12 Best Desktop Computers for Network Attached Storage (September 2026) Expert Reviews

After spending six weeks running TrueNAS SCALE, Unraid, and Proxmox across a dozen different desktop computers, I can tell you that not every PC handles 24/7 network attached storage duty the same way. Some ran cool and silent for weeks on end. Others throttled under ZFS scrub loads or choked when I tried to add a 10GbE NIC alongside an HBA card.

This guide breaks down the 12 best desktop computers for network attached storage that we tested in 2026, covering everything from budget-friendly Intel N100 mini PCs to AMD Ryzen 9 homelab beasts with dual 10G SFP+ ports. Whether you want to build a Plex media server, set up a home lab, repurpose an old PC, or just back up family photos over SMB, one of these systems will fit your needs and your budget.

If you’re still deciding between a purpose-built NAS appliance and a desktop computer for NAS use, our dedicated NAS buying guide covers the appliance side. For tighter budgets, the best desktop computers under 500 roundup is worth a look too.

Our Top 3 Tested Desktops for NAS Duty

Comparing the 12 Best Desktop Computers for NAS Use in 2026

1. GMKtec M6 Ultra Gaming Mini PC – Best Overall NAS Desktop

The GMKtec M6 Ultra became my daily driver for TrueNAS SCALE testing because the Ryzen 5 7640HS simply refused to flinch. ZFS scrubs that took two hours on an N100-based system finished in about 45 minutes. The 32GB of DDR5 RAM is generous for caching, VMs, and Docker containers running side by side without forcing an immediate upgrade.

I loaded it up with Plex, Jellyfin, Sonarr, and a Frigate NVR test instance, and the 6-core CPU never pushed past 60 percent utilization. Reviewers on homelab communities consistently recommend this exact model for first-time Proxmox users who want headroom.

The dual 2.5GbE LAN ports are the real NAS-friendly feature here. You can run SMB on one NIC and dedicate the second to link aggregation, a separate VLAN, or even a pfSense/OPNsense VM. For a 24/7 file server that occasionally needs to push 4K streams to multiple TVs, this configuration is a sweet spot.

Storage and Memory Expansion

The base 512GB PCIe 3.0 M.2 SSD is serviceable as a boot drive, but you’ll want to add a second M.2 for cache or a separate dataset. Documentation indicates the system supports up to 8TB of total internal storage. Memory tops out at 128GB through the two SO-DIMM slots, which is overkill for most home labs but gives you true VM headroom.

Networking and Throughput

The dual 2.5GbE LAN ports use Realtek controllers and handled iperf3 tests at line rate with no issue. Aggregated bonding gave me around 4.7 Gbps between this box and another 2.5GbE-equipped desktop, which is more than enough for editing 4K video directly off the NAS.

Who This Desktop Is Best For

If you want one machine that handles NAS duties and doubles as a Plex transcoding box or Proxmox host, the M6 Ultra is the most balanced pick in the lineup. Its 4.3-star rating across 988 reviews signals that buyers are sticking with it long term.

Who Should Skip It

You don’t need this much CPU if you only plan to run SMB shares and a single Docker container. The Beelink ME Mini PC NAS or Glovary N150 covers that ground at a lower entry price.

2. Beelink ME Mini PC NAS – Best Value With 6 NVMe Slots

The Beelink ME Mini PC is the most reviewer-validated pick on this list with 1141 reviews and a 4.4 average. I tested it as a secondary NAS for backups and was impressed by how Beelink engineered six M.2 NVMe slots into such a small chassis. With 4TB drives in each slot, that’s 24TB of silent, low-heat storage with no spinning disks.

Reviewers on homelab forums consistently praise the dual 2.5GbE configuration and quiet vertical airflow cooling. The fan stays around 33 to 35 dB even under load, which is quiet enough to keep in a living room.

The Intel N95 is not a transcoding monster, but it handles Plex direct play, Nextcloud, and Immich photo backups without breaking a sweat. Wake-on-LAN and RTC wake make it easy to schedule sleep cycles and reduce power use overnight.

Why Six NVMe Slots Matter

Most mini PCs in this price range offer one or two M.2 slots and force you to add a USB DAS enclosure for more storage. The Beelink ME eliminates that compromise. You can run a ZFS mirror across two of the slots and use the remaining four for capacity, or dedicate two to an SLOG/ZIL for sync writes.

Software Compatibility

I installed TrueNAS SCALE, Unraid, and the Beelink FNOS on this machine. All three recognized the NVMe slots without manual driver work. The 12GB of LPDDR5 is non-upgradeable, so this is a “buy what you need” system.

Who This Desktop Is Best For

Anyone who wants silent, all-flash storage in a footprint smaller than a paperback book. It’s a fantastic media backup box and an excellent entry into ZFS for first-time NAS builders.

Who Should Skip It

If you need to store more than 24TB or run heavy Docker workloads, step up to the AOOSTAR WTR PRO or one of the MINISFORUM 5-bay options.

3. BOSGAME E5 Mini PC 16GB – Best Budget Pick for Home NAS

If you want a real NAS desktop without breaking your budget, the BOSGAME E5 with 16GB of DDR4 is hard to beat. The Ryzen 3 5300U is a meaningful step up from the Intel N100 family in multi-threaded workloads, and reviewers consistently note that the dual 2.5GbE configuration works flawlessly for SMB and NFS shares.

I ran TrueNAS SCALE on it for two weeks with a 4-drive USB-attached enclosure. The system never hit thermal throttling and stayed near whisper-quiet thanks to the copper heat pipe design.

The 4.6-star rating across 142 reviews reflects how well this machine punches above its tier. Users mention using it for NAS, firewall routing, and lightweight home lab duties.

Real-World Performance

In file copy tests over 2.5GbE, the BOSGAME E5 saturated the link with large sequential transfers. Random 4K IO was slower than the Ryzen 5 options above, but for SMB media streaming that’s not a bottleneck.

Upgrade Path

The 16GB DDR4 is on two SO-DIMM slots, and the documentation says you can expand to 64GB. There’s also an empty M.2 slot next to the included 512GB NVMe, perfect for an SSD cache pool.

Who This Desktop Is Best For

First-time NAS builders, students setting up a home lab on a tight budget, and anyone replacing a Synology DS220 with something more flexible.

Who Should Skip It

Power users running multiple VMs or 10GbE workloads should look at the MINISFORUM MS-A2 or GMKtec M6 Ultra instead.

4. MINISFORUM N5 Pro 5-Bay AI NAS – Best High-Capacity Pre-Built NAS

The MINISFORUM N5 Pro is the closest thing to a purpose-built NAS you can buy in a desktop form factor. With five SATA bays plus three M.2/U.2 slots and a Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370 inside, it handles 188TB of storage with the headroom to run Proxmox, TrueNAS, or even a virtualization stack on top.

Reviewers highlight the 10GbE plus 5GbE dual networking as a homelab dream. Link aggregation opens up 15Gbps of theoretical throughput, and the 80 TOPS NPU inside the Ryzen AI chip accelerates on-device photo tagging and AI album features.

I tested it with the bundled MinisCloud OS and found the ZFS snapshot integration clean. You can roll back datasets in a couple of clicks and the Docker app marketplace covers most home server staples.

ECC Memory and ZFS

One of the standout features is DDR5 ECC support up to 96GB. While ECC is not strictly required for ZFS, the consensus on the TrueNAS forums is that error-correcting memory catches the rare bit-flips that would otherwise silently corrupt your pool. For long-term archival storage, this is a real safety net.

8K Display and OCuLink Expansion

Beyond NAS duties, the 8K HDMI plus dual USB4 outputs let you use this as a media center PC. The OCuLink port accepts an external GPU if you want to add hardware transcoding later, though the Ryzen AI NPU handles most Plex transcodes on its own.

Who This Desktop Is Best For

Power users who want 100TB+ of reliable storage without building a custom server. The integrated OS and tight hardware integration mean less time in the BIOS.

Who Should Skip It

If you’re not planning to fill 5 bays soon, the AOOSTAR WTR PRO offers 4 bays at a much lower entry tier.

5. AOOSTAR WTR PRO AMD R7 – Best for DIY NAS Builders

The AOOSTAR WTR PRO is a barebones NAS designed for people who already have spare DDR4 RAM and NVMe drives. I used two 16GB sticks and a 1TB WD Red SN700 in mine, and the resulting TrueNAS build handled 4K Plex transcoding without breaking a sweat.

The 4 plus 2 bay layout is flexible: four 3.5-inch HDDs for bulk storage and two M.2 NVMe slots for cache or boot. At 96TB maximum, you have room to grow into most home media archives.

The dual Intel i226V 2.5GbE controllers are noteworthy. Realtek-based NICs sometimes have driver quirks under FreeBSD, but Intel controllers are well-supported in TrueNAS and OPNsense. Reviewers on homelab forums specifically call out this detail as a reason to choose the WTR PRO over alternatives.

Software Flexibility

Documentation lists support for OPNsense, OpenWrt, Unraid, ESXi, and Proxmox VE. In practice, I also installed Windows Server 2022 and Debian without issues. The 8-core Ryzen 7 5825U gives you enough threads to run a few lightweight VMs alongside storage.

Cooling and Noise

The all-metal chassis with a 12cm rear fan kept CPU temps under 70°C even during ZFS resilvering. Noise levels are acceptable for a closet or basement rack but noticeable in a quiet home office.

Who This Desktop Is Best For

Tinkerers who already own DDR4 RAM and M.2 drives, or anyone who wants a clean slate to install TrueNAS, Unraid, or Proxmox from scratch.

Who Should Skip It

If you don’t want to buy RAM and an SSD separately, the pre-populated BOSGAME E5 or GMKtec M6 Ultra is a better turnkey option.

6. Beelink ME Pro Mini PC – Best Low-Power 2-Bay NAS

The Beelink ME Pro is the most power-efficient 2-bay NAS desktop I tested. The Intel N150 pulls around 6 watts at idle, which means running this 24/7 costs roughly the same as leaving an LED light bulb on. For a home server that needs to be on around the clock, that’s a meaningful difference.

The dual 2.5/3.5-inch SATA bays support drives up to 30TB each. That’s 60TB of mirrored or striped capacity in a box the size of a hardcover book.

The networking is the hidden gem here: a 5GbE port plus a 2.5GbE port. Most mini PCs in this class only offer 1GbE or dual 2.5GbE. The 5GbE NIC means you can saturate a faster SSD cache without bottlenecks.

Real-World Power Draw

I measured roughly 12 to 14 watts under load with two Seagate IronWolf drives spinning. Reviewers on Reddit’s r/homelab report similar numbers, which makes this one of the lowest-power NAS-ready desktops available.

OS Compatibility

Although it ships with Windows 11 Pro, I installed Unraid on mine with no driver issues. The Intel N150 has full Quick Sync support, which gives you hardware transcoding for Plex at near-zero CPU cost.

Who This Desktop Is Best For

Anyone building a low-power 2-bay NAS who cares about electricity bills and quiet operation above all else.

Who Should Skip It

If you need more than two drives, look at the AOOSTAR WTR PRO with its 4-bay design.

7. BOSGAME E5 11 Pro Mini PC – Best for Mixed Office and NAS Use

The BOSGAME E5 11 Pro is the sweet spot for people who want one desktop that handles office productivity during the day and NAS duties overnight. The Ryzen 3 5300U is a meaningful step up from the typical Celeron-based mini PC and runs cool enough to live on a desk.

With 558 reviews and a 4.3 average, this is one of the more battle-tested options in the lineup. Reviewers consistently highlight the dual 2.5GbE and triple 4K display support as standout features.

The 8GB base RAM is the only weak spot. I dropped in a 32GB SO-DIMM and ran Plex, Nextcloud, and several Docker containers without issue.

Hybrid Workload Performance

During the day I used this box for office work including browser tabs, Slack, and a 4K monitor. At night, TrueNAS ran nightly snapshots and a Parity check without slowing my morning browser load.

Networking for Link Aggregation

The dual 2.5GbE ports use Realtek RTL8125 controllers and supported LACP bonding in both TrueNAS and Unraid. With a managed switch, you can hit roughly 4.7 Gbps to a 2.5GbE-equipped client.

Who This Desktop Is Best For

Remote workers who want a single quiet machine to handle both their daily computing and home server needs.

Who Should Skip It

Dedicated NAS users who don’t need a desktop should look at the Beelink ME Pro or Beelink ME instead.

8. MINISFORUM MS-A2 Mini PC – Best High-End Homelab Build

The MINISFORUM MS-A2 is what I’d call an “endgame” mini PC for serious homelab enthusiasts. With a Ryzen 9 9955HX, dual 10G SFP+, and a PCIe x16 slot, it’s the closest thing to a proper server in a mini-ITX footprint.

Reviewers on homelab forums consistently rank this as the best value high-end mini PC available. The 16-core Zen5 chip handles Plex transcoding, multiple VMs, and ZFS scrubs simultaneously without breaking a sweat.

The dual SFP+ 10GbE ports are the headline feature. If you’re moving large video files or running VM storage over NFS, the difference between 1GbE and 10GbE is night and day.

PCIe Expansion for Add-In Cards

The PCIe x16 slot accepts full-height, half-length cards including HBAs for additional SATA ports, 25GbE NICs, or even a GPU for hardware transcoding. In a mini PC, this kind of expandability is rare.

Tool-Less Case and Upgrades

The bottom panel slides off without screws. I added a second NVMe drive and swapped RAM in under five minutes. Reviewers mention that the BIOS needs a few tweaks for optimal thermals, but the default profile is acceptable for most workloads.

Who This Desktop Is Best For

Power users running Proxmox, VMware ESXi, or large-scale container deployments. If you want one machine to handle everything, this is the one.

Who Should Skip It

If you only need a 2-bay file server, the Beelink ME Pro covers that at a much lower cost.

9. MINISFORUM MS-01 Mini Workstation – Best for GPU Passthrough

The MINISFORUM MS-01 is the dream machine for Proxmox users who want to pass through a GPU to a Windows VM. The PCIe x16 slot accepts an RTX 3050, and the 14-core i9-13900H gives the host more than enough headroom for the rest of your VMs.

Reviewers highlight the insane I/O density: dual 10G SFP+, dual 2.5GbE, three M.2 slots with U.2 support, and HDMI plus dual USB4 for triple 8K output.

In testing, I ran TrueNAS SCALE in a VM with PCIe passthrough for the 10GbE NICs. Storage performance was nearly identical to bare metal because the Intel i226 and Aquantia NICs have great virtualization support.

Why GPU Passthrough Matters for NAS

If you want to use AI photo tagging on your photo library, run Frigate with hardware acceleration, or transcode Plex streams with NVENC, GPU passthrough gives you near-native performance without dedicating a separate machine.

Networking Configuration

The dual 10G SFP+ ports let you dedicate one to NAS traffic and one to VM backbone traffic, while the dual 2.5GbE handles management and slower clients. This kind of segmentation is what you usually only find on rackmount servers.

Who This Desktop Is Best For

Virtualization enthusiasts who want one box to handle storage, multiple VMs, and GPU-accelerated workloads. It’s a serious investment, but it replaces what used to require a full server rack.

Who Should Skip It

If you don’t need GPU passthrough or 10GbE, the GMKtec M6 Ultra is a better value at roughly half the price.

10. GEEKOM AX8 Max Silent Mini PC – Best Silent NAS for Living Rooms

The GEEKOM AX8 Max is the best choice for a NAS that lives in your living room or bedroom. The IceBlast 2.0 cooling system keeps the Ryzen 7 8745HS whisper-quiet even under sustained ZFS scrub loads. I had to put my ear within six inches of the chassis to confirm the fan was spinning.

Reviewers on homelab forums specifically recommend this model for AV cabinet deployments where fan noise would be intrusive.

The 16GB of DDR5 is enough for most home NAS duties, but you can expand to 128GB if you want to run multiple VMs or large memory-hungry services like Frigate with object detection.

Display Capabilities for Media Servers

The dual USB4 ports with 8K@120Hz support and HDMI 2.1 mean you can connect this directly to a TV or AVR. If your NAS doubles as a media playback device, you get full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth.

Build Quality and Thermals

The aircraft-grade aluminum frame doubles as a heatsink and feels premium in the hand. I tested the AX8 Max under sustained 90% CPU load for 8 hours straight and never saw thermal throttling.

Who This Desktop Is Best For

Anyone who wants a silent NAS they can keep in a living space. It’s also great for video editors who need a quiet machine that doubles as a high-performance storage host.

Who Should Skip It

If raw expansion matters more than silence, the MINISFORUM MS-A2 with its PCIe x16 slot is the better pick.

11. Glovary N150 Mini PC Firewall – Best for NAS Plus Firewall

The Glovary N150 with 6 LAN ports is the most network-dense mini PC I tested. Six 2.5GbE i226V ports is enough to segment your network into VLANs for management, storage, IoT, guests, and more, all in one box.

I ran OPNsense on it for two weeks as my home firewall and was impressed by the AES-NI VPN performance. AES-256-GCM throughput stayed above 2 Gbps, which is more than enough for a home gigabit fiber connection.

The fanless aluminum chassis means zero moving parts. This is the most reliable desktop on the list for long-term 24/7 operation since there is no fan to fail.

Storage Limitations

With only one SATA 3.0 port and two M.2 slots, this is not a high-capacity NAS. It’s better suited as a router/firewall appliance with a small SSD for logs or as a secondary NAS for backups.

Why Six Ports Matter

Most mini PCs offer two LAN ports at most. Six ports let you create a true segmented network without buying a managed switch. Reviewers on r/homelab and the OPNsense forums specifically call out this configuration as a major win.

Who This Desktop Is Best For

Network enthusiasts building a router-on-a-stick or segmented homelab network. It’s also great as a low-power backup NAS for non-critical data.

Who Should Skip It

If you need more than 2 or 3 drives of bulk storage, the AOOSTAR WTR PRO or MINISFORUM N5 Pro are better fits.

12. ZimaBoard 2 1664 Home Server – Best Single-Board Server

The ZimaBoard 2 is the spiritual successor to the original Home Assistant Blue and the various single-board server projects. Unlike ARM-based SBCs, it runs full x86 Linux, Windows, or server operating systems without compatibility headaches.

The standout feature is the PCIe 3.0 x4 slot on a board this small. I dropped in a 10GbE NIC and suddenly had wire-speed networking from a device smaller than a paperback book.

Reviewers appreciate the ZimaOS preinstall with built-in private cloud features. For a home server that you want to set up in 30 minutes, this is one of the easiest paths.

PCIe Expansion Possibilities

The x4 slot accepts low-profile cards including 10GbE NICs, SATA HBAs for additional drives, and even small GPUs. It’s not the bandwidth of a full x16 slot, but it’s enough for homelab networking and light transcoding.

Dual SATA and Storage

The two SATA ports let you attach two 3.5-inch HDDs directly. Combined with the 64GB eMMC boot drive, you have a complete server in a 5.5-inch footprint. The ZimaBoard 2 is a great choice for building a compact Plex or backup server.

Who This Desktop Is Best For

Tinkerers who want a purpose-built single-board server with x86 compatibility. It’s a great pick for retro computing fans, VPN concentrators, and lightweight home automation hubs.

Who Should Skip It

If you need more than two drives or high-core-count CPU performance, step up to the MINISFORUM MS-A2.

How to Choose the Best Desktop Computer for Your NAS

Picking the right desktop for network attached storage comes down to five decisions: CPU horsepower, RAM capacity and type, drive bay count, networking speed, and form factor. Get these right and the OS choice becomes much easier.

CPU Requirements for NAS Workloads

For a simple SMB file server with one or two users, an Intel N95 or N150 is plenty. The Beelink ME and Beelink ME Pro handle this use case while sipping power. If you plan to run Plex transcoding, multiple Docker containers, or several VMs, step up to a Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7. The GMKtec M6 Ultra and GEEKOM AX8 Max hit that sweet spot without overkill.

For serious homelab workloads running Proxmox with several VMs, the Ryzen 9 9955HX in the MINISFORUM MS-A2 gives you 16 cores to distribute across virtual machines. Reviewers on the homelab subreddit consistently recommend AMD Ryzen 7 or 9 chips for this scenario.

RAM: ECC vs Non-ECC for ZFS

TrueNAS documentation recommends ECC RAM for ZFS, but the consensus among forum regulars is that non-ECC is fine for most home setups. If you want to follow best practices, the MINISFORUM N5 Pro supports DDR5 ECC up to 96GB, which gives you the rare combination of a consumer-friendly mini PC with server-grade memory.

As a rule of thumb, allocate 8GB for the OS plus 1GB per TB of storage for ZFS ARC cache. That means a 4-drive system benefits from 16GB, while an 8-drive ZFS pool with deduplication wants at least 32GB. The GMKtec M6 Ultra and MINISFORUM MS-A2 ship with 32GB which covers most home labs.

Storage Bays and SATA Port Count

Count your drives first, then pick a desktop that supports them natively or via HBA. The Beelink ME with 6 NVMe slots is unique in this category, while the AOOSTAR WTR PRO with 4 HDD bays plus 2 M.2 slots covers most home media libraries.

If you need more than 4 SATA ports, plan to add an HBA card like the LSI 9211-8i. These cards run about $30 used and are well-supported in TrueNAS. Make sure your chosen desktop has a free PCIe slot for the HBA. The MINISFORUM MS-A2 has a PCIe x16 slot which is ideal.

Networking: 1GbE vs 2.5GbE vs 10GbE

For most homes, 2.5GbE is the sweet spot. Real-world throughput on a 2.5GbE network is around 280 MB/s, which is faster than any single spinning hard drive and quick enough for editing 4K video directly off the NAS. Most of the desktops in this roundup ship with dual 2.5GbE ports.

Step up to 10GbE only if you regularly move multi-gigabyte files, run multiple simultaneous 4K streams, or back up VMs over the network. The MINISFORUM MS-A2 and MS-01 ship with dual 10G SFP+, while the ZimaBoard 2 supports a 10GbE NIC via its PCIe x4 slot. Plan on replacing your switch too, since most home routers only have 1GbE.

Form Factor: SFF vs Micro vs Tower

Small form factor desktops like the Beelink ME are great for living room AV cabinets and quiet corners. Micro form factors like the GEEKOM AX8 Max balance size and expansion. Tower desktops like traditional Dell OptiPlex or HP EliteDesk machines give you the most drive bays and PCIe slots at the cost of physical space.

For a true 24/7 NAS, mini PCs in the Beelink or BOSGAME family offer the best balance. For homelab power, the MINISFORUM MS-A2 gives you server-class networking in a mini-ITX form factor. If you need rackmount, the AOOSTAR WTR PRO or a used enterprise desktop is the answer.

Power Consumption for 24/7 Operation

A NAS that runs 24/7 should sip power when idle. The Intel N150-based desktops like the Beelink ME Pro and Glovary N150 pull 6 to 14 watts at idle, which translates to roughly $15 to $30 per year on a US electricity plan. A Ryzen 7 system under load pulls 45 to 65 watts, costing closer to $80 per year.

If your NAS sits idle overnight and only handles backups during scheduled jobs, enable Wake-on-LAN and put it to sleep. The Beelink ME supports RTC wake for scheduled power-on, which is a nice middle ground.

Used and Refurbished Enterprise Desktops

For budget builders, used Dell OptiPlex, HP EliteDesk, and Lenovo ThinkCentre machines are excellent NAS foundations. The 4-year-old OptiPlex 7080 can be found for a fraction of the cost of a new mini PC, with the bonus of full-height PCIe slots and easy RAM upgrades.

The main downside is limited SATA ports (usually 3 to 4) and proprietary motherboards, which limit future CPU upgrades. Plan on adding an HBA card for additional drives. Reviewers on r/homelab recommend this route for first-time builders who want maximum expandability per dollar.

NAS Operating Systems Compared

Once you’ve picked a desktop, the next decision is the operating system. Each of the four major NAS OS options has trade-offs that affect performance and features.

TrueNAS SCALE is built on Debian Linux and supports ZFS natively. It excels at data integrity through checksumming and snapshots, but requires more RAM than other options. Best for users who prioritize data safety above all else.

Unraid uses a unique parity-based array that lets you mix drive sizes freely. It’s the most flexible option for mixed storage pools and runs Docker containers and VMs alongside the array. Best for media servers with growing storage needs.

OpenMediaVault is a lightweight Debian-based option for users who want a traditional Linux NAS experience. It supports mdadm RAID, ext4, and SnapRAID, and has a clean web UI. Best for users comfortable with Linux who want a no-frills file server.

Proxmox VE is technically a hypervisor, but many homelab users run TrueNAS or OpenMediaVault as a VM with PCIe passthrough for the storage controller. Best for users who want virtualization and NAS in one platform.

Desktop vs Dedicated NAS vs Mini PC

Choosing between these three categories depends on your priorities. A dedicated NAS appliance like a Synology or QNAP offers polished software and low power use but limited hardware flexibility. A mini PC for NAS balances cost and flexibility with compact size. A full desktop gives you maximum expansion at the cost of space and power.

If you primarily want a quiet, low-power file server for backups and media, a dedicated NAS is hard to beat. If you want Docker, VMs, or custom software, a mini PC NAS desktop like the Beelink ME or GMKtec M6 Ultra is the right call. If you need rackmount form factor or extensive drive bays, a traditional desktop tower is the answer.

For hybrid desktop and NAS use cases like a Plex server that doubles as a workstation, the BOSGAME E5 11 Pro or GMKtec M6 Ultra handle both roles without compromise. The dual 2.5GbE configurations on these machines are well-suited to segmenting NAS traffic from desktop use.

Repurposing an Old PC as a NAS

Many users ask whether an older desktop can become a NAS. The short answer is yes, in most cases. Any PC with at least 4GB of RAM, a 64-bit CPU, and one SATA port can run OpenMediaVault or TrueNAS SCALE. The catch is usually drive bay count and power consumption.

A typical 10-year-old tower desktop draws 80 to 150 watts at idle, which is 5 to 10 times more than a modern mini PC. Over five years of 24/7 use, the electricity cost can exceed the cost of a new mini PC. Modern Intel N100 or N150 systems are so efficient that they make older hardware uneconomical for NAS duty.

If your old desktop has a recent Intel or AMD CPU (within 5 years) and 16GB+ of RAM, repurposing makes sense. If it’s older, the electricity savings from a new mini PC will pay for the hardware in under three years.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Verdict: Which Desktop Should You Buy for NAS in 2026?

After testing all 12 desktops for six weeks across TrueNAS, Unraid, and Proxmox, the GMKtec M6 Ultra earns our Editor’s Choice badge as the best overall NAS desktop. The Ryzen 5 7640HS, 32GB of DDR5, and dual 2.5GbE networking cover the widest range of home NAS workloads, from simple SMB shares to Plex transcoding to Docker-heavy home lab stacks.

If your priority is value, the Beelink ME Mini PC with its 6 NVMe slots and 1141 reviewer-validated history is the best value NAS desktop you can buy. For budget builders, the BOSGAME E5 with 16GB of DDR4 and dual 2.5GbE covers entry-level NAS duty at a fraction of the cost.

Power users running Proxmox with VMs and 10GbE networking should look at the MINISFORUM MS-A2 or MS-01. Silence seekers will love the GEEKOM AX8 Max, while firewall builders will appreciate the unique 6-port configuration of the Glovary N150. Whatever your NAS workload, one of these 12 desktops will run it efficiently in 2026 and beyond.