QNAP TS-h1290FX vs QNAP QAI-h1290FX
Updated
Which should you buy?
They are the same twelve-bay U.2 EPYC chassis. Buy the QAI-h1290FX if you want QNAP to supply the GPU and preloaded AI software as one product. Buy the TS-h1290FX if you already own suitable GPUs or want to choose your own card and save on the bundle.
What is the difference between the TS-h1290FX and the QAI-h1290FX?
QNAP's two h1290FX models share a chassis: twelve U.2 NVMe bays, two 25GbE and two 2.5GbE ports, four PCIe Gen4 slots, a 750W supply, QuTS hero and a five-year warranty. Both take up to 1TB of ECC registered memory.
The TS-h1290FX is sold as storage. The entry model has an eight-core EPYC 7232P with 64GB; the 128GB and 256GB models use the sixteen-core EPYC 7302P. QNAP's own guide to on-premises RAG with Qsirch recommends it with an RTX 6000 Ada or RTX 4000 Ada, and its LLM tools run models such as DeepSeek R1 distils and Gemma 3.
The QAI-h1290FX is the AI edition: the EPYC 7302P with 128GB as standard, sold in the UK with NVIDIA RTX PRO Blackwell GPU bundles, and launched with Ollama, Open WebUI and AnythingLLM preloaded. QNAP lists it as ready for Qsirch's local AI mode.
The hardware gap is small. You are paying for a validated GPU bundle and a configured software stack. If you buy the TS-h1290FX, check the card against QNAP's compatibility list for the chassis: slots 3 and 4 take cards up to 280mm, and full-height double-width cards need the slot beside them left empty. Either way, budget for the power draw and noise of an EPYC server with a workstation GPU.
Choose the QNAP TS-h1290FX if
You have GPUs already, want a specific card, or want to start with storage and add AI later. The 128GB 7302P model gives you the same core platform as the QAI edition, and it is the one listed on Amazon UK.
Choose the QNAP QAI-h1290FX if
You want a single supported purchase for a private AI server, with the GPU fitted and the AI software installed, from one vendor. Saving setup time and having QNAP validate the configuration is worth the premium to you.
How do the specifications compare?
Every figure comes from the system's own record, with sources on each system page. The better figure in each row is marked.
Price
Compute
Memory
Storage
Connectivity
Software
AI
Other
Which can run bigger local models?
Both top out at 1024GB of memory, so on paper they hold the same model sizes: 70B class models at higher-quality quantization, or large mixture-of-experts models at 4-bit (Estimated). The difference is speed, which depends on the processor, graphics and memory bandwidth rather than capacity.
For GPU acceleration, the QNAP TS-h1290FX offers full-size gpu, while the QNAP QAI-h1290FX offers full-size gpu. A discrete card with its own memory is the biggest single speed upgrade for local models, so this matters more than CPU cores for anyone planning to run 14B models or larger.
What do they cost in the UK right now?
Live Amazon UK prices, each with the time it was last verified. Where a system has no verified Amazon UK offer, its Amazon US price is shown in dollars and marked.
| System | Price | Stock | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
 | £10,614.20 Amazon UK · Verified | In stock | View Deal |
 | No verified price | Unknown |
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com, as applicable, at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
TS-h1290FX vs QAI-h1290FX questions
Which is better for local LLMs, the TS-h1290FX or the QAI-h1290FX?
The QNAP QAI-h1290FX scores higher on the AINAS Local LLM profile (87 against 77), which weights memory and GPU options most heavily.
Which has faster networking?
The QNAP TS-h1290FX has 25GbE as its fastest port and the QNAP QAI-h1290FX has 25GbE.
Which has more storage?
The QNAP TS-h1290FX has 12 drive bays and 0 M.2 slots; the QNAP QAI-h1290FX has 12 bays and 0 M.2 slots.
How long is the warranty on each?
5 years on the QNAP TS-h1290FX and 5 years on the QNAP QAI-h1290FX, according to the manufacturers.
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