Hello,
I was browsing the 45homelab shop and came across the Workstation case. I was wondering if 45homelab has any plans to release a workstation case that supports ATX or EATX motherboards, since the current model seems quite limited in that regard.
Thank you!
I was also wondering about one, but I think your best option from 45Drives is the new deep HL-15 coming out. I was going to order a second HL15 a year ago for a workstation when they redesigned the original workstation case. if i took the drive cage out the EATX would have fit but no support for the extended section since no standoffs there.
Hey Guys, i have not heard or anything in the works currently for ATX/EATX support but i will run this by the team
It would be great to have a workstation case that supports a true workstation motherboard (ATX/EATX), multiple workstation GPUs, and front intake options for either 3x 120mm or 2x 140mm fans with filters—ideally in a 16–17" size.
Building such a case would likely take less than a day of work, especially since it could be easily derived from the HL15 design.
What form factor of storage (3.5"/2.5"/EDSFF) and how many bays would you want? A typical suggestion seems to be to halve the backplane area allowing for long PCIE cards (GPUs) on the left and drives on the right, either 8-9 3.5" bays or some other combination of storage in that equivalent area.
I was considering a standard workstation case ~15-17" max—nothing too fancy. Maybe just support for 300 mm GPU and a typical layout, but built using their high-end steel.
The current workstation offer from 45H is a mini ITX that is very restrictive from all points of view, it is challenging to call it a workstation solution.
For me, I would love to see 45 Homelabs do a larger GPU Workstation case. Why? Because there already are plenty of other Case companies (ex: Sliger, Silverstone, Lian Li, etc,) making above average-ish Workstation cases. That part of the market is already reasonably well served.
I think the better option would be to create a really great Mega Workstation case at the higher end of the DIY Rackmount Market because this part of the market has next to 0 great DIY options AND because this is the part of the market that is starting to quickly growing thanks to the explosion of new on prem workloads (AI, graphics, scientific) as well as Cloud workloads reverse migrating out of the cloud so that they are back on prem once again, etc.
What might that look like…? Why, I’m glad you asked… 
Target Market(s)
PCI Slots
Storage
What Cases would I draw inspiration from?
45 Homelabs HL15 v2.0 - “The Beast”
– This will be a strong base for the team to start with and then work out from
Silverstone Alta D1
– While this isn’t a Rackmount case, and both of the cases above would need to be, I think the modularity of it is excellent.
– There has to be a way to do something like that on the Homelabs lineup before Silverstone inevitably brings that same thinking to their own Rackmount cases. And to be fair, you can already see early signs of them starting to do that via the Silverstone RM45
Silverstone RM600
– This basic design of the RM600 could be married with the standard design of the HL15 that is very airflow oriented
– this could be made extremely modular where you could easily swap out bays for extra PSUs, carriers for extra PCIe Slots, etc.
– I actually think this case could even be made very large to the point of it being a 7U to 8U case. That way, you could have a whole dedicated chamber for the GPUs, AI Accelerators, PCI Cards, etc. That would really, really differentiate this case extremely well from something like say a Silverstone RM51, RM52, RM61, RM600, etc.
OneChassis - OCG9800-10H4-L
– While this case is beyond what most people would want, this is a great case to reference if you wanted to go really mega with it.
– This case can take up to 10x triple slot Nvidia 4090s and is 9U.
– While I think 9U is a bit much for what we’re talking about above, I still think this case provides more ideas on how you can play with 2 chambers (Host vs. PCI cards)
Very interesting idea.
I tend to disagree with the following claim: ‘Because there already are plenty of other Case companies (ex: Sliger, Silverstone, Lian Li, etc.) making above-average workstation cases.’
On the market right now, you can easily find better-value storage cases with decent quality. Does this mean we don’t need an HL15? Of course not.
Just a few examples of better value for storage:
Rackable - 12 Bay: materials: steel - has backplane - less than $200: https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005006180007957.html
Rackable - 12 Bay: materials: steel and aluminum - has backplane - less than $200: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/12-disks-Nas-Case-Support-360_1601211099242.html?spm=a2700.details.you_may_like.2.80f52058H9MtKT
Rackable - 24 Bay: materials: steel and aluminum - has backplane - less than $400: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/24-drive-nas-case-rackmount-support_1601393728689.html?spm=a2700.details.you_may_like.3.16b729c4IWyU6U
Tower - 12 Bay: materials: steel and aluminum - has backplane - less than $100: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/12-drive-tower-case-with-multiple_1601403592169.html?spm=a2700.details.you_may_like.3.2a76163cJkh7p1
Having these solutions on the market, does it mean the HL15 is pointless? I don’t think so.
I own Sliger cases, including a Cerberus X. After using the Cerberus X (which is by no means a flawless case; it has so many problems I don’t even want to start talking about them), I tried some other solutions considered premium. However, I just can’t go back. The standard solutions on the market are simply of such low quality; the materials are too weak and soft.
My point is that the HL15 is not the only solution for its target market. The same would go for a workstation case built by 45 Homelabs. What I am certain about is that a workstation case with reasonable dimensions, built out of premium steel, will target a customer base considerably larger than solutions that are not highly requested. Price is also key.
CPSV,
I actually don’t think our POVs are too far off here. But I also think we should better clarify which class of rackmount cases we are talking about.
Storage Cases
– I don’t think anyone is making the claim that the HL15 is pointless. It’s not. Lol, if it was, I wouldn’t have bought one.
– In terms of 15 drive DIY storage cases, yeah, I agree, the HL15 is the best right now.
– And yeah, I agree with you that the steel quality in the HL15 is way higher than say Sliger as the steel quality was flagged in at least 1 of the Sliger reviews online.
– And then, on the flip side, as you say the Sliger cases are indeed a better value for the money.
– Again, what I said is that Sliger, Silverstone, etc. have the average to above average slice of the storage market in their sights if you dig into their target use cases.
– All of that being said, I probably should’ve just better clarified above that I consider the HL15 to be a case that is well above average and thus above all of those other storage cases. That may have been less confusing.
Based on what you said, it sounds like we more or less agree on that as you mention that these other lesser cases are a good value while also pointing out that the HL15 is a better case than them which I agree with.
So for the Sliger, Silverstonees, etc, maybe we just sort of back of napkin this by saying that their rackmount cases as whole would be very, very roughly be rated say in a range of 4/10 ↔ 7/10 (ish) depending on the exact case we’re talking about. And then we say that the HL15 would rank above them more in the 8/10 or 8.5/10 (ish) category.
General Purpose Rackmount Cases
– But the above is just us talking storage rackmount cases.
– Because once we switch focus, I actually think Silverstone does have some pretty strong general purpose cases (RM45, etc.)
– And the Homelabs team doesn’t currently have anything that really directly competes with that case
– Which to be fair, is because the HL15 hasn’t really tried to compete in that market yet as they have been very squarely aimed at various sized Storage cases as well as some consumer cases .
Overall
– My point is that I love the fact that Homelabs is a high end case manufacturer. But… that if you’re going to do that, then go out forth and really, really DO that.
– Don’t let yourself be constrained to just making storage cases.
– Don’t let yourself be constrained to just making much smaller consumer cases.
– And then don’t let your be constrained by the HL15 on the storage side either.
– Go make the HL30.
– Go make a Multi-GPU / AI focused case
– Go make the future HL15 v3.0 into a true 10/10 storage case. But in order to do that..
– Go break out the big guns backplanes that we know these guys already have in their back pocket (we know because they already sell them on the Storinators) and offer them to the DIY community as say an add-on (and at a price so that they can cover their costs and everybody wins).
Anyway, hopefully that better clarifies things. Either way, appreciate the feedback.