Synology DS923+ NAS 6 Months Later - Still Worth It?

Synology NAS and Accessories in the 2023 Series - Rumours & Our Predictions

Video Chapters
00:00 - The Start
00:21 - The Purpose of this Video
00:45 - Attitudes towards that AMD Emb. Ryzen R1600 CPU
02:44 - The Price of the DS923+ is Better!
03:40 - DSM 7.2 and the DS923+ NAS
04:32 - Synology DS923+ Memory Upgrades
06:23 - Things in the last 6 months that have undermined the DS923+
06:43 - Refurbished DS920+ NAS' Appeared
07:18 - Arrival of the DS423+ NAS
08:19 - The Growth of M.2 NVMe SSD Storage Pool Support in Synology NAS
10:15 - Synology DS923+ NAS HDD / SSD Compatibility Changes?
11:13 - The Synology HAT3300 NAS Hard Drives

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[techforever]

Synology not giving the DS923+ a 10Gbit Ethernet port is just disgusting. 3 years between the two, and yet they make us buy an adapter for that! Makes my blood boil.

[MeldsaGames]

Was about to order myself a 923+ because of the m.2 storage pools but not supporting other drives just their own is a deal breaker for me, I'm not paying 120€+ for 400GB of storage, just not gonna happen. Glad you talked about this in the video. :)

[bernoulli]

Wow, I'm glad to have had this video come up in my search for a 923+ review. The detail and clarity is great and the website + links are much appreciated.

[MostlyBlindMitch]

The current state of the these "pro-sumer" synology's makes me happy I bought the DS1520+ when it came out. You're 100% about the home crowd being pushed out by the choice of the Ryzen, and the DS423+ is just a touch under spec'd with 5 year old CPU and only 2 x 1gig LAN. I do wonder if Synology has any plans to reinvigorate the home user offerings, a modern version of the play series with a Ryzen that features embedded graphics. Until then, my 1520 makes me a happy camper.

[JasonBillingham]

When my TerraMaster died a few weeks ago, I decided to invest a little more and upgrade to a Synology. I chose the 923+ and haven't found a single thing I regret about this decision.

[mahmut]

Glad I watched it before purchasing. I was about to purchase it in a bundle with 4x Seagate Exos X18 16TB and just found out thanks to you that they are not compatible. That’s ridiculous but I can’t change it. So I’ll just wait with my purchase.

[RailgunNZ]

Thanks for clarifying that they only support their own SSD drives. This is a deal breaker, their drives are expensive and inferior preformance.

Maybe just build another HTPC down the road.

[claudebeazley]

I use plex on my DS918+ and transcoding is useful, but I can optimise the video files for mobile and television when I originally add the 4K video files. Also I am seriously considering getting a mini pc to act as a plex server. So I am getting less and less convinced that I need the intel cpu for the graphics acceleration. The 10Gb upgrade is defo looking like a game winner for the DS923+.


Update: since this post, I have built a dedicated plex server using an Intel NUC with ubuntu server. This works wayy better than the NAS (even when the NAS has hardware transcoding). I would defo recommend having a separate plex server if you can.

[jondonnelly]

Synology need to start fitting 2.5gbe as standard on prosumer devices. My pc has it, router has it and my my Zyxel 120 dollar switch has it and it's a big boost but this NAS dosn't. Have to pay for 10gbe add in module. Which I don't need. Come on Synology... and that cpu is ancient. For far less money I build my own with a used AMD 4300GE cpu on and ITX board with 2.5Gbe onboard. 6 sata ports, booting off the USB. It's not hard.

[almazmusic]

Went for 923+ instead of 723+ as my main NAS and happy with that. Will buy another Synology, or DX517 expansion module

[yoniable]

Hi. Thanks for all your advice. I went for the DS923+, but eventually exchanged it for the DS1522+ for the extra bay as it wasn't such a premium on the price. It's now sitting on my desk, gently buzzing and clicking away. Actually, the power of the processor etc is not really an issue for me - I'm currently using it as a backup and only just discovering the power of having my own cloud.

[mikescott]

QNAP's approach to M2 NVMe is what stops me moving to Synology along with a faulty DS1821+ Synology turned up. So atm my TS-837A is still here. ZFS Vs SHR ....

[lesraisbeck]

Sticking with my DS918+ with DX517 expansion and extra cheap memory which more than covers my needs for the foreseeable future ... Will sit on the sidelines drinking beer & eating popcorn to see whether Synology sink home users with greedy binding to own brand drives, memory and ssd's. If OEM stuff works but isn't officially supported for prosumers then that is actually fine for cheaper expansion when out of warranty... min 2.5gb ethernet should really be standard for + series even on 2 bay units...

[classicfootballarchive]

I'm still torn between this and the 423+. I dont need transcoding so if we park that for a minute is the 923+ the superior model? I'm interested in running docker too which isn't an option on my ageing DS213j. Is the 923+ the better option for running containers?

[Gavrev]

It's interesting to think about Synology pressing their own drives, for whilst this can sometimes feel like a bit of an abrasive downer when you have Western Digital and Seagate to consider, there is also the upside that it anything goes wrong and you are using a complete suite of Synology brand hardware, they will have zero excuses for not honouring any guarantees.

[wgn]

Went for a DS1522+ with Samsung SSDs no warnings. Have four Synology NASses now using the older ones for primary and secondary backup.
I do hope that Synology will keep the mild attitude towards the plus series using other brands ssds and hhds otherwise I will drop them. Last but not least one agitating point, why why why only have 10GT interface and not the industry standard, cheaper and less power consuming SFP+ ? Now I had to spent another €300 for a new switch or €100 for an SFP+/10GT interface that runs too hot.

[rmacd]

the fact they're locking users into buying their own branded drives is 100% a dealbreaker

[scotttild]

People complain about transcoding, most people don’t need it. Unless you are in Europe or someplace downloading large files you don’t need it. As far as only 1gb most home internet don’t support 10gb anyway unless you have a great fiber plan or something.

[wesleyfree]

I do a lot of photography, and I shoot in raw. Would the 923+ be a good nas system for me? I have too many external hard drives, and I want to have better access to edit my photos.

[mcury]

I'm going with asustor next.. replacing my ds218+.