Computing on Demand PC News & Reviews
Hardware installation is a breeze. The large and open interior makes for a painless experience. The hard drive cage does a fantastic job of hiding some wiring. No cuts, no scrapes, no scratches. The question is, did the DS380 have what it takes to become our NAS case of choice? Yes…
The DS380 provides just about everything you could ask for in a case designed for NAS / Storage Server. Instead of having to source your own drive cages for hot-swap, you get them when you open the box. The incredible amount of space inside the DS380 makes for easy system builds and clutter free systems. Although I am not the biggest fan of the drive trays, you have to keep in mind that this is not an industrial chassis and in the interest of keeping costs down, some exceptions have to be made. Don’t get me wrong, the drive trays aren’t bad, but I do wish they were more like the drive trays we see in QNAP or ASUSTOR NAS.
The DS380 weighs in at just under $150.00 USD making it a good choice for anyone looking to build an affordable storage device. If you were to source an iStarUSA S-915 and a couple of drive cages, you could be easily looking at somewhere north of $300.oo USD already.
Bottom line, the DS380 is a great little case. This case is roomy, keeps things cool, and looks great. SilverStone has done a fine job. Would I buy one? Yes.
Before I close, I would like to say that I have seen a large number of folks around the net stuffing large video cards and CPU coolers that are designed for overclocking / gaming rigs. This is, as far as I am concerned, not what this case, or a NAS, is designed for. When looking around the net and reading some of those reviews, keep in mind that any complaints they have about space are absurd. When building a NAS, you don’t need an i7-4790K, a large tower cooler, and an R9 290. You need a decent CPU, some good RAM, and most importantly, a high quality RAID card. Focker… Out.
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