diff --git a/Source/Core/Core/HW/EXI/EXI_DeviceIPL.cpp b/Source/Core/Core/HW/EXI/EXI_DeviceIPL.cpp
index b30bf5b569..6839ec92ef 100644
--- a/Source/Core/Core/HW/EXI/EXI_DeviceIPL.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/Core/HW/EXI/EXI_DeviceIPL.cpp
@@ -341,9 +341,9 @@ void CEXIIPL::TransferByte(u8& data)
     {
       u32 dev_addr = DEV_ADDR_CURSOR(SRAM);
       if (m_command.is_write())
-        g_SRAM.raw[dev_addr] = data;
+        g_SRAM[dev_addr] = data;
       else
-        data = g_SRAM.raw[dev_addr];
+        data = g_SRAM[dev_addr];
     }
     else if (IN_RANGE(UART))
     {
diff --git a/Source/Core/Core/HW/Sram.cpp b/Source/Core/Core/HW/Sram.cpp
index cafc5e2f5c..51ce971230 100644
--- a/Source/Core/Core/HW/Sram.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/Core/HW/Sram.cpp
@@ -10,13 +10,22 @@
 #include "Common/Swap.h"
 #include "Core/ConfigManager.h"
 
-// english
-const Sram sram_dump = {{0,    0,    0,    0,    0x00, 0x2C, 0xFF, 0xD0, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
-                         0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x2C,
-                         0x44, 0x4F, 0x4C, 0x50, 0x48, 0x49, 0x4E, 0x53, 0x4C, 0x4F, 0x54, 0x41,
-                         0x44, 0x4F, 0x4C, 0x50, 0x48, 0x49, 0x4E, 0x53, 0x4C, 0x4F, 0x54, 0x42,
-                         0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
-                         0x00, 0x00, 0x6E, 0x6D, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00}};
+// English
+// This is just a template. Most/all fields are updated with sane(r) values at runtime.
+const Sram sram_dump = {Common::BigEndianValue<u32>{0},
+                        {Common::BigEndianValue<u16>{0x2c}, Common::BigEndianValue<u16>{0xffd0}, 0,
+                         0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0x20 | SramFlags::kOobeDone | SramFlags::kStereo},
+                        {{
+                             {'D', 'O', 'L', 'P', 'H', 'I', 'N', 'S', 'L', 'O', 'T', 'A'},
+                             {'D', 'O', 'L', 'P', 'H', 'I', 'N', 'S', 'L', 'O', 'T', 'B'},
+                         },
+                         0,
+                         {},
+                         0,
+                         0,
+                         {0x6E, 0x6D},
+                         0,
+                         {}}};
 
 #if 0
 // german
diff --git a/Source/Core/Core/HW/Sram.h b/Source/Core/Core/HW/Sram.h
index ae2b156b4c..624ee86bf5 100644
--- a/Source/Core/Core/HW/Sram.h
+++ b/Source/Core/Core/HW/Sram.h
@@ -114,17 +114,17 @@ struct SramSettingsEx
   u8 field_3e[2];
 };
 
-union Sram
+struct Sram
 {
-  // TODO determine real full sram size for gc/wii
-  u8 raw[0x44];
-  struct
-  {
-    Common::BigEndianValue<u32> rtc;
-    SramSettings settings;
-    SramSettingsEx settings_ex;
-  };
+  Common::BigEndianValue<u32> rtc;
+  SramSettings settings;
+  SramSettingsEx settings_ex;
+  // Allow access to this entire structure as a raw blob
+  // Typical union-with-byte-array method can't be used here on GCC
+  u8& operator[](size_t offset) { return reinterpret_cast<u8*>(&rtc)[offset]; }
 };
+// TODO determine real full sram size for gc/wii
+static_assert(sizeof(Sram) == 0x44);
 
 #pragma pack(pop)
 
diff --git a/Source/Core/Core/NetPlayServer.cpp b/Source/Core/Core/NetPlayServer.cpp
index 56be7a7c97..8c5fa6eb3d 100644
--- a/Source/Core/Core/NetPlayServer.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/Core/NetPlayServer.cpp
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ unsigned int NetPlayServer::OnConnect(ENetPeer* socket)
   spac << static_cast<MessageId>(NP_MSG_SYNC_GC_SRAM);
   for (size_t i = 0; i < sizeof(g_SRAM) - offsetof(Sram, settings); ++i)
   {
-    spac << g_SRAM.raw[offsetof(Sram, settings) + i];
+    spac << g_SRAM[offsetof(Sram, settings) + i];
   }
   Send(player.socket, spac);