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Synology DS723+ review: The 2-bay Ryzen NAS can be unleashed

Jan 30, 2023

The DS723+ is a DS923+ for two drives instead of four. The new NAS from Synology is also based on the AMD Ryzen R1600, but with 2 GB of RAM and without 2.5 GbE it offers too little ex works to begin to exhaust its potential. More RAM and 10 GbE are available for a surcharge. Functionality and stability are excellent again.

Table of Contents

1 The 2-bay Ryzen NAS is ready to be unleashed
1. The technology in the DS723+
2. Up to 471 MB/s sequential read
3. DSM 7.1 with btrfs and virtualization
2 transfer rates, link aggregation and USB backup
1. File transfer
2. Encryption
3. Link aggregation
4. USB backup
3 SSD cache, volume and power consumption
1. SSD cache with NVMe SSDs
2. SSD cache when using link aggregation
3. Volume & Power Consumption
4. Price comparison
4 10 GbE, RAM upgrade and conclusion
1. 10 Gigabit Ethernet via PCIe card
2. More Speed with RAM upgrade to 16 GB
3. Conclusion

With the DS723+, the 23 generation of Synology gets the first 2-bay NAS and complements the DS923+ (test). The parallels to the 4-bay NAS are surprisingly numerous. Accordingly, the changes compared to the predecessor, the Synology DS720+ (test), are lavish.

If the DS720+ added the SSD cache in mid-2020, the DS723+ now the PCIe slot for a 10 Gigabit network card from Synology and the change from Intel to AMD. Because the DS723+, like the DS923+, relies on the AMD Ryzen R1600. In addition, the NAS has two drive bays, two M.2 slots and two gigabit network ports.

The recommended retail price for the Synology DS723+ is EUR 520.50 including VAT. The NAS is currently available in stores from around 505 euros. In comparison, the DS923+ currently costs around 600 euros. The guarantee is three years. In addition to the empty housing for the DS723+, the scope of delivery also includes the external 65-watt power supply unit, two network cables, screws for 2.5-inch drives, keys for locking the drive frames and a quick start guide. If a bundle with drives is not purchased commercially, hard disks must be purchased separately.

The technology in the DS723+

Ryzen R1600 without GPU

As mentioned, the DS723+ also makes the switch from Intel to AMD. As in the DS923+, the AMD Ryzen R1600 with two cores, four threads, 2.6 GHz basic and 3.1 GHz turbo clock is used as the main processor. It replaces the Intel Celeron J4125 from the DS720+, which offers 2.0 GHz on four cores with a total of four threads. The L2 cache of the R1600 produced in the FP5 package is 1 MB, the L3 cache is 4 MB. The TDP with which the CPU is configured is again not known. The Ryzen R1600 still uses the old first generation Zen cores. With the Ryzen Embedded R2000 series, a successor has also been available since 2021.

The Ryzen R1600 used is the only processor in the series that does not have a graphics chip. Despite the supposed CPU upgrade, the DS723+ also has the disadvantage that transcoding of videos with “High Efficiency Video Coding” (HEVC), H.265, is not accelerated in hardware by the R1600 without a GPU as with the DS720+, depending on the source material, bit rate and resolution, it can quickly reach its limits. 4K H.265 videos can therefore usually not be transcoded without dropouts. If you don't transcode video files for playback on the NAS because the media player speeds up playback, you can neglect this aspect.

< figure class="thumbs__figure thumbs__figure--has-caption"> Synology DS723+: RAM upgrade from the front

2 GB RAM but ECC

Along with the CPU change, the RAM also changes to DDR4 ECC-SODIMM, i.e. memory with error correction, while memory without error correction is still used in the DS720+. However, the size has not changed with 2 GB. The RAM can officially be expanded up to 32 GB. The single built-in RAM module and the second RAM slot are accessible via the front of the DS723+. To do this, only the drive frames have to be removed, whereby their order should not be confused. You can either install a single additional module or remove the existing one and use two new modules.

Optionally with 10 GbE

In addition to two drive bays, two M.2 slots for NVMe SSDs on the bottom and two gigabit network ports with link aggregation, all of which the DS720+ also offers, the DS723+, like the DS923+, also has a proprietary PCIe expansion slot into which Synology E10G22-T1-Mini RJ-45 Network Upgrade Module can be used. In addition to 10 Gbit/s, the E10G22-T1-Mini also supports networks with 5 Gbit/s, 2.5 Gbit/s and 1 Gbit/s as well as 100 Mbit/s. Since the manufacturer does not install a universal PCIe slot that is freely accessible, no other expansion cards can be used.

Only USB again

Since space had to be created for this, the DS723+ loses a USB 3.0 port on the back and thus only offers a single USB-A socket on the front side. However, the rear eSATA port remains for Synology's DX517 expansion unit.

As before, the NAS is cooled by a single fan on the back, which measures 92 × 92 × 25 mm. As mentioned, the fanless 65 watt power supply is external and is common in this device class. The on/off switch is located on the front of the NAS next to the LEDs for the status of the system and the drives.

Synology DS723+ Synology DS720+ Synology DS923+ SoC: AMD Ryzen R1600
x86
2.60 GHz , 2 core(s), 4 thread(s) Intel Celeron J4125
x86
2.00 GHz, 4 cores, 4 threads AMD Ryzen R1600
x86
2.60 GHz, 2 cores, 4 threads RAM: 2,048 MB 4,096 MB Hard drive bays: 2 4 S-ATA standard: I/II/III HDD format: 2.5" & 3.5″ RAID Levels: Single Disk, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1 Single Disk, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1
RAID 5, RAID 5 + Hot Spare, RAID 6, RAID 10 M.2 ports for SSD cache: 2 I/O ports: 2 × 1 Gbit LAN
1 × USB 3.0, 1 × eSATA
PCIe slot 2 × 1 Gbit LAN
2 × USB 3.0, 1 × eSATA 2 × 1 Gbit LAN
2 × USB 3.0, 1 × eSATA
PCIe slot Wake on LAN: Yes Encryption: AES-256 (folder-based) Fan: 1 × 92 × 92 × 25 mm
(not decoupled) 2 × 92 × 92 × 25 mm
(not decoupled) Power supply unit: 65 watts (external) 100 watts (external) Dimensions (H×W×D): 166.0 × 106.0 × 223.0 mm 166.0 × 199.0 × 223.0 mm Empty weight: 1.51 kg 2 .24 kg Price: from €493 €458.20 from €591

M.2 SSDs for storage pool, but only from Synology

< p class="p text-width">The two M.2 2280 slots on the underside of the DS723+, which enable screw- and tool-free installation, are nothing new. The fact that not only an SSD cache, but also a storage pool can be created directly, is an innovation that was first used in the DS923+. However, the restriction that M.2 SSDs approved by Synology must be used also applies to the DS723+. In the list of compatible M.2 SSDs, however, the manufacturer only lists the in-house SNV3400 and SNV3410 with 400 and 800 GB for the DS723+. The Seagate FireCuda SSDs used in the test cannot be used.

While 2.5″ and 3.5″ drives that do not come from Synology itself and are listed as compatible only show a warning that can be ignored, without Synology SSDs no storage pool can be created on the M.2 drives.

If the M.2 SSDs are then used as an SSD cache, they can be configured either as a read/write cache or as a read-only cache. The latter only speeds up reads from the NAS by storing copies of frequently accessed files on it. This has the advantage that, unlike the combined read/write cache, no data loss can occur. If they are configured as read and write cache, they are part of the total NAS storage, so SSD cache must be disabled in DiskStation Manager before removing the M.2 SSDs. With Synology, an SSD cache can only be configured as RAID 1.

Up to 471 MB/s sequential read

Up to two 3.5-inch SATA HDDs can be attached to the drive frame without the need for screws or tools. If 2.5-inch HDDs or SSDs are used, they must be screwed. The frames are made of plastic and feature small rubber bumpers to prevent the drives from vibrating. The drive frames can be secured against being simply pulled out of the NAS using a special Allen key. Synology claims up to 471 MB/s sequential read and up to 228 MB/s sequential write throughput for the DS723+ in conjunction with 10 GbE.

DSM 7.1 with btrfs and virtualization

The operating system of the Synology DS723+, the DiskStation Manager (DSM) 7.1, has not changed since the test of the Synology DS923+, which is why this Where reference is made to the relevant section in the DS923+ review. The DS723+ can also be used with btrfs without any problems, which can be used on the DS723+ for the Basic, JBOD, RAID 0 and RAID 1 drive configurations. Unlike the DS923+ with four drives, RAID 5, 6 and 10 are not possible with two drives.

The DS723+ also masters virtualization and the Virtual Machine Manager, but for what upgrading the main memory is recommended, as the 2 GB installed ex-factory are too small for this.

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Transfer rates, link aggregation and USB backup