JONSBO N5 NAS Pc Case, E-ATX,12HDD+4SSD Drive Bay GPU HP Host, Supports Max. 4 GPU,E-A.TX(330mm) MB/ATX PSU Supports, with 3 Fans Built-in, 8 Slots PCI, Solid Wood Veneer Computer Case,Home Server

I think ease of use/setup and customer service would be the main objectively valid points as I wouldn’t expect everyone to be comfortable with a headless server or tinkering with PC parts/ as an example. You can definitely build a NAS box with powerful parts for cheaper than some popularly recommended prebuilt NAS like a Ugreen DXP 4800 Plus. MB+CPU+RAM combo $200 PSU $59 Jonsbo N4 $128 6+2+custom bays Or Jonsbo N5 $265 12+4+custom bays eBay LSI 9300-8i with SATA cables $48 eBay 2.5GB RJ45 NIC $40 —- $475 | $610 Slap in a cheap Intel GPU for ~$100 from hlsales or hwswap and you have very powerful hardware with more bays than a prebuilt box and a dGPU. I’m not gonna bother with the subjective details or parts optimization since that depends on individual expertise, just proving they can be built for cheap