NAS question - Use the NAS to just to host media, or also to run Plex server too?

General Discussions
1

So I’m looking to invest in a good NAS. Currenty I have a really simple slow (XTreamer) NAS which I just host my media on. Plex server is then running on a Dell I5 Optiplex 3010 PC (my server). This works fine if a little slow ff and rwd’ing videos.

So I want to replace that old NAS with a better one, at least making use of the gigabit lan I have (the old one isn’t gigabit). But the first question would be, would it make sense to get a NAS capable of running Plex server, or instead keep that on that PC?

Generally I watch everything as native via Plex on my Amazon Fire TV box, but a couple of other TVs around the house on homeplugs require me to watch video at 720p (instead of say the original 1080p 10gb MKV file)!

From what I understand, to get a NAS that can also transcode for Plex well, is difficult, so would that mean it would make sense for me to keep with my current approach with the PC hosting/running Plex?

And if so, I assume then with a good NAS running over gigabit, that would then boost Plex’s performance, especially with ff and rwd (which at the moment is quite clunky at times).

3

For over 2K you can get an I7 Qnap that will do most everything .
But the 500-1000$ price point you will have issues streaming your 10GB MKV media.

What I suggest is buy the most expensive 4bay Intel based NAS you can afford.

If/when you find that does not have enough grunt to do your streaming , keep it as storage and buy a Shield or hi end NUC to use as the server!!