Putting It All Together: Toll and Other Considerations

And then, what does it actually price to build your ain NAS? Is it worth spending time to assemble one versus buying a well-fabricated solution from Synology or QNAP? The Silverstone DS380 will set you back a fairly reasonable $135, a quality SFX power supply will be around $80, and a motherboard/processor could land yous anywhere between $100 and $400 if you were to get with the platforms tested in this review.

Assuming you go with the cheaper quad-core version of the Asrock C2750D4I, the C2550D4I, then that adds $280 instead of $410 for the eight-cadre model in this write-up. From at that place, y'all demand about $100 for retentiveness and so whatever you're going to spend on hard drives. That brings us to a best example of $600 before installing storage, while the configuration nosotros tested would price y'all a little over $700.

In the land of Synology, that would internet you a 4-bay DiskStation DS414 for $480 or an eight-bay DS1813+ for almost a yard. With those prices, it's easy to see why many enthusiasts are building their own NAS, and the DS380 provides the perfect outlet. Having said that, I'm not sure how much of a market in that location is for products similar the DS380 because I know I would use an erstwhile spare ATX case instead.

Granted, you would lose the hot-swap ability, which can certainly be seen as a big deal. Nevertheless, the added flexibility of being able to use such a wider range of hardware would probably exist worth information technology for most users, especially since the folks nosotros're talking most -- and the ones Silverstone is targeting -- are the same users who probably happen to have a bunch of retired figurer hardware lying around.

However, if y'all're hell-bent on edifice your own NAS and don't take a suitable chassis, the DS380 probably presents the all-time option, even if information technology isn't without a few kinks. From here, it would really be something if Silverstone moved to include larger 10 and 12-bay models with mATX and ATX support, though we're likewise looking forwards to seeing what becomes of the DS380 and whether or not competitors respond.

Pros: Equally one of the few DIY NAS enclosures around, there's a lot to appreciate nigh the DS380: it's cleaner than using an one-time desktop, more flexible than ownership a prebuilt NAS and information technology's priced at a fair $135.

Cons: Needless to say, the DS380 isn't perfect. Our biggest gripe is probably the awkward plastic span that blocks PCIe functionality, though we didn't enjoy picking the front I/O audio cable free of mucilage either.