diff --git a/synapse/app/synctl.py b/synapse/app/synctl.py
index 712dfa870e6fb128fe42b9bda4adf356efc5ccfb..56ae0861283b503d8ec4e58e6b4897a9258126cc 100755
--- a/synapse/app/synctl.py
+++ b/synapse/app/synctl.py
@@ -171,6 +171,10 @@ def main():
     if cache_factor:
         os.environ["SYNAPSE_CACHE_FACTOR"] = str(cache_factor)
 
+    cache_factors = config.get("synctl_cache_factors", {})
+    for cache_name, factor in cache_factors.iteritems():
+        os.environ["SYNAPSE_CACHE_FACTOR_" + cache_name.upper()] = str(factor)
+
     worker_configfiles = []
     if options.worker:
         start_stop_synapse = False
diff --git a/synapse/storage/state.py b/synapse/storage/state.py
index bdee14a8eb9a10f6f8ee1a20e40befc95a0fff30..c11bc5217745b4c475c75ee290352ee8f8d06c8f 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/state.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/state.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ from twisted.internet import defer
 
 from synapse.storage.background_updates import BackgroundUpdateStore
 from synapse.storage.engines import PostgresEngine
-from synapse.util.caches import intern_string, CACHE_SIZE_FACTOR
+from synapse.util.caches import intern_string, get_cache_factor_for
 from synapse.util.caches.descriptors import cached, cachedList
 from synapse.util.caches.dictionary_cache import DictionaryCache
 from synapse.util.stringutils import to_ascii
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ class StateGroupWorkerStore(SQLBaseStore):
         super(StateGroupWorkerStore, self).__init__(db_conn, hs)
 
         self._state_group_cache = DictionaryCache(
-            "*stateGroupCache*", 100000 * CACHE_SIZE_FACTOR
+            "*stateGroupCache*", 500000 * get_cache_factor_for("stateGroupCache")
         )
 
     @cached(max_entries=100000, iterable=True)
diff --git a/synapse/util/caches/__init__.py b/synapse/util/caches/__init__.py
index 183faf75a1e9979f65b38ddd50f9cf5c3b2a9e41..900575eb3c52f51cc5416cbb00aed4f9e756543c 100644
--- a/synapse/util/caches/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/util/caches/__init__.py
@@ -22,6 +22,16 @@ import six
 
 CACHE_SIZE_FACTOR = float(os.environ.get("SYNAPSE_CACHE_FACTOR", 0.5))
 
+
+def get_cache_factor_for(cache_name):
+    env_var = "SYNAPSE_CACHE_FACTOR_" + cache_name.upper()
+    factor = os.environ.get(env_var)
+    if factor:
+        return float(factor)
+
+    return CACHE_SIZE_FACTOR
+
+
 caches_by_name = {}
 collectors_by_name = {}
 
diff --git a/synapse/util/caches/descriptors.py b/synapse/util/caches/descriptors.py
index fc1874b65bc882ba47edcf9f4bb312eb84c53694..65a1042de1569df19b311259430da4e45f1a708e 100644
--- a/synapse/util/caches/descriptors.py
+++ b/synapse/util/caches/descriptors.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ import logging
 
 from synapse.util.async import ObservableDeferred
 from synapse.util import unwrapFirstError, logcontext
-from synapse.util.caches import CACHE_SIZE_FACTOR
+from synapse.util.caches import get_cache_factor_for
 from synapse.util.caches.lrucache import LruCache
 from synapse.util.caches.treecache import TreeCache, iterate_tree_cache_entry
 from synapse.util.stringutils import to_ascii
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ class CacheDescriptor(_CacheDescriptorBase):
             orig, num_args=num_args, inlineCallbacks=inlineCallbacks,
             cache_context=cache_context)
 
-        max_entries = int(max_entries * CACHE_SIZE_FACTOR)
+        max_entries = int(max_entries * get_cache_factor_for(orig.__name__))
 
         self.max_entries = max_entries
         self.tree = tree