Winter

I have the first version of the chassis with the TQ backplane (24 SATA ports). I picked it up with 2x900W, H8DME-2+, 2x 2425HE 6-core, 48GB , and 3x AOC-SAT2-MV8 for $350 shipped. Handles 3 1080p transcodes with a bit left over. I don't need SAS2 right now but I did the research to make sure I wouldn't be SOL when I want to upgrade to handle UHD transcodes. Depending on MoBo and controller card prices at that time, I'll toss the SAS2/3 backplane in if it makes the most financial sense. As far as being able to drop in the SAS2 backplane, it depends on exactly which chassis model you get. Worst case is some of the screw holes don't match up and you mod the chassis accordingly. Normally, I'd suggest just buying something similar to mine dirt cheap or with Xeon 5520/5620s and the SAS2 backplane for ~$750. At the moment though almost everything used on eBay has the SAS1 backplane. If you keep your eyes open for a few days to a week, you'll probably spot something.

I used a shelf for quite a while until I got a rack, but it needs to be around 2' deep and able to support 80-90 lbs comfortably. A 15U open frame 4-post rack with locking rollers runs about $150 USD and is a solid investment once you start adding to your setup. I have my server, 1U rack mount power strip, 1U 48-port GBE switch (wiring the whole house), and a 2U shelf for my UPS and ISP router in one with plenty of room to add a TIVO Pro and whatever else. IPMI is just like being in front of the server. Toggle the power, flash the BIOS, configure drive controllers, install an OS from an ISO or USB on your workstation, literally anything that doesn't absolutely require touching the hardware can be done remotely. It's one of those things where if you've never had it, you don't think it's a big deal, but once you've experienced it, you'll never consider a server that doesn't have it. Like if you're traveling and there's an extended power outage and your server doesn't come back up afterward, or the wife updates the Plex app on her iPad and it needs a newer server version, or something is just generally stuffed up and the wife is bitching because she can't watch Plex and the web GUI isn't working. IPMI makes these easy to fix remotely. EDIT: A shelf for a 2U needs to support about 50 lbs. I was thinking of mine which is a 4U 24-bay. Which you can get for as low as ~$500 CAD if you want to spend a little more. Just be sure you either get one with a TQ (24 SATA ports) or a SAS2 backplane. The SAS1 backplanes don't play nice with drives over 2TB.

If you're willing to consider buying used, you can find some 2U 12-bay servers on eBay in your price range. Something with 2x Xeon 5520/5620, 16-32GB, and a SAS2 card should be just about the right price incl. shipping, but you might be happy with something that costs less. Either way, you'd get a lot more transcoding power, the ability to remote manage through IPMI, and more headroom to expand your storage. Not trying to discourage you from building, it's good experience, but having a box tucked away somewhere without IPMI ends up being a pain in the butt.

With the Supermicro case, you can swap out the backplane for a SAS2 model for ~$175 used or $250 new. Which also requires fewer ports on the drive controllers. You can get the AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 for $75-$125. If I recall correctly, you only need 1 of those unless you want failover for the card. I've been really happy with mine. The biggest issue I've had is getting the right rails. I keep ordering the 57 4U rails and getting the 53 2U rails in a 53 box that's been relabeled as 57. This is several different vendors so I don't know what's going on there.