Synology RAM: Why So Expensive? Is Third-Party RAM Fine To Use Instead?

I’m a big fan of my Synology NAS, however one thing that irked me originally is that despite paying over £300 for my DS220+, I only got 2 GB of RAM. What? It’s 2023, and 2 GB isnothing. What gives? I then learned that you can expand the RAM on your NAS, by buying a new RAM stick.

But then I saw thepriceof Synology’s RAM, and I had another“what gives?”reaction! So this raises a few questions: why is Synology’s RAM so expensive? And can’t you just buy some random RAM, and stick this into your NAS? I wanted to answer these questions and more in today’s article.

Spoiler Alert:I recently purchased a ‘compatible’ Crucial 4GB RAM stick for £16…

Expandable Synology RAM: An Overview

Synology’s NASesare just like any other computer. They all have a motherboard, CPU, RAM and – of course – slots for expansion drives, which is where all your files are stored. Getting your NAS set up is often simple, and with minimal effort you will have a shiny new gadget to use.

A Synology NAS doesn’t just store files, though. Youcan use them as a surveillance station, run code on them, use it as a picture or audio hub, or even install a Docker VM and run… pretty much anything. Docker rules.

But all these fancy features requires RAM: lots of RAM. Unless you run the barebones Synology NAS andonlyone or two other applications, you will probably max out 2 GB of RAM fairly quickly. Your NAS will then feel slow: theadmin console will be laggy, andfile transfer speeds might even drop.

Thankully Synology has a solution: expandable RAM slots. If you look upthe specification sheetfor your intended NAS on Synology’s website, you will see thatmostof their NASes allow you to add more RAM:

Note:Not all of Synology’s NAS devices allow expanded RAM. Some ship with the basic RAM module, and do not allow you to swap it out or add new RAM. Pretty much all of Synology’s more expensive NASesdosupport this, while some of their budget onesdo notallow expanded RAM. But you should refer back to the product spec sheet if you are unsure.

While it’s good that Synology offer this, there is a key point from their website:

Please select Synology memory modules for optimum compatibility and reliability. Synology will not provide complete product warranty or technical support if non-Synology memory modules are used for memory expansion.

Uh oh.A translation to that is: itmightbe possible to buy third-party RAM, but itmight notwork properly and Synology definitelywill notsupport you for bugs related to third-party RAM.

So the solution is clear: let’s all buy Synology’s official RAM, right? Well, that brings us onto the first crucial question that we need to answer.

Why Is Synology’s Own RAM So Expensive?

If I want to add a mere 4 GB of extra RAM to my Synology NAS, I seem to have a couple of options open to me:

It’s therefore natural to ask why Synology’s own RAM is so expensive. And the answer is… because some people pay these high price (along with one or two other reasons).

Does Third Party RAM Work Just As Well?

As long as you purchasecompatiblethird-party RAM, and run a detailed memory test afterwards, there is no reason why you should have any issues. However there is an element of trial and error here with newer Synology NASes, meaning that you might (mistakenly) purchase RAM that leads to crashes – or even data loss.

AReddit thread from 2020has dozens of people trying out different third-party RAM sticks in their DS220+ NAS, and not all the tested RAM works. Some users purchased Crucial memory designed for Macs and (unsurprisingly) it resulted inflashing blue lights, and eventually memory corruption errors.

There are even stories online of people’s Synology NASes having frequent crashes after installing third-party RAM, in some cases resulting in data corruption. RAID arrays don’t take kindle to frequent, unexpected crashes, after all.

That’s certainly what scared me a bit when debating whether to purchase official – or third-party – RAM. However I think the general consensus is that you should avoid third-party RAM in a brand new Synology NAS model.

How To Know The Correct Synology RAM To Purchase

If you decide that purchasing third-party RAM is the right choice for you, you’ll naturally want to choose the correct unofficial RAM – so that you don’t have loads of random crashes (and potentially data loss).

Luckily,Crucial have a tool on their websitewhere you input your Synology NAS model, and they tell you the compatible RAM:

It’s a pretty useful feature, however not all Synology models are available to select here – even when that specific modeldoessupport expandable memory.

In this case, Google comes to the rescue! Typing in“[model number] compatible RAM”will usually yield a bunch of Reddit threads confirming the exact model of RAM you need, along with online shops like Amazon listing those exact RAM models:

You may need to spend 5-10 minutes of reading, but it should then be clear exactly what RAM will (and won’t) be supported.This approach resulted in me knowing that the 4GB Crucial CT4G4SFS8266 RAM for £16 should work fine on my Synology DS220+:

PSA: Do You ActuallyNeedTo Upgrade The RAM?

I usually get carried away when looking at buying (and upgrading) tech gadgets and computers. That’s why Ihave a 12-core CPU(the Ryzen 5900X), even though I barely ever need more than 6-8 cores!

If you’re like me, you might also be spending ages looking at expandable RAM for your Synology NAS… even though you don’t actually need to upgrade! So I wanted to finish this article by making two quick points:

So while a small upgrade in RAM could make sense if you know that you’ll need it, you might not need a massive, unsupported increase in RAM.

Related Reading:Synology NAS: Turn It Off At Night, Or Run It 24/7 (All The Time)?

Tristan has been interested in computer hardware and software since he was 10 years old. He has built loads of computers over the years, along with installing, modifying and writing software (he’s a backend software developer ‘by trade’).Tristan also has an academic background in technology (in Math and Computer Science), so he enjoys drilling into the deeper aspects of technology.Tristan is also an avid PC gamer, with FFX and Rocket League being his favorite games.