MILITECH NAS Project

Greetings everyone, and welcome back.

Meet MILITECH NAS, a DIY network-attached storage system I built completely from scratch. This setup is powered by the Radxa Rock Pi 5 ITX, featuring the Rockchip RK3588, an 8-core (octa-core) 64-bit processor with 4× ARM Cortex-A76 performance cores and 4× Cortex-A55 efficiency cores, paired with a Mali-G610 MP4 GPU.

I'm running Armbian as the main operating system, with CasaOS installed on top of Debian to handle the NAS features. With CasaOS, all files stored on the NVMe drives can be accessed from any device on the local network using a clean and user-friendly web interface.

For this project, I wanted an industrial, rugged look inspired by fanless heatsink enclosures. Instead of using an off-the-shelf case, I designed my own enclosure featuring large fins that mimic a heatsink. They're purely aesthetic, but they give the NAS a unique industrial appearance.

This Instructables covers the complete build of this project, which includes the assembly steps, setting up Casa OS, and other processes. Let's get started.

These were the components used in this project.

1. Radxa ROCK 5 ITX Board
2. ATX Power Supply
3. 3D-printed parts
4. M2 screws
5. NVME SSD
6. HDMI MONITOR

The star of this project is the Radxa ROCK 5 ITX, a powerful single-board computer built around the Rockchip RK3588 SoC. It features an octa-core CPU consisting of 4× Arm Cortex-A76 performance cores and 4× Arm Cortex-A55 efficiency cores, delivering an excellent balance of performance and power efficiency for everything from NAS applications to edge computing and self-hosted services.

This board comes with onboard LPDDR5 16GB RAM, an M.2 M-Key slot for high-speed NVMe SSDs, multiple SATA ports for storage expansion, 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet for fast networking, USB 3.0 connectivity, HDMI output, 40-pin GPIO expansion, and a standard 24-pin ATX power connector, making it feel much more like a compact desktop motherboard than a traditional single-board computer.

For this project, Radxa generously provided the hardware, including the ROCK 5 ITX board, the official heatsink, and the official power adapter. A huge thanks to the Radxa team for supporting this build.

Radxa has been developing high-performance ARM-based single-board computers for makers, developers, educators, and embedded applications for many years. Their product lineup ranges from compact development boards to desktop-class SBCs like the ROCK 5 ITX, making ARM computing more accessible for hobbyists and professionals alike. Their focus on open hardware, active software support, and powerful Rockchip-based platforms has made them a popular choice within the maker and homelab communities.

Do check them out for more cool hardware.

https://radxa.com/

We begin the initial hardware setup of the Radxa ROCK 5 ITX by installing the official heatsink.

1. First, we apply a thin, even layer of thermal paste over the Rockchip RK3588 SoC, using a plastic card to spread the paste uniformly across the surface.
2. Next, we carefully position the heatsink over the processor, aligning its mounting holes with the corresponding screw holes on the board. Once everything is lined up correctly, we tighten the screws evenly to secure the heatsink in place and ensure good thermal contact.
3. Finally, we connect the heatsink's cooling fan to the dedicated fan header on the ROCK 5 ITX. With the heatsink securely mounted and the fan connected, the hardware setup is complete, and the board is ready for its first boot.

For the power source, I decided to use a standard ATX power supply. In this build, I'm using a 500W ATX PSU, which is definitely overkill for the power requirements of the system. However, I already had it lying around, so it made more sense to use it instead of buying a dedicated power supply.

One of the advantages of the Radxa ROCK 5 ITX is that it features a standard 24-pin ATX power connector, allowing the power supply to plug directly into the board without the need for adapters or custom wiring. This makes the entire setup incredibly simple, clean, and reliable.

Using an ATX power supply also means the NAS can be powered directly from AC mains, making it feel much more like a traditional desktop or server rather than a typical single-board computer. It also leaves plenty of power headroom for future upgrades, such as adding more SATA SSDs, USB peripherals, or other expansion hardware.

For the design of this project, my goal was simple: create a single enclosure that could house both the Radxa ROCK Pi 5 ITX board and a standard ATX power supply.

I designed a box-style enclosure with fins running all around the outside. These fins resemble the ones you'd typically find on metal fanless enclosures, where they're used to dissipate heat. In my case, however, they're purely aesthetic—they're added because they give the enclosure a rugged, industrial look.

The enclosure consists of two main parts: the main body, which holds the Radxa board and the ATX power supply, and a bottom cover that closes everything up and gives the build a clean finish.

On the left side, I added cutouts for all of the Radxa's I/O ports, along with the AC input for the power supply, making everything easily accessible from the outside.

The top panel serves two purposes. First, it improves airflow with ventilation openings, and second, it ties the whole design together aesthetically.

I had recently been playing Cyberpunk 2077, so I borrowed some inspiration from its futuristic industrial design language. That's why you'll notice the Militech logo on the top panel and the Relic logo below the I/O ports—just a couple of small Easter eggs for anyone who's played the game.

Inside the enclosure, I also designed a dedicated PSU mounting bracket. It sits above the Radxa board and securely holds the ATX power supply in place, preventing it from moving around inside the case.

After completing the 3D model, all the parts were exported as mesh files and printed on my Anycubic Kobra S1 3D printer.

The main enclosure was printed using Galaxy Peacock PLA, which gives the NAS its distinctive metallic-looking finish. The bottom lid and PSU mounting bracket were printed in White Hyper PLA.

For the finishing touch, I wanted the Militech and Relic logos to be printed in two colors. The interesting part is that my printer doesn't have a multi-material system, so here's the trick I used.

I first printed the base of both logos in Grey Hyper PLA. Once the printer reached the layers where only the raised logo remained, I paused the print and manually swapped the filament. I switched to Black Hyper PLA for the Militech logo and Red Hyper PLA for the Relic logo. After resuming the print, the result was a clean dual-color print, all on a single-extruder printer.

It's a simple trick that works surprisingly well if you're patient.

That said, I'd still recommend using a multi-color printer if you have one, as taking too long to swap the filament can sometimes reduce layer adhesion between the color changes.

1. We begin the assembly process by placing the Radxa ROCK Pi 5 ITX board inside the enclosure, aligning it with the mounting bosses.
2. Once it's properly positioned, we tighten the board in place using four M2 screws.

1. For the power supply assembly, I first connected the 24-pin ATX power connector from the power supply to the ATX connector on the Radxa ROCK Pi 5 ITX board.
2. Next, I took the PSU mounting bracket and placed it in its designated position inside the enclosure, aligning it with the mounting bosses located just above the Radxa board.
3. I then secured the bracket using four M2 screws.
4. With the mounting bracket installed, I positioned the power supply on top of it.
5. I then flipped the enclosure over so that the I/O side was facing upward. After aligning the mounting holes of the power supply with the corresponding holes in the enclosure, I secured the power supply using the supplied M3 screws.
6. While installing the power supply, I made sure that its cooling fan was facing outward. This allows the fan to draw fresh air directly from outside the enclosure, ensuring proper airflow and cooling.

1. From the bottom side, I positioned the lid body onto the main enclosure. While placing it, I made sure to align the fan opening on the lid with the cooling fan of the power supply.
2. Once everything was properly aligned, I secured the lid to the main enclosure using six M2 screws.

The final step was assembling the greeble parts, which consist of the two decorative logos, Relic Nas Logo and Militech Top Lid.

1. I started with the Relic logo, positioning it just below the I/O port opening on the enclosure. The enclosure already includes four mounting holes for the logo, so I simply aligned the logo with these holes and secured it using four M2 screws.
2. Next, I positioned the Militech logo panel on the top of the enclosure.
3. After aligning it with the mounting holes, I fastened it in place using another four M2 screws, completing the assembly of the MILITECH NAS.

Here's the end result of this build: MILITECH NAS, a DIY NAS with an industrial, rugged aesthetic inspired by the cyberpunk universe. The enclosure features the iconic MILITECH logo on the top, while the side panels incorporate heatsink-inspired fins that give the system a more aggressive, industrial look. Although these fins are purely aesthetic, they add a lot of character to the overall design.

The assembly process itself was fairly straightforward, with all of the components fitting neatly into the enclosure. With the hardware build now complete, it's time to move on to the software side of the project—installing the operating system, configuring the NAS, and putting the system through a series of performance and functionality tests.

For the operating system, I went with Armbian, a Linux distro specifically optimized for ARM-based single-board computers. It's one of the most popular choices in the SBC community, offering excellent performance, stability, and long-term support. Paired with CasaOS, it provides a reliable and responsive platform for running NAS applications, self-hosted services, containers, and much more.

https://armbian.com/

The installation process was also very straightforward. The ROCK 5 ITX comes with Roobi OS, an installation utility similar to the Raspberry Pi Imager. Instead of running from an SD card, it's pre-installed on the onboard eMMC, allowing you to install an operating system without needing another computer.

1. To get started, we simply connected an Ethernet cable and the official Radxa power adapter to the ROCK 5 ITX. Once powered on, the board booted directly into the Roobi OS interface. Since it was connected to the internet via Ethernet, Roobi automatically established a network connection and displayed a confirmation message, allowing us to proceed with the installation.
2. The next step was selecting the operating system. We chose Armbian, although several other options were available, including Radxa OS, Debian, Android, and more.
3. After selecting the operating system, we chose the destination drive where it would be installed. In our case, that was the NVMe SSD. Roobi then downloaded the selected operating system directly from the internet and flashed it onto the SSD automatically.
4. Depending on your internet speed, the entire download and installation process takes around 10–20 minutes. Once the installation is complete, the board reboots directly into the newly installed operating system.

Overall, Roobi makes the OS installation process incredibly simple and beginner-friendly, eliminating many of the manual steps that are typically involved when setting up a Linux-based single-board computer.

After setting up the operating system, the first thing I wanted to do was benchmark the system using Geekbench 6.

There are two ways to install Geekbench 6. The first is to install it directly through their site.

https://www.geekbench.com/download/

The second option is to install Pi-Apps, a popular application manager for ARM-based Linux systems. Pi-Apps provides an easy way to install hundreds of applications, including software, utilities, games, media players, development tools, and much more. Geekbench 6 can also be installed directly through Pi-Apps.

To install Pi-Apps, simply run the command below in the terminal.

After running Geekbench 6 on the Radxa ROCK 5 ITX, the system achieved a single-core score of 850 and a multi-core score of 3031, which is a very respectable result for an ARM-based single-board computer.

This level of performance makes it well suited not only for NAS applications but also for self-hosted services, containers, media streaming, lightweight virtualization, and other homelab workloads. (or for playing HALF LIFE 2)

We used Armbian as the base operating system, layered with CasaOS, a lightweight and intuitive platform designed for personal cloud and home server environments. CasaOS simplifies NAS management by offering a clean web-based interface and one-click installation for popular Docker apps like Plex, Jellyfin, and Nextcloud.

It’s open-source, easy to set up, and ideal for users who want powerful functionality without the complexity of traditional NAS systems. With support for shared folders, remote access, and elegant file management, CasaOS turns any Linux-based device into a versatile and user-friendly storage hub.

SETTING UP CASA OS

Installing CASA OS is a super straightforward process.

1. To begin, we run the following command to update the system and ensure that our operating system is up-to-date.

1. Next, we install dependencies such as curl and other required tools if they are not already present.

1. Next, we begin the installation script: CasaOS has a simple one-liner script for installation.

After installing CasaOS, we are able to access it using a web browser using the IP address provided by the installer.

1. We open a web browser on any device connected to the same network as our Debian server, using the IP address provided by the installation.
2. We follow the instructions displayed on the screen to finish the initial setup and create our CasaOS account.

By following the above steps, CasaOS is installed on our Radxa Rock 5 ITX system; we can now use the App Store to explore and install a range of self-hosted applications with a single click, manage our files with simplicity using the file browser, and monitor our system resources with the built-in widgets.

The most fun part of this project was seeing just how capable the hardware is beyond being a NAS. Thanks to Steam and Valve's Linux compatibility tools, I was even able to do a bit of Linux gaming.

To install Steam, I once again used Pi-Apps, which makes the process incredibly simple. Pi-Apps also installs Box64, a compatibility layer that allows many x86 Linux applications to run on ARM processors. Combined with Proton, this opens the door to a surprisingly large library of games.

The first game I tested was Half-Life 2. Sure, it's almost 20 years old, so getting it to run isn't exactly groundbreaking, but it ran smoothly and provided a very enjoyable experience. For an ARM-based single-board computer, that's still quite impressive.

Next, I tried Cyberpunk 2077, and yes, it ran surprisingly well. There's a catch, though. The game wasn't running natively on the ROCK 5 ITX. Instead, I used Steam Link to stream the game from my ROG Ally to the NAS. The Xbox controller was connected to the ROCK 5 ITX, and everything worked seamlessly, making it feel like the game was running locally.

Considering the RK3588's performance, I have no doubt it can comfortably handle plenty of older PC titles, including Counter-Strike: Source, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Halo: Combat Evolved, Half-Life, Project IGI, and even games like GTA: San Andreas through the appropriate compatibility layers or emulation.

Of course, I'm not planning to use this system as a gaming PC; it's a NAS first and foremost.

However, testing these games was a great way to demonstrate the capabilities of the Radxa ROCK 5 ITX. It shows that this board has more than enough performance for NAS duties while still having plenty of horsepower left for media servers, self-hosted services, development, and even a bit of casual gaming when needed. Overall, the RK3588 certainly didn't disappoint.

And here's the conclusion of this project.

This is MILITECH NAS, a DIY NAS built completely from scratch, powered by the Radxa ROCK 5 ITX. Thanks to its powerful hardware, it's capable of running almost anything you throw at it. It's perfect for NAS applications, but it can also run games, host services, and even function as a Minecraft server. Since it's powered by a standard ATX power supply, it runs directly from AC power, offers fast boot times, and can easily be repurposed as a Pi-hole or other self-hosted service. It's essentially a compact homelab, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

That said, there are a few things I want to improve in Version 2.

The first is the cooling system. Right now, the enclosure doesn't have a dedicated circulation fan. The ATX power supply has its own fan, and the Radxa board has an active cooler. The MILITECH logo on the front acts as an air intake, while the ATX power supply exhausts the air, creating airflow from top to bottom. It works, but it's far from ideal. In Version 2, I want to replace the front logo opening with a temperature-controlled intake fan that automatically adjusts its speed based on the internal temperature.

The second improvement is storage. This version was more of a proof of concept. I'll be redesigning the enclosure to support additional SATA SSDs in a modular, drop-in configuration, making it a true multi-drive NAS.

As for the software, I've been really impressed. Armbian has been rock solid, and CasaOS runs perfectly on this hardware.

With that, this project is officially complete. All the design files, source files, build details, and assembly instructions are available in this article.

Check out a few of my previous NAS Projects.

https://www.instructables.com/Pi-NAS

https://www.instructables.com/Delta-Nas-Project

Thank you so much for making it this far, and I'll be back with another project very soon.

PEACE.