Plex Server or NAS

[ChrisGTL]

Hi all,

I see there are lots of other threads already in existance but didn't want to jump onto someone elses thread.

I have a Asustor NAS runnig 2 x 4TB (films) in JBOD and 1 x 2TB in Single (music). I also run SABNZB from the NAS which reads my RSS feed and automatically searches/downloads my wish list.

I have PlexServer (PlexPass) on the NAS which streams to 2 nVidia Shields, 1 xbox, 2 laptops, 3 TV's and some mobile phones. All my equipment is behind my VPN as I don't want any open ports.

As my kids get older and can stay up later I am finding we are all trying to watch movies at the same time which causes buffering and slowness generally.

I am a service engineer so often spend time away in hotels - currently I can VPN into my newtwork and stream from the Plex NAS.

I'd like to add more drives to my NAS as I am running out of space which gives me two options. Buy a bigger NAS with more power ready for the 4K era or build my self something which will do all the above.

I enjoy building computers and techy stuff so no problem there. Also, my NAS is sat right behind the sofa in the front room so any replacement would need to be quiet.

Any help/suggestions?

So far I have seen a Synology NAS capable of 4K transcoding for about £2k so anything less than that with more flexability would be great!

p.s - I've got a EVGA G2 750w PSU spare, 16GB DDR3 and Sapphire R9 380 Nitro if that helps!!

 

[ChrisGTL]

I'd get a ITX case and stuff in a new (8th Gen+) Intel CPU that has the new iGPU in it, these are very good for transcoding. I'd either get a basic NAS just for storage or get a larger case and stuff the drives in there.

I am running a Fractal Design Core 500, i7 9700K, 16GB, 500GB NVMe and a Synology DS1618+ with 60TB. Works really well and I don't have any problems what so ever. I could have saved money and got a cheaper CPU but I got a great deal on the 9700K, plus wanted extra grunt if needed. I treated myself to the Synology as I'd never had a NAS and wanted to see what all the fuss was about!

Oh interesting. So you are running both a server and NAS? The server does all the transcoding/hard work and the NAS just feeds data into the server?

How does this connect up? Server and NAS into the router. Run Plex from the server and just map the drives of the NAS to the server?