Synology DS923+ NAS Review UK (2026) – Tested 3 Weeks

Right, let’s address the elephant in the room. You’ve clicked on a NAS review expecting CPU benchmarks. I get it. The product title’s a mess, and honestly, I spent the first five minutes staring at the listing wondering if someone at Amazon had a stroke. This isn’t a CPU. It’s a complete network storage system. And after three weeks of hammering this thing with everything from 4K video editing workflows to running it as a Plex server for my entire street, I’ve got thoughts.

The Synology DS923+ isn’t about frame rates or Cinebench scores. It’s about whether your data survives when your main drive decides Tuesday morning is the perfect time to die. It’s about accessing your files from your mate’s house without emailing yourself ZIP files like it’s 2003. And yeah, it’s about whether spending this much on a box that sits in the corner is actually worth it.

The Ryzen chip gives this NAS proper grunt for transcoding and running multiple services simultaneously. During testing, I had Plex streaming two 4K files, Docker containers running, and file transfers happening. CPU usage sat around 40-50%, which means there’s headroom.

The 4GB of RAM is where things get interesting. Out of the box, it’s adequate for basic file serving and a few Docker containers. But Synology’s left the RAM expandable up to 32GB (though they’ll tell you 8GB is the official max, wink wink). I chucked in an extra 16GB stick during testing, and the difference when running virtual machines was night and day.

I set mine up in Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR), which is basically RAID 5 made sensible. You get roughly 12TB usable with one drive’s worth of redundancy. One drive can die, and you won’t lose a single file. That’s the entire point of a NAS.

The dual 1GbE ports can be bonded for link aggregation, theoretically doubling bandwidth if your network supports it. In practice, I saw transfer speeds around 110-115MB/s, which is pretty much maxing out gigabit Ethernet. The 10GbE upgrade option is there if you need it, but it’ll cost you another couple hundred quid.

The sequential numbers look impressive, but you’ll never hit them over standard gigabit Ethernet. That’s a network limitation, not the NAS. What matters more is how it handles typical workflows.

Where it got interesting was running Plex simultaneously. Two 4K streams transcoding while I was editing, and the NAS didn’t break a sweat. CPU usage hit about 65%, but playback stayed smooth and my editing timeline didn’t stutter.

Setup took about 15 minutes from plugging it in to having shared folders accessible. The web interface is clean, responsive, and doesn’t feel like it was designed in 2008 (looking at you, some other NAS vendors). Package Center gives you one-click installs for Docker, Plex, Surveillance Station, and dozens of other apps.

QuickConnect: Access your files from anywhere without setting up VPNs or port forwarding. I was sceptical about the security implications, but it uses proper encryption and you can enable 2FA. Accessed my files from a hotel in Manchester with no faffing about.

Docker Support: Ran about a dozen containers without issues. Home Assistant, Pi-hole, Nextcloud, various monitoring tools. The Ryzen chip handles it fine, though you’ll want that RAM upgrade if you’re going heavy on containers.

Drive temperatures stayed consistently in the mid-to-high 30s, which is ideal for IronWolf drives. Synology’s fan control is smart enough to ramp up when needed without being aggressive about it.

The RAM expansion I mentioned earlier is unofficial but works perfectly. Synology says 8GB max, but people are running 32GB without issues. I tested with 20GB total (4GB soldered + 16GB SODIMM), and it’s been rock solid.

If you fill all four bays, the DX517 expansion unit adds another five bays via eSATA. That’s nine drives total, which is proper small business territory. The 10GbE network upgrade card is there if you outgrow gigabit Ethernet.

The QNAP TS-464 offers 2.5GbE networking at a lower price point, but QTS feels more complicated to navigate. If you’re comfortable with tech, it’s worth considering. The UGREEN DXP4800 Plus is significantly cheaper but lacks the software maturity and expansion options.

Synology’s advantage is DSM. It’s the difference between a NAS that does everything you need versus one that can do everything but requires YouTube tutorials to figure out how. You’re paying for polish and ecosystem, which matters more than you’d think when you’re setting up automated backups at 11pm on a Tuesday.

Compare it to cloud storage costs: 16TB on Dropbox Business runs about £240 per year. Google Workspace is similar. After three years, you’ve spent more on subscriptions than this NAS costs, and you’re still paying monthly. The DS923+ pays for itself in saved subscriptions while giving you faster local access and complete control over your data.

For content creators, the value proposition is even clearer. Editing 4K video directly from the NAS, automated backup workflows, and Plex serving your media library all justify the cost. For home users who just want somewhere to dump photos, it’s probably overkill. The DS223J would serve you better at half the price.