Hi! Apologies if this is the wrong area. I am saving up to buy a 4 bay NAS, sitting at $400 currently. Not looking to pay more than $500 or $600. I already have 5x Seagae Skyhawk 8 TB drives.
The use will be 90% via a variety of ROKU devices at home, and then Phones/Tablets when out and about.
I am referencing the Plex NAS Compatibility sheet to assist, but it’s time consuming to copy and paste into Amazon to get prices. Was hoping for someone with real experience in this category to provide 2-3 models for me to focus research on. Thanks~!
Found these in my price point, they check a lot of the boxes I think I will need.
Terramaster F4-423
Synology DS423+
QNAP TS-464-8G-US
Asustor AS5404T
I thought this was a good response from Chat GPT, should anyone else consider shopping around. Unless someone here has counter arguments to this output, I will just rely on it for my purchase.
Here’s a clear breakdown of how the four NAS models you’re considering stack up for your intended use—primarily 1080p streaming over ROKU, occasional remote phone/tablet access, and using your existing Seagate SkyHawk 8 TB drives:
Feature Comparison
TerraMaster F4‑423
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Hardware Highlights: Quad-core Celeron N5095, 4 GB DDR4 (expandable to 32 GB), dual 2.5 GbE with link aggregation, 2x M.2 slots, and native 4K HDMI output for direct media playback. Windows CentralHow-To Geekwww.guru3d.com
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Performance & Value: Excellent value at around $500, strong Plex/1080p transcoding, and competitive throughput (~270 MB/s). Windows CentralHow-To GeekNeowin
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Software & Support: User interface (TOS) is less polished; community feedback notes limited third-party app support and documentation. sony camera centralReddit+1
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Community Feedback: Users report it works well for Plex media serving—some cite “It just plods on”—though others advise tech-savvy users due to software concerns. Reddit+1
Synology DS423+
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Hardware Highlights: Celeron J4125, 4-bay enclosure, standard Gigabit LAN, limited RAM expandability (2 GB → up to 6 GB). Android Central
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Software & Ecosystem: Synology’s DSM software is highly polished, user-friendly, and widely supported with extensive documentation and tutorials. RedditAndroid Central
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Connectivity: Lacks multi-gig networking natively, though link aggregation is possible. Android Central
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Reliability Concerns: Some hardware reliability issues have been reported, such as persistent fan failures with slow support service. Reddit
QNAP TS‑464‑8G‑US
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Hardware Highlights: Celeron N5095, 4 GB (or 8 GB) DDR4 expandable to 16 GB, dual 2.5 GbE, dual M.2, PCIe slot for expansion (e.g., 10 GbE card), and HDMI output. Android PoliceQNAP NAS+1PCMENA
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Performance & Software: Strong real-world performance—excellent for Plex and multi-user environments. QTS is mature, but cloud support less polished than Synology’s. Android PoliceNeowin
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User Feedback: Positive tone for home media use. Some issues reported like long tech support cases or stability concerns. Reddit
Asustor AS5404T
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Hardware Highlights: Celeron N5105, 4 GB DDR4 (expandable to 16 GB), 4 SATA bays plus 4 NVMe M.2 slots, dual 2.5 GbE, HDMI output, 3 USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. IT ProTechRadarHardware Busters
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Performance: Strong benchmarks: fast transfer speeds (~85 MB/s write on single 2.5 GbE), flexible caching/storage with NVMe. TechRadar
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Software & Issues: ADM OS is robust but less refined than Synology’s. Community feedback highlights app inconsistency and odd disconnections when using expansion units. Reddit+2Reddit+2
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Thermals: Potential CPU overheating during heavy transcoding; users fixed it with added fans or removing the front cover. Reddit
Summary Table
| Model |
Hardware Advantage |
Software & Support |
Streaming Fit (1080p) |
Multi‑Gig Ready? |
| TerraMaster |
Very strong value, HDMI, 2.5 GbE, RAM expandable |
Software less polished, smaller community |
Excellent for home Plex use |
Yes |
| Synology |
Best software experience, stable |
Limited connectivity, some hardware issues |
Great ease-of-use, software support |
No |
| QNAP TS-464 |
Very capable, expansion ready |
Mature OS, some reported support/stability issues |
Excellent performance, future-proof |
Yes |
| Asustor |
Most flexible hardware, NVMe slots, HDMI |
ADM serves but less refined; some issues noted |
Great hardware but software and thermal caveats |
Yes |
Recommendation for Your Use Case
Given your $500–600 budget, need for mainly 1080p streaming, and future expansion potential:
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Best Balance: QNAP TS‑464 — solid hardware, flexible (PCIe slot for future upgrades like 10 GbE), robust software, and good Plex performance.
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Best Value (with caveats): TerraMaster F4‑423 — delivers a lot for the price, but expects to tinker and manage its less polished OS.
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Best Ease‑of‑Use: Synology DS423+ — safest for user-friendliness and support, but missing multi-gig speed and trim hardware.
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Wildcard Pick: Asustor AS5404T — extremely hardware-flexible and future-ready, but be cautious of ADM quirks and potential thermal issues.
Final Thought
If you’re comfortable diving into setup and potentially troubleshooting (especially software or thermal), the QNAP TS‑464 is likely your best long-term pick. If simplicity and user-friendliness are your priority, go with Synology, just be aware you’ll be limited to Gigabit in today’s multi-gig world.
Don’t put too much faith into AI-generated stuff.
It fails to mention that Synology will only unlock its full feature set if you use Synology branded hard drives.
The rest of the stuff also sounds more like it was scraped off advertisement web pages, instead of actual user experience reports.
Please don’t copy+paste that stuff into here.
A general recommendation is this: no matter which brand your’e going with, extend its RAM to maximum, if you’re going to run Plex server directly on the NAS. The same applies if you are going to build a disk array (RAID or ZFS).
Also: do always factor in the expense for a decent UPS unit, to protect your data, your NAS and your hard drives against an early death by sudden loss of power.
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