I am looking for a NAS + Server machine for the following use cases:

1) PLEX video streaming – 4-6 concurrent users
2) Backup storage -back up data on various machines
3) Storage for each machine – shared drives and dedicated user drives
4) Virtual desktop machines – 4 desktop machines
5) Proxy server
6) Capability for 40Gbe / Thunderbolt 3 (future proofing)

Also, I understand for Plex a graphics card is required, if it needs to process before sending data to AppleTV or Roku or Computer. I also require a graphics card for VM machines (not sure yet if it can be shared with the concurrently running MS Windows 10 and Server 2016 R2 VMs).

I have watched your Youtube videos and your write up on the x77s and on the TVS-1282s, which were great by the way – simple and easy to understand. On the basis of your recommendations, it seems that the TS-1277-1700-64GB may meet my requirement compared with the TVS-1282T3 which has fewer ports available for graphics card install. (I am even considering utilizing a PCI-E splitter (http://amfeltec.com) to add graphics card within the chassis if possible. If I can add at least 2 graphics card, I would want one for the Plex and the other for VM.)

I have considered TVS-1648, but I believe it may be too big in size (storage) and also the Xeon-D may not be as robust for my use case.

 

 

Answer:

Both NAS models are top of the range and very powerful. But if I need to say which one is better it is actually TS-1277. We did plex transcoding test and its performance was as good as DS3617xs with Xeon CPU. It transcoded any 4K stream we tried. If it’s just streaming – there is no limit. Even with transcoding – Full HD video can be transcoded and streamed to 10+ devices. You will be more likely limited by your network setup rather than NAS.

About video cards – it is true, that PLEX will find it easier to transcode with a better video card. Synology and Qnap will need to work closely to make their CPU transcoding engines accessible by PLEX server software. It will be also beneficial to have a better video card if you are planning to have virtual machines.

Few x77 series compatible cards:

ASUS Geforce GTX 1050 2GB Phoenix Fan Edition DVI-D HDMI DP 1.4 Gaming Graphics Card (PH-GTX1050-2G) Graphic Cards

 

 

MSI GTX 1060 AERO ITX 6G OC Graphic Cards GTX 1060 AERO ITX 6G OC

 

 

On the topic of GPU graphics card, I understand that GTX1050 only has one streaming multiprocessor (SM), therefore I can only choose one of the following:

a) Virtualization Station; or

b) HD Station / Linus Station / Hardware Transcoding

Are there graphics cards that I can use with TS-1277 that have at least 2 SMs such that both a) and b) listed above are available as concurrent options – virtual machines utilizing the graphics card GPU at the same time PLEX transcoding & streaming is occurring? If so, am I able to do GPU core allocation, similar to memory and cpu allocation in the creation of vQTS and virtual machines? 

Streaming multiprocessor Graphics card

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti GAMING X 4G 4 GB GDDR5

• GPU

  GP107

• Streaming Multiprocessors

  6

• CUDA Cores

  768

• Clock Rate (Base/Boost)

  1290/1392 MHz

 

Both NAS models have 40GbE support. I would recommend choosing speed over the network rather than Thunderbolt. It is easier to scale, connect and maintain. This year will bring many changes in networking industry. Everyone will be upgrading their systems to 10GbE and faster technologies.

10GbE cards:

40GbE cards:

 

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