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?

  • No-Command9510@alien.topBEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    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

  • InvaderOfTech@alien.topBEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    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.

    • favorited@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      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.

  • jtothehizzy@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    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

  • bagofwisdom@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    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.

  • Teem214@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    For the case I actually think it’s a fair price for the product. The problem is the product is not a good fit for the homelab market.

    The markup on everything else is absolutely insane though.

    Also competing with used gear that is going through e-recycling facilities is going to be hard for them.

    They made a good product but missed the mark imo.

    • HTTP_404_NotFound@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      I don’t think homelabs were ever the intended audience. There are MUCH more price effective, reliable, and performant options over their cases + expanders.

  • fat-jonesy@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    After the nightmare of 45 drives in production, no way would I ever wish that on myself at home.

  • spyboy70@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    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.

  • bloodguard@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    I’m glad it’s not just me that thinks their prices are insane (and not in a good way). At first I thought maybe they were showing Canadian prices so I added something to my cart and checked. Nope. USD.

    I recently bought a metric crapton of Seagate Exos 20TBs and it looks like they’re overpricing that drive by about $130.

    • spanky34@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      I think it was during the self hosted podcast last episode or the one before, they had 45 drives on. They basically said the drives that you can buy from their store will be marked up and they completely expect you to buy them elsewhere.

  • highedutechsup@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    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.

    • RegulusRemains@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      I have 3 or 4 chenbro/rosewill whatever Chinese server cases. I also have a 45drives q30. I’m never getting another rosewill/chenbro.

  • csnyde4@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    I was excited for the chassis but not so much now that I saw the price. Does anyone have any recommendations for something similar?

    • thepacha@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Sliger CX4712 4U $399
      10x trayless 3.5" HDD mounts with hot-swap/direct-wired SATA connectors
      4x internal 2.5" SSD mounts for cache and boot drives
      2x 5.25" bays for high capacity removable media
      3x mid-chassis 120mm fans for silent airflow
      Liquid cooling support for 1x 360mm, 1x 240mm, or up to 3x 120mm AIOs
      EATX and ATX motherboards, ATX power supplies up to 270mm long
      Manufactured in the USA

      Sliger CX3701 3U $299
      10x trayless 3.5" HDD mounts with hot-swap/direct-wired SATA connectors
      4x internal 2.5" SSD mounts for cache and boot drives
      2x 120mm fans for silent airflow
      100% Manufactured, assembled and shipped in the USA by Sliger Designs LLC

    • CompWizrd@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Used Supermicro 846 and 847’s are a bit cheaper and more bays, and easy to modify to be fairly quiet.

      • wileyrr@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        I’ve got this one too. Just wish I had gotten the hotswap version. Keep trying to find a way to convert it to hotswap for cheap, but haven’t found a good way yet.

        • saibot0224@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          11 months ago

          I got the non-hotswap version of this chassis too. It’s a bit pricey but I grabbed two Athena Power BP-TLA3051SAC for 10 hotswap bays at SATA 6gb/s speeds. Then I grabbed an Athena Power BP-TLA3141SAS12 that gives me 4 hotswap bays at 12gb/s SAS. A bit pricey of a retrofit but very convenient with tool-less hotswap bays to work with. Plus I was able to justify it because I got the case secondhand for $50 haha

          • wileyrr@alien.topBEnglish
            1·
            11 months ago

            Yeah I’ve considered doing that, but I always got hung up on the price. I actually ended getting an r720xd at a public auction. Only holds 12 3.5 disks but it was like $80 so 🤷‍♂️.

      • v3c7r0n@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        I have the 8 bay version of that case, it is great.

        I would definitely recommend upgrading the fans out of the box, the ones mine came with weren’t great.

      • xsnyder@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        I have a couple of those Rosewill’s in my rack and love them.

        I even was able to remove the mid frame fans in one and put in an AIO cooler with a 360mm radiator for my Threadripper.

        Really good bang for the buck.

  • _realpaul@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    The most common reason ppl buy rackmount gear for the homelab is for training on enterprise equipment and because they find it dirt cheap on ebay. That is despite the noise and running costs.

    They said they wanted to build a pickup truck. They ended up with an industrial excavator 😅.

    Regular homelabbers dont buy racks and use 15 bays. In the day of 18Tb shucked drives who needs that many bays??

    This whole thing is weird especially since people like geerlingguy and the self hosted people promoting it. I mean those guys use raspberry pi 4s for most of their own stuff?!

    • Lotronex@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Regular homelabbers dont buy racks and use 15 bays. In the day of 18Tb shucked drives who needs that many bays??

      You have been banned from /r/DataHoarder

    • bagofwisdom@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Maybe 45 drives wouldn’t need to jack up their prices if they’d stop donking all their cash giving it to tech influencers.

      • _realpaul@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        I dont think thats making a dent in their marketing budget. Also judging by the replies they do actually reach their target audience.

        So far it seems they know where to find their target audience just not what they actually want.