Hey, sorry the pre-orders have been delayed until the July 5th weekend. Sorry for the inconvenience this causes
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Is that just for HL15 2, or also HL15 XL? Is the idea to release them separately or together? For preorders placed when they open, what would the projected shipping date be?
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Hey Homelabers!
Weāve got something very exciting to share with you all, a first look at the HL15 2.0!
Check out the exclusive sneak peek here:
https://youtu.be/wqXb_dmesuU
This version brings some awesome improvements based on your feedback, and we canāt wait to hear what you think.
- Drop your thoughts in the comments
- Like the video if youāre hyped
- Share it with your fellow homelabbers
Letās hear that excitement! What feature are you most pumped about?
Team 45HomeLab
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Hey @DigitalGarden,
The HL15 2.0 and HL15 beast will be launched separately, but we are almost there, so stay tuned !
We Estimate final orders to be placed by late July and start rolling out units by second week of August.
Thank you, all for all you support, feedback, and your patience.
Are the specs published for the Hl15 2.0? There wasnt any information in that video.
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Hi @Dantallion,
The specs have not yet been published. You will be able to find them when we start pre order for these units.
@Hutch-45Drives do you have a timeline for the release of the HL 1.0 dust filter retrofit? My sister is traveling to Canada July 11th - 24th for vacation and if possible, Iād like to get it ordered and sent to her address. (I am based in Kenya)
I also would like to order the redesigned back panel with the thumbscrew PCIE slot covers.
Hey @hakunamatata, I do not know when, but I have asked the team and Iām just waiting to hear back on when we will be offering this
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Hi @hakunamatata,
We will have the dust filters in the store in a few days. We are estimating them to be released by the end of the week.
Thank you,
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I donāt think Iāve missed anything, and Iāve tried to look frame by frame in the 2.0 teaser video but have you made any modifications to the fan configuration? It looks like it still isnāt on PWM, although standard connectors are now involved?
The fan situation/proprietary power were the sole concern that stopped me jumping the gun on 1.0
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HI @homelabz,
I am happy to let you know that we are upgrading our fans to Dynatron 120x120x25mm 12V PWM Fan DF1212025BU-PWM.
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Stoked that the 2.0 platform has arrived! Hoping to get some guidance on configuration for my HL-15ā¦ I am admittedly a relative noob when it comes to home labbing.
Curious which EPYC processor & GPU would be recommended for Plex transcoding 4k to 1080p (up to 3 simultaneous streams) and running docker containers for the Arr suite? Alternatively, I would consider an Intel based processor for integrated hardware transcoding but would need guidance on recommended motherboard, and any other parts / cables I would need to make this a complete and smoothly operating system. I do plan to populate all 15 bays with SAS hard drives. I am flexible on cost but would like to avoid spending more than required, the same would be said for power consumption. Any input and guidance youāre willing to share would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!
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If all you want to do is do home backups, file serving, plex, and maybe a small amount of other docker containers, any of the EPYC offerings on the 2.0 should be fine, but if you want a bit of overkill, you can get one of the more expensive models up to 32c/64thread.
Have you decided on what appliance to use? (Unraid, TrueNas, etc.?)
Iām using a Sparkle Intel Arc A310 ECO (Purchased from Amazon). It is small, quiet, and performs transcoding well, currently costing around $142. I paid $99 when I purchased it, so Iām unsure why the price has increased so significantly. I wouldnāt switch to Intel over transcoding, as a budget-friendly video card will suffice, and I think the EPYC processors are quite impressive. My recommendation would be to purchase the tested and burned-in unit and add a card for transcoding.
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Thanks for your input! I am tentatively planning on running TrueNAS. If I have 250-300 TB of storage, should 256GB of RAM be adequate?
Iām going to echo @OldSoftwareGuy recommendation you get a burned in unit and add a video card if this is your first venture into homelabbing. You wonāt get the absolute cheapest system, but youāll get a great case and hardware that is known to work together, along with fantastic support.
I respect your desire to not waste money or electricity/resources, but if you were looking for the absolute cheapest system possible you probably wouldnāt be getting an HL-15. I think it is worth limiting your headaches and emphasizing the fun as you jump in with a set of hardware known to work together.
I own 2 Q30s (purchased from 45drives.com before the HL15 days) and one HL15. I tried buying a cheaper case once, and hated working in it, and it didnāt cool well, and was ultimately abandoned. These cases are a luxury, but Iāve never regretted the extra money I spent on them.
The support Iāve gotten from the community and 45drives themselves has always been first rate, too, a rarity worth the extra you pay. (So a big āThank You!ā to everyone at 45drives and 45homelab!)
I agree most any of the AMD processors should be adequate for Plex and an Arr stack, and even an older generation video card added later should be fine for transcoding. You probably wonāt regret buying a little extra CPU headroom, though, as if you enjoy running your own home lab, youāll find lots of Dockers and such to add on over time.
256 GB RAM is far more than you are likely to need. I run all my Dockers on 64GB with plenty of headroom. With 256 GB youād have lots of opportunities to do some interesting things with transcoding entirely in RAM, etc., though.
You may find this chart helpful.
Though itās not quite exactly what you want (4k->1080p) it may give you some ideas.
Finally, I recommend you budget for a UPS so your system can shut itself down gracefully if you have an extended power outage. I personally like the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave units, but YMMV. (And someday Iām going to splurge on a ZeroSurge surge suppressor unit, too, but I digress).
Personally I run unRAID, though you canāt go wrong with TrueNAS, either.
HTH
Kevin
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Thank you all for your guidance, you helped me pull the trigger today and I couldnāt be more excited! I did some more reading and actually think unRAID may be the best way to go for me.
Any recommendations on where to buy the drives aside from SPD? Not opposed to using them by any means, just have somewhat limited options for SAS drives.
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Congratulations! I hope you have fun with it.
I donāt have any great recommendations on where to buy drives. Mine are all SATA drives, actually. Iāve bought drives mostly from resellers on Amazon over the years, but the last time I bought a bunch of drives I got manufacturer recertified drives from serverpartdeals.com and so far so good (knock on wood).
Iām not trying to push you to unRAID over TrueNAS, both a great systems. I just have a long history with unRAID going back to probably 2010 or so, but I have friends with equally long histories on TrueNAS so both are good choices.
Most of all, have fun homelabbing. 
Kevin
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Why do you need SAS drives? Your build doesnāt seem like it would benefit much from them all things being equal. Is 250-300 TB the raw space that will contain both the data and the overhead for RAID, etc? Or is that just the data and we need to factor in additional overhead for the RAID? The lower the TB/drive you can live with, the better $/TB youāll usually pay. The sweet spot right now is probably 14 TB drives, but 210 TB raw is below your estimate. Sometimes youāll find an individual seller on eBay selling off a lot (group) of drives other than SPD and its competitors, but I donāt see anything interesting at the moment.
If you buy new, and live in a high sales tax state, B&H Photo (bhphotovideo.com) can be a place worth comparisonon shopping as they offer a store card where you donāt pay sales tax.
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