I ordered a Chassis and PSU, and I just wanted to share my feedback.
Including only 9 standoffs seems weird, considering my board has 10. It’s fine without the extra, but I would include more at literal pennies of cost. There aren’t enough screws for every PCI Slot, which is fine I guess as most people aren’t filing every slot. They should also be thumb screws IMHO. The fact that the PCI Slots are precut and to be removed by the end-user and don’t have a replacement cover once that slot isn’t used anymore is a poor choice. PCIE covers should be included.
There seems to be a mishmash of screws that could easily be unified into just a couple of types instead of as many as there are. Less screw variations the easier to not put one in the wrong spot.
The 3D-printed parts have a few printing flaws and are not cleaned up at all. There are strings of plastic hanging off.
The fans are very loud, I don’t know what other homelabbers want but for me, this is a big deal. Even in my server closet, I can easily hear the fans through the door. Having to add resistors is a bad solution in my opinion and I will just replace the fans. Added cost which is unfortunate.
The case itself is very nice, there is a lot of fit and finish that could be a lot better. There are metal shavings all over the place where they threaded the holes but never cleaned them up. This is the first cast I have ever bought that I had to vacuum clean before even using it. There was debris and shavings all over the case.
The power button was wired correctly, and that seems to have been resolved.
The problem isn’t the fans, it is the way they are wired.
I’m not sure how standard the 10th hole location is, and they don’t want to include a standoff there that might ground out circuitry on the back of a 9-hole-only board. You can always screw a standoff through the board in that 10th location if you think it needs more support there, it just won’t be screwed into the case.
I think they got the message on that one for V2. One of “The first 5 things every HL15 owner should do” is remove those punch out covers, file off the remaining tabs and replace them with blanking plates like this (white) or this (black). Do that before you build, or if you have the full build, remove the mobo and do it. Your future self will thank you.
The current design of the fans in the system and how they intend them to be used is bad. if you want to get Semantic and separate the fans from their wiring, sure. then it’s the wiring. But as the cooling overall. It is a problem.
The standoffs aren’t preinstalled. So this isn’t an issue. They already had a stud to put the standoff where it needed to go. This is simply not supplying enough.
Oh, I am sure they will have this fixed on v2, just wanted to mention all my thoughts.
Also, this isn’t meant to be a gripe on the HL15. I am very very happy with the chassis and would purchase it again if given the choice. Revisions of this case are going to be awesome and I am glad 45Drives is venturing into this. They’re also Local to me so I will gladly support them!
Hardware Used
Intel 12100
ASRock Z690 Extreme Wifi 6e
Noctua NH-D9L
Dell PERC H310 9240-8i
I wasn’t trying to be pedantic about the fans, but the distinction isn’t trivial. They could sell the HL15 with the most expensive Noctua fans and they’d still be loud with the same wiring harness. If you do your own build and your mobo supports 3-pin DC fan control you can hook the OEM fans directly to the motherboard fan headers and they’ll quiet right down. That’s what I did. I think it’s more problematic for people with the full build because I think the X11SPH motherboard, or at least the IPMI piece, only supports PWM fan control.
Couldn’t agree more about the poor finishing work. A premium priced product shouldn’t have metal burs, plastic shavings and poorly tapped threads…
I too had to vacuum the shrapnel out, file down sharp exposed metal burs, and the pcie threads appear to have just been drilled out, but not actually had a thread tapped.
Thank you for your feedback. We take our quality standards very seriously, so this disappoints us to learn. I have already mentioned your experience to our quality team, but some pictures, if you have them, and more information would also help greatly.
Can you please send me an further detailing your experience? We would very much appreciate it. I can be reached at info@homelab.com
Have just sent you an email as requested, but also want to add to the list and make aware that the motherboard position in relation to the back panel is still an issue on my unit too, as discussed in this thread.
I also have one of the thumbscrews on the front panel that doesn’t line up with the thread in the top cover, causing it to want to cross thread.
Thank you for your email. I have replied back to it with further instructions. I appreciate your feedback as it helps us improve.
@gh0stee Can you please send me an email with your experience so that I can do my best to help you out? The best email address to send this to is info@45drives.com
Honestly the cross-threading of the top cover thumbscrews is something I’ve encountered on my 60XL as well—I think it’s inherent to the cover design, where a lot of mass might be not-well-supported in the middle, causing a tiny bit of sag. So when I install the cover, I usually try to guide the first thumbscrew in gently until it’s started, then the other, holding up the top cover a tiny bit (so it starts easily). Then I screw both in all the way.
If you wrench on it the first install (or heaven-forbid, use a screwdriver!), then the threads will be kinda shot forever
Hi @Vikram-45Drives, have just sent you a reply on this. We may now have a new issue. Just wanted to flag it here as I attached quite a few photos, so hopefully the email has come through.
