How to upgrade the RAM on your QNAP NAS and which one to buy

Choosing the right Memory for your QNAP NAS – A RAM Buyers guide

 Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices have been around for a number for a number of years now and a number of people have been basing their home, work and enterprise business needs around them. However like any piece of technology you will as the years go on start to notice a little lag here, a little system performance drop there and start to consider how to remedy this. Now, it should be noted that QNAP NAS made efforts quite early on to address this predicament with the abiity to upgrade and/or replace certain parts. Some of them in very noticeable yet expensive ways such as larger HDD or SSD installation, installing SSD Cache modules, upgrading ports with a 10GBe port card over PCIe and more. However a much earlier feature and one not uncommon in the IT industry is simply to upgrade the Memory (RAM) of your NAS. A number of the benefits of upgrading the QNAP NAS RAM are:

• RAM upgrade aids file transit of larger files from one location of the hard disk to another location
• RAM upgrade can help in the faster start up and shutdown of the system when you have multiple NAS Apllications in use.
• When you upgrade the memory, the load in the CPU is shared by the RAM and often results in load being reduced in by CPU.
• Speed can also be achieved in the network access (in terms of fluidity) as this process is shared by the RAM from the CPU
• Tasks requiring a visual/graphical element such as a Plex Media Server, Editing photo or video files on the fly, Thumbnail creation and most importantly of all, Virtual Machine and VMware use will be greatly improved by the addition or overall upgrade of RAM in your NAS.

However, it It should also be mentioned that if you do not perform heavy file work with large databases, file folder setups  and spreadsheets, video and audio editing, running multiple virtual machines, etc., the benefits of additional memory tend to be minimal and you will be fine with as little as 4GB of NAS RAM.

What is the Right RAM for my NAS? Choosing the correct NAS Memory

It should be stated early on before proceeding any further that QNAP themselves do of course supply their own range of Memory upgrades for upgradable NAS memory units. It is branded by QNAP themselves and arrives with their manufacturers warranty. Often NAS devices arrive with a recommended MAX ram installation amount as well as a number of units stating that installing non-QNAP brand RAM will invalidate your warranty. So if tinking a little with your NAS or your stepping outside your IT comfort zone scares/intimidates you, I would recommend going for the oen Brand Memory. It is a pinch more expensive but then you can proceed with your QNAP RAM in prosumer comfort.  Click the link below to access their own brand of RAM

Installing more installing 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and more in my QNAP NAS

Now we can talk about modding your NAS that little bit further. If you want to upgrade your NAS RAM further then below you will find the compatible RAM for the most popular QNAP NAS Server devices. I have tried to keep this list as up to date as possible but if you have a question or a suggested change, add a note in the comments below. If you require a further guide on how to install the RAM physically, you can find a fantastic walk through from QNAP themselves here for a number of their popular NAS devices. Just use the list below to find your QNAP NAS device and a clickable link to suitable RAM for the UK and the U.S.

Desktop QNAP NAS RAM Upgrades

N/A = Cannot be expanded to this size ,  = U.K. Shop ,  = U.S. Shop

QNAP	RAM Type		4-8GB RAM		16-32GB RAM		64GB+RAM
TBS-453A	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TS-1635	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM						N/A	N/A
TS-251+ and TS-451+	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TS-251A and TS-451A	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TS-253 Pro, TS-453 Pro, TS-653 Pro and TS-853 Pro	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TS-253A, TS-453A, TS-653A and TS-853A	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TS-451S	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TS-453mini	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TS-531P	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM						N/A	N/A
TS-563	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TS-651	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TS-831X	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM						N/A	N/A
TS-851	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TVS-682, TVS-882 and TVS-1282	DDR4-2400 UDIMM
TVS-682T, TVS-882T and TVS-1282T	DDR4-2400 UDIMM
TVS-463, TVS-663 and TVS-863	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TVS-471, TVS-671 and TVS-871	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM						N/A	N/A
TVS-871T	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM						N/A	N/A
TVS-EC1080	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
TVS-EC1080+	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM						N/A	N/A
TVS-473, TVS-673 and TVS-873	DDR4 PC4-17000
TVS-1282T3	DDR4-2400 SODIMM
TVS-882ST3	DDR4-2400 SODIMM
TS-453Bmini	DDR3L-1600 SODIMM				N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Remember –  Extra care should be taken in selecting the correct RAM for your NAS and though in a few cases it is indeed possible to exceed the Maximum NAS RAM, you should always check that this will in no way harm your NAS and we at NASCompares cannot be held accountable.