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?
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.
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
Don’t worry, they have a lot of shelves too.
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?
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.
Availability. You can’t get old parts forever.
I didn’t look as deeply as you have but I got their email today too and thought “who is this for?”
I wish I had half of the wallet that 45 drives thinks I do.
I was mainly interested in the chassis, and put my gear in it. When I seen the price, I was less excited.
I’ll just go serverpartdeals/ebay…
I am not sure some stamped tin and a few circuit boards are worth $1000.
IMHO this is just a $150 Rosewill RSV-R4200U with backplanes, so maybe $300 max.
I would MAYBE think about this if it came fully function certified system for $1000 that I could just drop drives into, but even then that is out of the typical homelab price point and entering the SHO market.
I have 3 or 4 chenbro/rosewill whatever Chinese server cases. I also have a 45drives q30. I’m never getting another rosewill/chenbro.
After the nightmare of 45 drives in production, no way would I ever wish that on myself at home.
Their pricing assumes that homelab enthusiasts are all famous YouTubers who either get free hardware or have cash to burn. Nonsensical indeed.
Why on earth are sas cables 30$? What’s so expensive about sas cable when sata cables are like 2$
To answer the question you asked: No.
The prices are totally logical for what you’re getting. But what to buy doesn’t make sense for the majority of true “homelabbers”. Even the base price of the HL15 at $800 USD doesn’t make sense. I got a Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2 Full Tower and shoved 16 drives into it, some extra cables, a standard ATX power supply… all brand new and you can get the RAM/CPU and other accessories for significantly under than $800 price tag.
I would argue that the HL15 is a great option…for a small business.