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?

  • _realpaul@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 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·
      10 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·
      10 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·
        10 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.