[techrat]

> makes their own hardware for it

All of their hardware is off the shelf parts, including the case, the motherboard and the drives. I built my own FreeNAS setup using the same components that FreeNAS was selling bundled together at the time. It ended up being about 2/3rds the price.

[gh02t]

This is true, but it's more about support. iXSystems provides full testing and support on their hardware, which OP mentioned as a want. DIY is cheaper, especially since you have the option to buy used parts, but the premade systems are actually reasonably priced especially compared to some of the markups on Synology hardware.