To ensure you have enough throughput for networking, there are two 2.5Gb ports and a single 10Gb port. It is just a fact that an x86 will perform all tasks quicker. The other big x86 brand is AMD. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. ARM Based processors and x86 based CPU. amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; If you want the best performance and functionality, the DS220+ is the choice for you. You will run into issues trying to do more with less capable internals. The DiskStation DS220+ is still one of the best NAS servers you can buy for Plex streaming. Looking for the best Plex server? Itll handle 4K movie transcoding and then some. New York, The eight drive bays with secondary expansion slots ensure you can install more drives than youll require. He also writes about storage servers, audio products, and the semiconductor industry. To ensure the NAS can keep up with all this data, QNAP decided to install an Intel Xeon W-1250 CPU. The biggest reason for Plex's dominance has to do with the fact that it can play any file on any device. Please refresh the page and try again. If you want a budget option for Plex or for backing up data, the DS220j has a lot to offer. Unless stated otherwise, NAS listings usually do not come with hard drives. There was a problem. The more expensive NAS server will still be current for many years whereas the DS220j will start to show its limitations once you attempt to perform more advanced tasks. x86 CPU such as Intel and AMD on NAS Servers. The Ds220+ is also more advanced in the ports department. The DS220+ is particularly great at 4K transcodes. I say this NAS is a great option for those who dont have hundreds of movies purchased and downloaded since were limited to just two drive bays, making it easy to fill up the few drives with just 32TB of storage capacity. He leads the site's coverage of Chinese phone brands, contributing to reviews, features, and buying guides. But i think it could do one or maybe 2 more. Originally developed by Intel and features subcategories such asthe Core Duo, Xeon, Pentium, Atom and Celeron. It all comes down to what types of media you have available and how many people you plan on using the server. It keeps it simple. The processor and other parts of the internals are what really ramp up the price of a NAS. A NAS featuring an ARM processor (Marvel, Annapurna or Realtek) is designed with reducedpower use. The 86 in the naming relates to differentiation between the 286, 386 and 486 models relying on the recurrence of the 86. This level of performance is perfect for services like Plex Media Server. There are two 2.5Gb LAN ports that should be more than enough for transferring big data, but again ASUSOTR went one step further and added support for installing an optional 10Gb LAN card. amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "Plex NAS"; This is the NAS to get for getting started. Salida de grficos eDP/DP/HDMI/MIPI-DSI. You will receive an email from us when someone replies to it. A differentiating feature is the two eSATA ports, through which you'll be able to add up to 10 additional drives. 2 GB DDR4 . Most Intel Celeron processors will be able to transcode a 4K movie, though ARM processors are completely out of the question. ZU VERKAUFEN! Its also got two additional bays compared to our top Core i3 pick for Plex. Their range includes such popular NAS CPU previously as the Athlon, Sempron and Opteron. Maybe I'd like to do something more in the future - use more apps available on QNAP. New York, The Intel Celeron J4125 has 4 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.70 GHz. What are the main CPU that NAS brands like Synology, QNAP and Drobo use? x86 Processors on the other hand can massively out perform ARM both on single tasks and multiple tasks. FS & XS FS3017 24 200,000 4K IOPS Intel Xeon 6 2.4GHz CPU RAID F1 FS2017 24 90,000 iSCSI 4K IOPS RAID F1 72 SSD FS1018 12 2.6GHz . That's only the first step, as the company offers an extensive collection of NAS boxes, depending on what you need. The Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the brains of your device. amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; To help keep the lights on, we may earn a commission for purchases using links to buy recommended products. If you can somehow afford this NAS, its one of the best and most powerful enclosures for running a media server. It's one of the best NAS for home, as well as for Plex, making it a better choice if you plan on doing more intensive tasks on the home server. The DiskStation DS220j is incredibly affordable. The DS220j is considerably more affordable, thanks to the weaker specifications. This NAS should only be considered if you want to test the waters and dont plan on spending too much on your first server. Intel Celeron J4025 . Disclaimer:
It means you can play content directly to your TV without needing to use the network and this would negate any requirement for transcoding. You may think the DS220j is out of the question, but things get interesting when we talk software. The four drive bays can take 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drives and four additional M.2 slots can be utilized for caching or storage. The difference is greater on large transfers than on small transfers. You can also switch to 10GbE networking via a $150 networking card, but out of the box, you'll find two Gigabit LAN ports. The preinstalled 32GB of DDR4 RAM can be upgraded to 128GB if you really need that much memory. At less than $200, it's a great option for those looking for a cheap way to save money on cloud storage subscriptions. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, Our thoughts: The TerraMaster F4-423 has some solid specifications for the price tag. So long as you pair up either NAS with the best Synology NAS hard drives, you'll have a great little server at hand. Most NAS servers have two Gigabit ports as standard, and that should be adequate for home use. The NAS is powered by the Intel Celeron J3355 chipset, and has 2GB of RAM out of the box. They can certainly be used to play and stream Media over the likes of DLNA and Plex Media servers (though you will need at least a dual core 1.4GHz clock speed and 1GB of Memory) but for the most part, functionality such as transcoding of files and 4K Playback are largely not possible. Synology, like other vendors, uses model numbers to differentiate between the various options. Compare Synology DS120J vs Synology DS220j vs Synology DS218play vs Synology DS220+ . This of course comes at a price, both financially and consumption. This is useful as you can then play the media stored on the NAS directly without having to stream it wirelessly on your home network. Usually, these lesser powerful enclosures are only good for streaming music. Youll find countless NAS enclosures from brands such as Synology, QNAP, ASUSTOR, and TerraMaster. Please refresh the page and try again. TerraMaster's device uses an ARM-based Realtek RTD1296 quad-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz. The more detailed and comprehensive x86 chips use a system known as CISC,this stands for complex instruction set computing. In real terms that means amount of code or instruction provided to/from the CPU to perform a given action the more complex the action, the more clock-cycles (waves of CPU work) are requiredto perform the task requested. Likewise a NAS with an x86 CPU will be between 15 and 30% more expensive in terms of cost (like for like), but this islargely due to the device being able to do more and the cost of the hardware itself. And the DS218+ won the Windows Central Choice Award. The memory can be upgraded to 6GB, in case you run into scenarios where more RAM is needed. Where does the DiskStation DS220j fit into all of this? Get the best of Windows Central in your inbox, every day! The CPU supports up to 8 GB of memory in 2 . We compared two desktop CPUs: the 2.0 GHz Intel Celeron J4125 with 4-cores against the 2.0 GHz Celeron J4025 with 2-cores. How important is CPU Power and Efficiency when buying your first NAS? For an explanation of our advertising policy, please, Note: Commissions may be earned from the links above. Find out more about how we test. External hardware is another tell-tale sign of course. Plex handles transcodes automatically, so there's no intervention needed from your side and that makes it a fantastic media streaming service. As a result, the DiskStation DS220+ is the most powerful option available in this category, and the DS220j offers excellent value. The TerraMaster OS (TOS) is simply not as refined as the operating systems from the likes of Synology, ASUSTOR, and QNAP. Actually it is. However that is when you are using native playback playing from the NAS File structure directly to the output device. . Furthermore, when it comes to playing 4K files on your home network, you'll need to consider the network bandwidth 4K files have a bitrate of over 100Mbit and storage. amzn_assoc_title = "Powerful NAS"; Made with in Cheshire. With hundreds of kinds of NAS available in the market to buy, it is easy to get confused as to which unit is best suited to the network solution you need. . Its a monstrous NAS enclosure that can hold an insane amount of data. 2 GB DDR4 . More threads result in faster performance and better multitasking. If you need a bit more power or more drive bays, the DS920+ continues to be a stellar choice, and the DS1520+ gets my vote thanks to its extensibility and five drive bays. The Synology DiskStation DS220+ is the more powerful NAS enclosure out of the two, thanks to the Intel Celeron J4025 processor contained within. The Synology DiskStation DS220j only has a Realtek CPU . More so, how it runs, its efficiency, its individual cores and its power can hugely dictate the ability of your NAS. This shouldn't be a limitation to most users as most modern devices have the requisite codec for video playback via Plex anyway, but if you're sharing your Plex library with friends and they're using an older iPad, they may run into bottlenecks. What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of an ARM CPU in a NAS Servers? Thankfully, the biggest NAS manufacturers Synology, QNAP, and ASUSTOR deliver models catered for Plex media streaming. The more detailed and comprehensive x86 chips use a system known as, Due to the very different nature of how instructions are handled andcommandsexecuted, you can hugely narrow down the perfect NAS for your tasks this way. Should you be a little strapped for cash and don't feel comfortable spending multiple hundreds on a server, there's always the DS220j. Best MVNO deals of March 2023: Is it time to switch? The 2.5Gb LAN ports are superb for handling high network traffic. No two NAS servers are the same and the best NAS for Plex in our opinion would be the mighty QNAP TVS-H674-i3 with an Intel Core i3 processor and six drive bays. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. While AMD is making some inroads into the NAS category with models like the DS1621+, Intel is still king here. The QNAP TS-464 is a premium home NAS.