At the outset, the ZimaCube 2 doesn’t look any different to its predecessor; it has the same distinctive chassis, and you still need screws to install HDDs in the drive bays (what is this, 2010?). Even the box that it comes in is unchanged, and because it is designed to just fit the NAS, all the accessories — the power brick, cables, and screwdriver — are delivered in a secondary box.
It isn’t until you boot it up that you realize the ZimaCube 2 has a few new tricks. Thermal management was a big problem on the original ZimaCube, and IceWhale (the brand behind the NAS) resolved the issue with this product. Then there’s the internals; the ZimaCube 2 gets the new Intel Core i3-1215U platform — just like the DXP4800 Pro I tested — and it is much better than the N100 the ZimaCube came with.
The design is unchanged, and you still get a cube that’s a little wider and taller than most 6-bay NAS models. I got the silver model this time, and I prefer it to the dark grey unit — it is just that little more distinctive, and it looks better overall. The reason for the height is that the internals are housed above the drives, and you can access the PCIe and SO-DIMM slots by removing the screws on the side panels and lifting up the lid. The NAS comes with an 8GB DDR5 memory module pre-installed, and holds up to 64GB of memory in total (a maximum of 32GB in each slot).
There’s a magnetic grille that sits in front of the drive bays, and it creates a unified design that doesn’t immediately give away the fact that the ZimaCube 2 is a NAS system. The drive bays are easily accessible, but I’m a little annoyed that IceWhale hasn’t come up with a toolless design to slot in HDDs. There’s a dedicated panel next to the HDD bays where you can install M.2 SSD; there are four SSD slots, so you get a total of ten bays in total when you include the six HDD bays, but the issue is that the SSD bandwidth is limited to 800MB/s.
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You also get a PCIe 4.0 x4 lane with an x16 connector, as well as a PCIe 3.0 x2 lane with an x8 connector. The inclusion of two lanes gives you much greater flexibility if you want to add a GPU or networking card down the line, and it’s a definite bonus over other 6-bay NAS servers in this category.
That said, you miss out on native 10GbE connectivity, with the ZimaCube 2 instead offering two 2.5GbE ports. It’s still a decent alternative, but if you need a true 10GbE NAS, you’ll need to add an NIC. Just like the ZimaCube Pro, the ZimaCube 2 retains Thunderbolt, and you get two Thunderbolt 4 ports. There are four USB-A ports as well, and a USB-C connector if you want to connect external drives to the NAS. Rounding out the ports, you get HDMI 2.0 alongside DisplayPort 1.4, and 3.5mm audio out.
Configuring the ZimaCube 2 is much easier than its predecessor. When I tested the ZimaCube, I had an issue with my unit where the HDDs wouldn’t be recognized, and I ultimately had to change the mainboard. That wasn’t a problem with the ZimaCube 2; the Seagate IronWolf HDDs showed up immediately, and I was able to partition the drives and create a new storage volume. The only bugbear is that JBOD is not available as of writing, but that shouldn’t be a big issue to most users buying this NAS.
What I like about Zima OS is that it allows you to connect to other NAS servers on your network, so if you’re migrating and need to move a lot of data, this is just about the easiest way to do it — if you’re using new HDDs in the ZimaCube 2.
Like other NAS servers, ZimaCube 2 uses a web interface, and it has a clean design with dashboards that show real-time memory, system, and network usage. The OS itself is installed on the dedicated 250GB SSD that’s pre-installed, and this is something I like quite a lot. Another benefit to using ZimaOS 1.6.1 is that it has an app store that’s one of the best you’ll find on any NAS system today.
Whether you need Home Assistant, Plex, Jellyfin, Calibre-web, Pi-hole, Tailscale, RetroArch, or Immich, you can easily install hundreds of apps via the app store. If you have a niche utility that isn’t available, you can use Docker containerization. Of course, you can also install TrueNAS or any other NAS software if you want. Honestly, I want other brands to build out their software in a similar way; UGREEN’s own store doesn’t have nearly as exhaustive a list of apps you can install.
The NAS is powered by the Intel Core i3-1215U, and it is a much better choice than the previous generation. It has plenty of headroom if you’re multitasking, and I didn’t see any issues with hardware transcodes. If you’re looking to build out a homelab with the ZimaCube 2, I’d suggest getting additional memory; 8GB of RAM is decent enough, but 16GB gives you much better overhead if you want to run several hobby projects — this is one of the best home NAS servers you can get at the moment.
Ultimately, the ZimaCube 2 is much better than its predecessor, and coming in at $799, it doesn’t cost much more than other 6-bay NAS models. If you need 10GbE connectivity natively, the ZimaCube 2 Pro is a better choice as it also has 16GB of pre-installed memory, but you’ll be shelling out $1,299. If you’re using a NAS and need a more powerful model to run projects or your media library, the ZimaCube 2 is a great all-round choice.
The ZimaCube 2 is an interesting option if you want a highly configurable NAS system. It has all the connectivity you need, the built-in software is great, and you can roll your own if you desire.