backup destination, media platform, application host and virtualisation machine all at once — and with the amount of CPU, RAM, NVMe storage and networking available, there is plenty of headroom to actually do it.
Conclusion
After putting the DXP8800 Ultra through its paces, there is very little doubt that UGREEN has built something seriously impressive here. The combination of a hefty, well-built chassis, professional styling and an exceptionally capable hardware platform makes the Ultra feel like a proper flagship rather than simply a NAS with a few extra drive bays bolted on. It is also refreshingly easy to get started with. From installing the drives through to configuring UGOS Pro, very little gets in the way, while the operating system provides plenty of depth once you’re ready to venture beyond basic file storage. The easily accessible memory compartment is another excellent design decision, particularly for a system that can eventually accommodate up to 96GB of RAM.
The hardware specification is arguably where the Ultra delivers its biggest knockout punch. At $1,779.99, it goes head-to-head with the similarly priced eight-bay Synology DS1825+, but the two systems are worlds apart in several important areas. UGREEN has equipped the Ultra with Intel’s Core 7 150U, compared with the considerably older AMD Ryzen V1500B found in the Synology, while DDR5 replaces DDR4 for the system memory. The Ultra also provides PCIe Gen4 M.2 slots rather than the Gen3 implementation found on the DS1825+. Put simply, Synology may have a very established NAS platform, but when you put the two specification sheets next to each other, the Ultra looks like it arrived from a considerably newer generation of hardware.
The networking story is even more compelling. The DS1825+ offers 2.5GbE, whereas the Ultra arrives with two 10GbE ports as standard. That’s a substantial difference for anyone moving large files around a network, particularly when dealing with video, photography or other storage-hungry workloads. And then UGREEN adds two Thunderbolt 4 ports into the mix, providing up to 40Gbps connectivity for compatible devices. Add the SD 4.0 reader, HDMI output and PCIe expansion slot and the Ultra starts to look less like a conventional NAS and more like a very well-connected storage workstation. The single-channel memory configuration is a slight annoyance out of the box, but with a spare slot sitting behind an easily removable access panel, it is a problem that is both inexpensive and straightforward to solve.
UGOS Pro is still on a journey, but it is a journey that is heading in the right direction. The platform has continued to gain new features and applications, and the combination of Docker, virtual machines, backup and synchronisation, remote access, media management and increasingly comprehensive system management gives the Ultra plenty to get its teeth into. There is still room for the application catalogue to grow, particularly when compared with the enormous ecosystems built up by Synology and QNAP over many years, but that becomes less of a concern when the underlying hardware is this capable. The Ultra gives users the processing power, memory headroom, NVMe storage and networking to build something considerably more ambitious than a simple shared folder. The three-year warranty is also a welcome bonus for a system likely to become an important part of the infrastructure.
And here’s where the Ultra has gone beyond simply being a review sample for us: we’re putting this model into our office and replacing a Synology with it. That should probably tell you everything you need to know about our experience. We were impressed enough with the Ultra’s performance, flexibility and overall capability that we’re quite happy to trust it with our own storage requirements.
At $1,779.99, it certainly isn’t pocket money, but when it offers this much more hardware than a similarly priced DS1825+, the asking price starts to make considerably more sense.
With eight drive bays, dual 10GbE, Thunderbolt 4, Gen4 NVMe, DDR5 and a substantially more powerful CPU, the Ultra doesn’t merely compete with the DS1825+ — it rather enthusiastically runs it over with the specification sheet. For anyone looking for a high-end eight-bay NAS that is built to handle serious workloads today while leaving plenty of room for tomorrow, the DXP8800 Ultra is an outstanding choice.
Pros
+ Extremely solid, well-built
+ Attractive, professional design
+ Armed with 10GbE networking
+ Cutting-edge hardware spec
+ Outperforms rival 8-bay models
+ Very easy to get up and running
+ Easy to upgrade memory from access panel
+ Features twin 10GBe ports
+ Comprehensive connectivity with dual TB4 ports
+ 3 year warranty provided
Cons
– Single-channel memory
– APP support still growing
+ Extremely solid, well-built
+ Attractive, professional design
+ Armed with 10GbE networking
+ Cutting-edge hardware spec
+ Outperforms rival 8-bay models
+ Very easy to get up and running
+ Easy to upgrade memory from access panel
+ Features twin 10GBe ports
+ Comprehensive connectivity with dual TB4 ports
+ 3 year warranty provided
Cons
– Single-channel memory
– APP support still growing
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