In this article, I am going to help you pick a budget-friendly Synology NAS for running Plex Media Server. Once you read this article, you will know what to look for when buying a Synology NAS for running Plex Media Server depending on your requirements.
Table of Contents:
- Plex Media Server Requirements
- Synology DiskStation DS220+
- Synology DiskStation DS720+
- Synology DiskStation DS920+
- Conclusion
- References
Plex Media Server Requirements:
To run Plex Media Server, you will need a Synology NAS with a processor (with enough processing power) that can transcode videos fast enough for the users accessing the Plex Media Server.
Plex Media Server does not need a lot of memory to run. It can run fairly well with 2 GB of memory. So, you will need a Synology NAS with at least 2 GB of memory to run Plex Media Server.
You will also have to pick a Synology NAS with enough drive bays depending on your storage requirements for the Plex Media Server. If you want to store a lot of media files on your Synology NAS, you will surely need a lot of disk space.
Depending on the number of users accessing the Plex Media Server, you will also need fast internet connectivity. Gigabit Ethernet support is very common for Synology NAS devices. No matter what model of Synology NAS you buy, it will have at least one 1GbE RJ-45 LAN port.
Synology DiskStation DS220+:
Synology DiskStation DS220+ is one of the cheapest NAS models from Synology. As of writing, it’s about 242.54$ and 299.99$ on newegg and Amazon, respectively.
It is equipped with an Intel Celeron J4025 processor. It is a 64-bit processor and it has 2 cores with a base frequency of 2.0 GHz and a boost frequency of 2.9 GHz.
DS220+ comes with 2 GB of DDR4 non-ECC memory preinstalled. It has a free memory slot. If you want, you can install a 4 GB DDR4 memory stick and have a total of 6 GB of memory.
DS220+ has 2 drive bays. You can install a 3.5″ SATA HDD or 2.5″ SATA SSD/HDD on each of the drive bays depending on your storage requirements.
It has 2 Gigabit RJ-45 LAN ports with link aggregation and failover support. These are sufficient for Plex.
Synology DiskStation DS720+:
Synology DiskStation DS720+ is one of the cheapest NAS models from Synology with eSATA support. As of writing, it’s about 379.99$ and 399.99$ on newegg and Amazon.
It is equipped with an Intel Celeron J4125 processor. It is a 64-bit processor and it has 4 cores with a base frequency of 2.0 GHz and a boost frequency of 2.7 GHz. More cores will help Plex transcode videos faster.
DS720+ comes with 2 GB of DDR4 non-ECC memory preinstalled. It has a free memory slot. If you want, you can install a 4 GB DDR4 memory stick and have a total of 6 GB of memory.
DS720+ has 2 drive bays. It also has an eSATA port. You can connect a Synology DX517 expansion unit to the NAS using the eSATA port to add 5 more drive bays. You can install a 3.5″ SATA HDD or 2.5″ SATA SSD/HDD on each of the drive bays (including the expansion unit) depending on your storage requirements.
DS720+ has 2 M.2 NVME slots. You can install 2 M.2 NVME SSDs on the NAS and use them for caching frequently accessed data. This will make the Plex web interface more responsive if you have large playlists on your Plex server.
It has 2 Gigabit RJ-45 LAN ports with link aggregation and failover support. These are sufficient for Plex.
If you need a lot of disk space for storing media files on the NAS, I recommend you get this one instead of DS220+. Being able to add 5 more HDDs/SSDs using the DX517 expansion unit may come in handy. Future upgradability is always good.
Synology DiskStation DS920+:
Synology DiskStation DS920+ costs about 549.99$ on newegg and Amazon.
It is equipped with an Intel Celeron J4125 processor. It is a 64-bit processor and it has 4 cores with a base frequency of 2.0 GHz and a boost frequency of 2.7 GHz. More cores will help Plex transcode videos faster.
DS920+ comes with 4 GB of DDR4 non-ECC memory preinstalled. It has a free memory slot. If you want, you can install a 4 GB DDR4 memory stick and have a total of 8 GB of memory.
DS920+ has 4 drive bays. It also has an eSATA port. You can connect a Synology DX517 expansion unit to the NAS using the eSATA port to add 5 more drive bays. You can install a 3.5″ SATA HDD or 2.5″ SATA SSD/HDD on each of the drive bays (including the expansion unit) depending on your storage requirements.
DS920+ has 2 M.2 NVME slots. You can install 2 M.2 NVME SSDs on the NAS and use them for caching frequently accessed data. This will make the Plex web interface more responsive if you have large playlists on your Plex server.
It has 2 Gigabit (1 GbE/1000-Base-T) RJ-45 LAN ports with link aggregation and failover support. These are sufficient for Plex.
If you’re not tight on budget, then I recommend DS920+ over DS720+ and DS220+. It has 4 drive bays. You will less likely run out of drive bays very soon and need to buy a Synology DX517 expansion unit. It will also support more storage configurations (RAID types) than the other two. As it has an eSATA port, even if you need more drive bays, you can always install a DX517 expansion unit and get a total of 9 drive bays. It has more memory (4GB instead of 2GB) preinstalled. So, DS920+ has better upgradability than the other two. Overall, it’s a great budget product.
Conclusion:
In this article, I have compared Synology DiskStation DS220+, DS720+, and DS920+ for running Plex. This should help you pick a budget-friendly Synology NAS for your Plex Media Server.
References:
[1] https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS220+
[2] https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS720+
