iStarUSA Group 2U 8 x 3.5 Trayless microATX Computer Case (M-280-MATX)

After four years of learning all the cool things I could do at home with a Synology NAS box, it was about time for a refresh. In that time, I'd geeked out by getting a 6U cabinet for the hallway closet and provisioned a rackmount router, switch, and UPS. So, naturally, I decided to switch to a Linux home brew server to replace my NAS. I figured, "if Hillary Clinton can have a server in her home, why not me?"That brings me to my review of this 2u server chassis by iStarUSA. The aesthetics of this box are what initially drew me to the case, and after a few weeks, are still the best aspects of the enclosure. It really looks sleek. The hot swap 3.5" bays are sturdy and worked great with my WD Reds... No screwdriver required, which is really sweet! Each bay has an LED which lights up blue when a drive is functioning in the slot (one LED turns red upon power up until it gets going, but it's just another color to me). There are also two barrel keys included which let you lock the levers closed... extra security measures for the paranoid, I guess... The SFP female connectors are very close to the middle 80 mm fan slot, and I had to bend the cheap pigtail SATA cable to get clearance. iStarUSA makes a right angle SFP to SATA pigtail cable, but it was a bit overpriced for my consideration.The case comes with three 80 mm fans (3 pin fixed speed) which are obtrusively loud. I found I couldn't use any of them on my Supermicro mobo because they prevented the board from providing a Power OK signal to the PSU. Not sure which interface was at fault and I didn't care to investigate. So I replaced them with much quieter Noctura PWM fans ($54 total). The kit did not come with any rails, which add $35 to the effective cost of this enclosure IMHO.Those are the positives... Did I mention it looks really cool? That said, there are a few negatives to the build quality given the higher cost of this relative to the competition.The rear part of the case where the PSU mounts is rather fragile. Given that the top side is a 1/4" strip of sheet metal without any gusset or support, it bent while I was mounting the PSU. Easily bent back, but it didn't seem that sturdy. The enclosure uses sheet metal screws to secure the top cover, the taps of which seemed to be a bit shoddy and occasionally prone to mis-threading. Enclosures from SM have a quick release top, which would be much more desirable than screws for a hobbyist that is always tinkering under the hood. This setup from iStarUSA runs about $260 more than the Norco RPC-2008 and $200 more than the Supermicro CSE-825TQ-563LPB (which comes with a PSU and rails included!). Is the iStarUSA worth that much more? I'm not sure anymore, but it is the most visually appealing of the three, and it works for my needs.