ZimaCube 2 – A 6+4-Bay Hybrid NAS Powered by 12th-Gen Intel SoC

IceWhale Technology has introduced the ZimaCube 2, an upgraded personal cloud NAS and micro-server designed for media workflows, self-hosting, and homelab environments. Building upon the original ZimaCube 6+1-bay NAS, the new ZimaCube 2 now features upgraded storage options with a 6+4 hybrid setup, bumps up the processor to 12th-Gen Intel Core U-series processors, and introduces dual Thunderbolt 4 ports for direct-attached storage (DAS) capabilities.

The system is available in three configurations: Standard, Pro, and Creator Pack, which includes an NVIDIA RTX Pro 2000 GPU for local AI processing and hardware-accelerated panoramic transcoding.

ZimaCube 2 Specifications:

• SoC:
  • Standard – Intel Core i3-1215U hexa-core processor
  • Pro & Creator Pack – Intel Core i5-1235U deca-core processor (up to 4.4 GHz, 12 Threads) with Intel Iris Xe graphics
• GPU: NVIDIA RTX Pro 2000 (Creator Pack only), or user-expandable via PCIe
• System Memory: 8GB, 16GB, or up to 64GB DDR5 RAM options
• Storage:
  • 6x SATA drive bays for 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch HDDs/SSDs (up to 30TB each)
  • 4x M.2 NVMe SSD slots (up to 8TB each) for high-speed cache or active editing pools
  • Included boot drive of 256GB or 1TB NVMe SSD
  • “7th bay” high-speed SSD expansion (Shared bandwidth of ~800 MB/s on Standard, ~3200 MB/s on Pro/Creator)
  • Up to 212TB total capacity
• Display:
  • 1x DisplayPort 1.4
  • 1x HDMI 2.0
• Audio: 3.5mm audio jack
• Networking
  • 2x 2.5GbE i226 LAN port
  • 10GbE expandable via PCIe (e.g., optional Realtek RTL8125 2.5G adapter)
• USB / Thunderbolt:
  • 4x USB 3.0 ports (2x front, 2x back)
  • 1x USB 3.0 Type-C port
  • 2x Thunderbolt 4 ports (40 Gbps) for zero-lag collaboration and direct Mac/PC connections
• Expansion: Dual PCIe slots (Gen4 + Gen3) for GPUs, networking cards, or M.2 NVMe adapter cards
• Misc:
  • Power button in the front
  • The reset button in the back
  • 23 customizable RGB LEDs
• Power: 19V DC Input
• Dimensions: TBD

The company mentions that the ZimaCube 2 offers a “zero lock-in” experience. It comes with ZimaOS Plus, which safely runs virtual machines and Docker containers alongside your storage, but you are free to install alternative operating systems such as TrueNAS, Proxmox, Ubuntu, or Windows.

The device features dual PCIe slots, giving you the freedom to customize your setup by adding specialized network cards, extra NVMe storage boards, or dedicated GPUs

Hybrid storage design with 6× HDD bays and 4× NVMe slots, supporting over 212TB capacity and RAID 0, 1, 5, 6

The system is currently available on the official Zima Store. Prices start at $799 for the Standard model and go up to $2,499 for the fully loaded Creator Pack (which includes 64GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and an RTX Pro 2000 GPU).

Images used courtesy of zimaspace.com