Yeah those were the times of hand building... Nowadays I would just go get used Supermicro server and call it a day. Comparable power consumption, significantly beefier, with build in redundancies and sturdy construction. It is a bit lazy, but I guess that is the old and balding me... :-)
Discussion
No, it's just sensible at this point. Time is precious as long as you've got enough fiat to leverage for shortcuts, that's a good thing.