We’ve recently been receiving quite a few requests from the community asking if we would ever consider offering a 45HomeLab-style rackmount or desktop PC case, either as a standalone enclosure or even as a complete PC option through the store.
A lot of homelab users seem interested in the aesthetics and build quality of the HL15 and HL15 Beast, but don’t necessarily need the full storage backplane and drive grid setup. Instead, they want to reuse their own consumer/server hardware and build custom systems inside a 45HomeLab-style metal enclosure.
Some of the requests we’ve seen include:
A “metal enclosure only” version of the HL15 or Beast
Rackmount workstation/gaming PC cases
EATX-compatible homelab chassis
Cases designed for custom water cooling or GPU-heavy systems
Desktop/tower versions with the same 45HomeLab look and feel
We wanted to ask the community directly:
Would this be something you’d be interested in seeing offered?
If so:
Would you prefer rackmount, desktop, or both?
Would you want a bare enclosure only, or complete PC options too?
Since it is a workstation, it might be very useful to include some storage, not HDDs, as these are quite space-consuming, but rather some NVMe backplane, perhaps accommodating 4, 6, or 8 drives on the CPU/PSU side, U.3, not M.2, you can convert an M.2 to a U.3, but not the other way around.
A full build would be very interesting, though DIY options might be more appealing.
In my opinion, a rackmount design similar to HL15 but shorter (maybe 16"/17"/18") would be even more flexible, it should definitely be shorter than HL15.
I basically like a lot of what Largechemical reactor posted from the internet archive.
More specifically, I’d like to see front mounted ports (USB C, headphones, etc.)
I’d prefer NVMe drive support rather than SSD.
Support for the longest of GPUs, and tall enough for at least 120 mm fan powered CPU heatsinks.
Yes to ability to use rack mounted or stand alone.
I’d be primarily interested in the case with appropriate wiring for backplanes, maybe with PSU, as for a high-end gaming rig I’d want to source components individually.
Forgot to note that the initial list of five bullet points are a really good starting point for the workstation case! I would lean towards the bigger Beast case variant as a starting point, simply for the bigger space and official EATX support.
Aside from these points, I really wish to have the option to use long ATX PSUs like the Seasonic Noctua collaboration PSU; the Beast case is likely best suited for this.
Maybe metal rings could be included as I experience the PSU screws grinding through the coating of my HL15 case. Though that’s something I could fix myself.
A potential nice gimmick would be to have the 2.5 inch slots at the back, similar to the 2U servers and 4U hybrid servers from 45Drives!
I really like the fit and finish of the HL15 and Beast cases, so having a “blank slate” (no back-plane) rack mount version that could accept long graphics cards, tall CPU coolers, EATX Motherboards, and essentially just allow me to stuff my own components into it would be awesome. So probably leaning to something Beast sized…
As for features… I think others have touched on what I’d want:
NVMe drive support
Front mounted ports (USB C, headphones etc.)
Rack Mountable is my preference but a combo approach works too!
I think a complete PC option would be nice, but I’m definitely leaning towards a bare enclosure option. Something that plays to the outstanding 45Drives case build quality, but is flexible enough for someone to just build a system that isn’t as storage focused, or all in one, as your current offerings… though maybe that’s it?! I’m wanting something that gives you the option of a more compute focused build compared to the existing 45HomeLab offerings… ?? HomeLab flavored Proxinator??
