We talk about Norco and Supermicro storage server chassis all the time - and with good reason; they have lots of disk bays and are rather cheap.
One of our own members, mrkrad, gave me a tip on another model that definitely deserves consideration: the HP DL180 G6.
The dl180 G6 is a 2U chassis with up to 12 3.5" bays on the front and optionally two on the back. It's an HP server so of course it has redundant power supplies. It comes with a dual CPU motherboard that accepts Xeon 55xx and 56xx CPUs, including the cheap-as-chips Xeon L5520s. Many of these also include an HP P4xx RAID card (with or without battery). So, basically, these servers include all of the features that we look for in a storage chassis.
I am sure that these were rather expensive when new. Right now, however, they are cheap. I've seen them go for under $200 barebones (though look out for G5 versions that look the same but take 54xx CPUs) and can always be found for $400 in the basic configuration. With some patience, you can find a fully stuffed version for around $300.
If you are interested in one, and are willing to do some work, here is a dl180 G6 that includes the 14-bay chassis, dual power supplies, a RAID card, plus two L5630 CPUs for $528 with free shipping. The auction even includes rack rails - though no disk caddies.
HP Proliant DL180 G6 Server 2X L5630 Quad Core 2 13GHz 4GB RAM No HDD P410 008835859909 | eBay
Where did I get the $168 number in the headline? Easy: Sell those L5630 CPUs for $200 each, replace them with a single $40 L5520, and you just paid $168 for a storage server!
Disk caddies: http://www.ebay.com/itm/300883508281
One of our own members, mrkrad, gave me a tip on another model that definitely deserves consideration: the HP DL180 G6.
The dl180 G6 is a 2U chassis with up to 12 3.5" bays on the front and optionally two on the back. It's an HP server so of course it has redundant power supplies. It comes with a dual CPU motherboard that accepts Xeon 55xx and 56xx CPUs, including the cheap-as-chips Xeon L5520s. Many of these also include an HP P4xx RAID card (with or without battery). So, basically, these servers include all of the features that we look for in a storage chassis.
I am sure that these were rather expensive when new. Right now, however, they are cheap. I've seen them go for under $200 barebones (though look out for G5 versions that look the same but take 54xx CPUs) and can always be found for $400 in the basic configuration. With some patience, you can find a fully stuffed version for around $300.
If you are interested in one, and are willing to do some work, here is a dl180 G6 that includes the 14-bay chassis, dual power supplies, a RAID card, plus two L5630 CPUs for $528 with free shipping. The auction even includes rack rails - though no disk caddies.
HP Proliant DL180 G6 Server 2X L5630 Quad Core 2 13GHz 4GB RAM No HDD P410 008835859909 | eBay
Where did I get the $168 number in the headline? Easy: Sell those L5630 CPUs for $200 each, replace them with a single $40 L5520, and you just paid $168 for a storage server!
Disk caddies: http://www.ebay.com/itm/300883508281
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