A low-cost DIY rack for organizing home server gear
A growing pile of computers and tech gear was organized with a custom-built rack instead of a ready-made 10-inch or 19-inch rack. The rack frame cost about €40 in materials, and the cost about €60, making it cheaper than buying a complete setup.
The rack was painted black so it would match the rest of the equipment, and a sits on top. The lower-right server uses a Fractal R5 case and was built in September 2025 from second-hand parts.
Its main parts are an Intel i5-12600K, 32 GB of , and five 10 TB HDDs. The drives run in RAID 5, giving 40 TB of usable storage, with one spare 10 TB HDD ready in case a drive fails.
Key points
- A custom rack was built because 10-inch and 19-inch racks did not fit the setup well.
- The frame cost about €40, plus about €60 for .
- A sits on top, with server and storage gear below.
- The server uses an Intel i5-12600K, 32 GB of , and five 10 TB HDDs.
- RAID 5 provides 40 TB of usable storage, with a spare 10 TB HDD kept ready.