It's not the best CPU you can find in a NAS, but if you plan on going for an Intel Core i5 or Core i7, you'll be expected to pay for the luxury. This is primarily due to the impressive Intel Core i3-8100T processor, which is far beyond the Intel Celeron CPUs found in more affordable (and sometimes more expensive) enclosures. The balance between price and functionality is excellent, making it the most powerful enclosure for this price point by a country mile. The QNAP TVS-672XT is the best NAS for Plex, in my opinion. Still, the enclosure would be considerably more costly.įeatures: 1x 10Gb LAN, 2x Thunderbolt 3, 1x USB 3.1 Gen 2, HDMI If you plan on primarily playing 4K content that may require transcoding to recipient devices, an Intel Core processor is certainly the way to go. Intel Atom, Celeron, and Core series processors are all different, too, with certain SKUs only supporting 1080p transcoding. For Plex, you're going to want an Intel processor at the very least.

It's movies and shows where transcoding may be required, especially for 4K content, where you'll need additional firepower unless the NAS has HDMI output. If it's merely music and photo streaming, you can get away with vastly less powerful and more affordable NAS enclosures. It all comes down to what you plan on using a Plex NAS media server for. And if you want to save some money or don't plan on storing too many media files, the Synology DiskStation DS220+ is a sound choice for an affordable Plex that houses an Intel CPU and supports Plex Media Server. It's powerful enough for Plex with plenty of other features.Ī good runner-up is the ASUSTOR NIMBUSTOR 4 (AS5304T), which also has some kick-ass networking for game streamers and a unique design. If we were to recommend one NAS for you to buy to have the best Plex experience, it would be the QNAP TVS-672XT. You can easily find at least one from the likes of Synology, QNAP, and ASUSTOR.

Many vendors produce NAS enclosures that are great for Plex (and some transcoding) it's simply the case of picking out the highlight models. Still, if you plan on transcoding and streaming 4K content, you'll need powerful components for Plex NAS compatibility. It's easy to look at the most affordable enclosures available and pick them for Plex, which would be sufficient for music and phones.

Find out more about how we test.Ĭhoosing the best NAS for home is one thing, but picking the right NAS for Plex is a whole different game. Why you can trust Windows Central Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you.

Synology for plex