I’m just curious to get other people’s thoughts on this since 45Drives just recently released their 15-bay rackmount case that’s supposed to be aimed toward the homelab community.
Some of the items being sold in the e-store don’t make sense to purchase, specifically the LSI 9600-16i HBA and the x540 10Gbe NIC.
Why would the top of the line LSI 9600-16i be offered (for $1.1k)? Wouldn’t the more reasonably priced 9400 series card make more sense? I guess this would be if you’re running NVME drives (which the 9400 can also do)? It just seems strange to offer the top of the line and not anything else. Especially when the HL15 is aimed at the homelab community.
Also, the intel x540 network adapter. We go from the most recent, top of the line LSI 9600-16i HBA to a network adapter that was released in 2012 (for which they’re still asking $400 for). Wouldn’t it make more sense to offer the x550, or better yet, the x710-T2L?
I also understand that companies need to make money but the profit margin on these add-ons and accessories seems extreme. For example, the Intel XL710-QDA2 40 gig NIC is being sold for $818 while at FS.com it’s being sold for $520. That’s a 57% markup for an already marked-up item.
Is the HL15 and accessories really geared toward homelabbers?
To be fair , they design and manufacture the case in canada … so it makes sense that it’ll be a little more expensive than when you get the labor done in china
And yeah when you compare it to synology , i guess you still get more bang for the buck … but YMMV
Man, I saw 800 for the case and thought it was not bad, honestly, with the backplane. This is not from China. It’s from Canada and made in country. I’m not sure what people here expected. 400 dollars? 200 dollars? 800 for the Case, and the backplane is reasonable due to where it has been manufactured. Sure, you can get another case for 200 or 300 dollars or DIY your own, then do that. China is cheap. If I hadn’t built another NAS already for a truenas server, I would pull the trigger on this.
Downvote away.
Completely agree. I’m not sure why people expected the price to be competitive with retired enterprise gear from eBay. It’s a premium product, made by a small company in Canada, for an extremely niche audience.
Personally, while I haven’t ordered one myself, I’m glad there are more options available that aren’t made out of riveted sheet metal and flimsy plastic.
Is there an easy way to buy the 45 bay chassis bare? i dont want to use the daughter boards, i really just want a case that can hold more than 28 drives. honestly i just want the metal chassis and front/back panels, but im sure they would charge $$$.
Those prices are so far out of reality, compared to their MSRP counterparts from some basic online retailers selling the exact same part. Well over 2x markup in some cases (those Seagate drives, for example).
Hard pass.
I think they are aiming for “cool stuff, easy mode” for those that want to pay for it.
That’s great and all, but if you’re creative there’s cheaper things you can do. Which to me that’s more fun anyways.
Laughably high price on the chasis and backplane. More expensive than a Norco 24 bay with less features. They didn’t seem to have read what people wanted in their thread.
They read the ones that agreed with what they already wanted to make
Why on earth are sas cables 30$? What’s so expensive about sas cable when sata cables are like 2$
Somehow, I just don’t think the product or the accessories they are selling, are truly aimed at the homelab community. I think they are aimed at the tech bro crowd who want to go and sip overpriced drinks While telling their buddies that they have a new homelab even though they haven’t figured out how to turn it on yet
Seriously, they call it a homelab store and are easily charging 40% more than just going to other resellers. Like $90 for a Supermicro AOC-SLG3-2M2. You can buy them on Amazon for $55 all day long. It’s a dumb card, you have to enable bifurcation on the slot you install it in.
I certainly didn’t build myself a homelab to pay double for everything.
Sorry Marcus, I don’t feel that overburdened by money.
Wouldnt it be possible to take base spec and source cheaper addon parts?
Don’t worry, they have a lot of shelves too.
I’m assuming it’s because they are in Canada, and prices tend to be higher there.
They need to find a US warehouse to ship to US customers.
I always buy used NICs and HBAs off eBay, way cheaper even if I had to replace it on my dime.
45 drives is in Canada? Interesting. I did not know that.
I was mainly interested in the chassis, and put my gear in it. When I seen the price, I was less excited.
I didn’t look as deeply as you have but I got their email today too and thought “who is this for?”
They don’t know their audience
I don’t think homelabs were ever the intended audience. There are MUCH more price effective, reliable, and performant options over their cases + expanders.
They are targeting rich homelabers.
Availability. You can’t get old parts forever.