10G 2.5G 3-LAN Intel N100 Mini-ITX NAS Motherboard - Compact 6-Bay

Our review of this Mini-ITX NAS motherboard finds it aimed squarely at home lab builders and small business IT pros who need dense, energy-efficient storage and strong networking in a compact board. The single biggest reason to buy is its combination of a low-power Intel Celeron N100 and three integrated LAN ports, including a 10G port, which together deliver quiet, low-power file serving and network appliance performance without extra add-in cards. For anyone building a 6-bay NAS, soft router, or multimedia gateway in a small chassis, this board offers a focused, practical platform.

Key Features

• Low power processor: The Intel Celeron N100 with 4 cores and Intel UHD Graphics provides efficient multi-threaded performance and modest media decoding while keeping power draw low for always-on systems.
• Triple LAN connectivity: Two Intel i226 2.5G ports plus a dedicated 10G port give flexible choices for uplink, LAN aggregation, or separating management and storage traffic for more reliable networked storage.
• Compact industrial design: The mini-ITX 170mm x 170mm board uses a high-density moisture-proof fiber PCB, making it suitable for small chassis and harsher environments where durability matters.
• Six-bay SATA plus dual NVMe: Six SATA3.0 ports at 6 Gbps and two M.2 NVMe slots allow large capacity HDD arrays alongside fast NVMe boot or cache drives for improved responsiveness.
• Modern I/O and display: A full-function Type-C, USB3.0, USB2.0, HDMI and DP outputs support dual 4K@60Hz displays and modern peripheral connectivity for media or console access.

Who It's For

This board is best for home lab users, small office NAS builders, and network appliance enthusiasts who want a compact platform with strong native networking and a focus on storage density. Its low-power N100 CPU is ideal for file services, virtualization of light containers, router/firewall tasks, and multimedia streaming without high energy or cooling requirements.

Those who need heavy CPU tasks like large-scale virtualization, heavy transcoding, or extensive encryption beyond the N100 class should consider a board with a higher-end CPU socket and multi-slot expandability. Also, users requiring more than one memory channel or ECC support should look elsewhere.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Excellent native networking with two 2.5G Intel i226 ports and one 10G port for flexible deployment.
• Good storage flexibility with 6 SATA3.0 ports and two M.2 NVMe slots for hybrid storage layouts.
• Low power N100 CPU and mini-ITX form factor make it ideal for compact always-on NAS or soft router builds.
• Dual 4K display outputs and modern USB/Type-C I/O provide useful console and media options.

Cons

• Single DDR5 slot limits memory to 32GB and lacks dual-channel bandwidth for memory-heavy workloads.
• The N100 CPU is efficient but not suited for very CPU-intensive server tasks or heavy real-time transcoding.

Specifications

CPU	Intel Celeron N100, 4 cores, 4 threads, up to 3.40 GHz
Form Factor	Mini-ITX 170mm x 170mm
Memory	1x DDR5 slot, supports up to 32GB, 4800/5200/5600MHz (non-ECC)
Storage	6x SATA3.0 (6 Gbps) and 2x M.2 NVMe 2280 PCIe 3.0 x1
Networking	3x LAN: 2x Intel i226 2.5G + 1x 10G port
Display & I/O	1x HDMI (4K@60Hz), 1x DP (4K@60Hz), USB3.0, Type-C, USB2.0, TF card
Power	ATX 24-pin + 4-pin

Our Verdict

This mini-ITX NAS motherboard is a strong value for builders prioritizing network throughput and storage density in a compact, low-power package. It pairs an efficient Intel N100 with a rare onboard 10G port and multiple 2.5G ports, plus six SATA connectors and two NVMe slots, making it a smart choice for home servers, soft routers, and small office NAS units where space and energy are limited.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can this board boot diskless from the network?
Yes, the board supports diskless boot and network wake-up, suitable for PXE or SAN boot scenarios.

How much memory can be installed?
It has one DDR5 slot that accepts up to 32GB of non-ECC memory at supported speeds up to 5600MHz.

Does it support dual displays at 4K?
Yes, the HDMI and DisplayPort outputs can be used for dual 4K@60Hz display configurations.