Qnap NAS with GPU slot for Plex 4K HDR transcoding

1st Plex NAS Build

I built a regular desktop to act as a Plex server a few years ago and am looking to move Plex to a dedicated NAS but have zero experience in this. I’ve been watching your videos and researching all over the internet but am getting conflicting advice depending on the source.

I want to build a NAS to host the Plex server. Things I think are important to the build – probably more than 4 HDD bays, strong enough CPU to transcode at least 1 4kHDR, possibly 2, making this build future-proof so its going to work for a number of years or upgradable if needed down the road.

I dont need it to look pretty, i just need it to work. I cant seem to find good data on which CPU is best (I assume intel i series to help with the transcode but see some posts suggesting ryzen CPUs?!?). what kind of RAM do I actually need, DDR3 only or something better? If i get a strong enough intel CPU, i assume i can forego a GPU, right? If not, what is a good GPU to support the CPU’s abilities?

I appreciate the help and love watching and learning from your videos, thanks so much!

There is no NAS that can support several 4K transcoding streams out of the box. But you can install GPU card in several Qnap models allowing to have control of transcoding capabilities. It is down to the graphics card rather than NAS itself. SSD media seem to speed up things a bit, but you still need a good GPU.
The RAM will not be that important.
The most popular NAS ready for GPU upgrades is TS-873.
You can see the full list below.

Qnap compatible graphics cards (GPU)

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