NAS and steam

[tristan wheeler]

So im thinking of buying the qnap ts-251 and was wondering if having a steam library on the drives in it would be able to have the games played from?

 

[utgotye]

...I'm confused. You want to move all of your games to a network location? Why? I'm racking my brain but I can't think of a single realistic benefit to doing this, unless space concerns are trumping performance concerns, in which case it's would be simpler and more beneficial to simply install and uninstall games as you pay/don't play them.

 

[tristan wheeler]

I was just wondering if it was even possible. like if i had a steam library on the network drive would the games i install be playable?

 

[utgotye]

Realistically, there's no reason to think that it wouldn't be possible. That said, lots of things are possible but that doesn't mean you should do it.

 

[Kwolf484]

Like utgotye has said

Yes you can,
BUT
You probably shouldn't.

I think the only, single benefit of this would be the ability of being able to have steam client on multiple machines, but games in one location on the network. I've not used the new steam stream feature yet, but pretty sure it would supersede

Getting an internal HD would be much better, I'd recommend WD Black drives as cost of an SDD solely for games doesn't weigh up IMO.

 

[tristan wheeler]

Realistically, there's no reason to think that it wouldn't be possible. That said, lots of things are possible but that doesn't mean you should do it.

what i had been planning was a small itx build that didnt have room for lots of storage so i was thinking "hey lets see if a nas can hold them and the pc on the other end run them" so is that a scenario that makes sense for this ? and what if i got a nas with a switch in it and had a hardline to the nas?

 

[utgotye]

Well considering you could pick up an WD Dual Drive and get a 120GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive, hopefully more than enough for all of your games and other programs, and only take up one drive bay, I still maintain that there are both easier and better alternatives.