Jonsbo N4 NAS Case: A Game-Changer for Custom Storage Builds!

[@pyroslev]

I built a NAS for someone else in the N1 and it was a good case. This is a nice evolution of that idea to allow an mATX board. (My current NAS is an old Corsair Air A240 with four 10 TB drives using an Erying board)

[@Housestationlive]

i'm an huge fan of jonsbo for years, i imported lot of their cases from asian marketplaces. i'm glad they're turning international.

[@kylosalvesen]

That "Low profile" overdubbing has to be the most seamless one I`ve ever heard. I could not tell that it was added in post at all :D

[@otter-pro]

It's hard to find compact NAS case for microATX motherboard, and this case is just perfect size. The white NAS case might be a good candidate to upgrade my Fractal Node804.

[@craigd9305]

I put together a media pc for my mom in the Node 804 case.. it would be nice for a small nas, but I agree that this case's size looks really nice for the situation. The Node 804 is quite big in comparison.

[@fauzanmuharram4202]

may you need N5 model that the upgrade of N3, it will have better airflow and support until atx motherboard

[@seoulglo1999]

Full ATX N5 coming soon! kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3ynk4CLl9eIlbs

[@BenState]

yeah, you lose 2 drive spaces and need a new psu to accommodate.

[@PlayingItWrong]

N4 is one of my favourite cases nas or otherwise in a long time. It's real party trick? I mounted an 180mm fan to the roof of the case with a fan removed Thermalright AXP90-X53 (snug). I then ducted off the case ceiling with black electrical tape and mounted the fan with some foam between it and the case and mounted the fan with rubber fan mounting "screws" to cut vibrations.

[@empedance1933]

That's awesome! As I was watching the video I was pondering whether there would be enough height between the top of the motherboard rear io and the top of the case to do that. What are the rest of the PC parts are you running in it?

[@PlayingItWrong]

@@empedance1933 I passed down an matx motherboard and a i5-4690K that was retired from a gaming system, so, plenty of pcie gen 3 lanes, but I dont really have a plan for them right now outside of maybe a 25GbE nertwork card and some NVME storage if i decide these hard drives are too slow. And a titanium sfx-l power supply suggested by the power efficency list on "wulfgang's channel", an overspend but i intend the psu to be used for a long time. It's going to continue getting my gaming systems cast offs as and when I upgrade, so the case, drives and PSU were my only direct expense.

[@firstname-qq3xp]

There's a 3d printable extension to the front to run some fans.

[@nadtz]

The N4 funky 4x2x2 layout makes it an odd duck but the upcoming N5 could be very interesting.

[@gordonblank6845]

looking forward to the new N5 case!

[@espressomatic]

All drives can be pulled - the ones on the right just come out with a cable - make sure they're long enough and you can "hot swap" those drives. "Hot Swap" isn't a case feature, it's a controller and software feature. I put a 3.5" floppy drive on the right side (for some retro VMs) along with a combo USB+SD panel below it, which don't have to come out. Boot drive below that.

[@wassim9763]

For someone building their first NAS and starting with 2 HDDs mirrored this is a great case. Considering tech will gradually become cheaper per TB, Id be lucky to need a future upgrade for 5 years realistically. mATX is also cheaper than ITX and provides more features like additional m.2, sata and expansion cards. What use would 8 hot swappable have for anyone? Looking for examples here. Good review as I will purchase a 120mm case fan now.

[@Housestationlive]

this is probabaly the case i would recommand to my customers if i had a pc store. you can have a decent amount of power, the cleverest case design i've seen for a long time, especially the hot swappable hdd is something i'm hardly looking for, i purchased the air carbide 240 ffrom 10 yhears old because the newer version don't feature the hot swappable hard drives.

[@TechOverwrite]

That looks like a perfect case for a NAS build actually, great rundown of it 👍

[@mikedoth]

The N5 looks sick, i'm waiting for that one.

[@ofacesig]

The reasons you mentioned about cards is, while an AMD fan, I usually use Intel T series chips for my appliances. They always have integrated graphics, have a 35W tdp max, and their primary PCI-E slot is 16x. All awesome features for an appliance build.

[@SpoonHurler]

This has been my complaint too but the non F AM5 chips all have integrated graphics so that is great moving forward

[@b0ne91]

Fyi T chips aren't more efficient, just more expensive and have a lower power limit. You can just enter the BIOS and set the power limit on any regular old non-T equivalent.

[@b0ne91]

@@SpoonHurler The real problem is the h264 encoder for AMD is ass (on lower bitrates). Even Nvidia isn't anywhere close to competing with QuickSync.

[@SpoonHurler]

@@b0ne91 true but you get AV1 encoding which can do 8k30 or better with little/ no stuttering and low noise... I don't disagree that right now Intel is the better low budget, just pointing out that moving forward this has a chance to change

[@b0ne91]

@@SpoonHurler I think Intel's next iGPU should see AV1 encoding as well. The Arc A310 already does a phenomenal job at it right now and some mobile CPUs can do it already. Not that you'd ever want to encode anything in AV1 using hardware. Software encodes are the way to go for retaining quality and there's basically no reason to live-transcode your media to AV1 - most times you'd need low bandwidth encodes on the go you'd be on a phone, where virtually no current device supports AV1 decode

[@apricreed9580]

I just got a simple NAS for my home setup, but I will keep this case in mind for my future expansion, for now asustor nas works but when I need more speed I might need this.

[@davidg5898]

I like Jonsbo a lot, but think they missed the mark with the N4. (I have an N2 and was considering an N3 but it's too tall for the nook I need my NAS to fit in.) It's not convenient as an 8-bay NAS because 4 of the drives don't use a backplane. But it's also not great as a something like game server because you're stuck having to use half-height cards, which somewhat undermines part of the point of getting an mATX board.

[@kiresedivaneb]

Hi CJ, do you think it would be possible to fit a full or slim size Blu-Ray drive in the non-hotswappable 3.5 in bays? It looks like it could be done by deleting some of the rivets holding the rails in place on the extreme right side of the case. Perhaps by deleting the 2.5 in bays if the SFX PSU is short enough?

[@Housestationlive]

i think the 2.5 ports are dedicated for system, where you can also have redundancy because 2 bays, maybve using raid 1, and because it's flash drive the time between issue won't require to open the case every day, while 100% of your storage/backup is probably meant to be done on HDDs.

[@TheJase75]

@ElevatedSystems, you mentioned that ECC RAM works with the B450M DS3H motherboard, but did you verify whether the ECC was actually functional? Some Ryzen motherboards support ECC RAM, but without the error checking functionality working. I've got a couple of these boards and am thinking of repurposing one into a NAS.

[@LewisMoten]

The N5 seems to be the exact thing I'm looking for.

[@ElevatedSystems]

I got one sitting in my studio, just waiting on some new drives to arrive so I can complete the review and build.

[@martyn334]

tip for uk buyers, buy the cheapest one with postage, you only pay VAT on the price of the product, not the shipping. I paid £63~ for the case itself, then £36~ for shipping. cheaper than paying £99~ with free shipping.

[@helljester8097]

Nice, I managed to get a used ASUS am5 business board to work with eec memory and slapped that in a black n4. Also went with Unraid to use some old drives from a synology nas that was just too old for what I wanted to do. If you ever make a folllow up video with a focus on software and use cases I’d be keen to see it!

[@theorganizationXII]

Great video! any hope for a review of the silverstone CS 382 too?

[@su1ka]

You should be able to boot headless with the latest bios and ErP set to Enabled, Fast Boot set to Fast and VGA driver to Auto

[@IMDee]

Hi @ElevatedSystems. Thanks for the detailed video. I especially appreciate your attention to details when it comes to temps and limitations. I do, however, have one question regarding the noise. My current build is in a fractal node 804 and the case raddles a lot when the disks are in operation. Sometimes is so bad that I can hear it from outside the closet where the NAS lives in. I was wondering if the N4 suffers from this problem. Thanks

[@BrunodeSouzaLino]

This case is a downgrade from the N3 IMO. You had 8 hot swap drives on the N3, it supports full height cards...Even the N2 has more hot swap bays than this at 5. The N5 is the true upgrade. It supports full ATX boards with full height slots, has 8 hot swap bays and 4 fixed.

[@mraljewari9381]

Agreed. Im not sure why anyone would buy the n4

[@itstomatopuree]

You can only get 1 pcie slot for the n3 thats why

[@mraljewari9381]

@@itstomatopuree search sagittarius nas case on youtube. You will find everything you are looking for

[@TheRetroSofa]

I have six HDD's and my shelf is 294mm tall. I feel like more than any of their other cases this one competes directly with the Fractal Design Node 304. That said... I'm probably just gonna buy the 304.

[@ShaferHart]

@@TheRetroSofa you just posted this 4hrs ago so you're lucky I can give you this advice: DON'T. I bought the 304 for a homelab and I'm regretting it. You really start to feel the pain of not having hot swappable drives after a while because you will have to do cable management EACH time because you just can't take one drive out without having to fuzz the cables around. It's a real pain. Plus cable management is hard in that case and I don't even have a GPU in there yet (for genAI). It works and doesn't look out of place in an apartment but learn from me and just spend a little bit extra and plan your build around a hot swappable case.

[@johngonzalez9621]

Looks great! Reminds me of the fractal terra

[@HaimPeretz]

Wait to the N5 or go with the N3

[@Uberragen21]

For the price of the Ryzen 3 3300x CPU + GPU, you could have used a Ryzen 5 8500G (with the iGPU) and gone with a single PCIe for expanded SATA ports.

[@ElevatedSystems]

The 8500G is an AM5 CPU and it doesn’t support ECC memory.

[@XtianApi]

It looks super cool, but to me if I'm building a Nas today for a bunch of hard drives it's going to be some big ugly clunker of a server just to have that much storage for archive and things like that. If I was building a Nas that was small and cool looking like that I would definitely build one optimized entirely for nvme ssds. In m.2 or u.2 form.

[@V1N_574]

any idea when the N5 is coming out???

[@V1N_574]

Supposedly the N5 should be out by october. Production started in September. 🤞

[@TheCreat]

I found the statement surprising, that "most" ryzen Mainboards won't boot without a graphics card. All my servers in recent years were AM4, with standard consumer boards, and all booted just fine without GPU. Of course one was needed to be plugged in until the OS was installed, but after they ran just fine without any graphics.

[@ElevatedSystems]

It’s been my experience that while most X series am4 mobos will post without graphics, most A and B series will not. However many, specially Asrock and Asus boards have received bios updates that have fixed that. Unfortunately many of those updates then preclude the ability to use 1st - 3rd gen Ryzen CPUs.

[@jtd8719]

Nice review, CJ.

[@yourpcmd]

I would prefer if they did an N5 and ditched the right side and replaced it with another 4 hot swap bays. Or move the dual 2.5" to where the dual 3.5" is and make it so that you can use a standard ATX PSU instead of an SFX. I'd consider buying probably 3 or 4 cases then and get rid of my Node 304's.

[@wojtek-33]

Just FYI, just because a Ryzen system will boot and work with ECC, doesn't mean the ECC functionality is actually working properly. You will have to look up how to properly test ECC RAM to know for sure.

[@astralpowers]

Is Aliexpress shipping to North America (I assume) that expensive? I live in Singapore and I've bought a Jonsbo N1 case from Aliexpress and shipping wasn't high at all.

[@MrAltairantares]

Are you going to return it after the video like you did Framework 16? (mostly kididng...) Would be curious how hard it'd be to stick threadripper in the case...

[@ElevatedSystems]

I’ve only returned a couple cases I’ve reviewed due to defects. I have a storage unit full of PC cases. The problem with a threadripper is there aren’t many Matx motherboards for it and the cooler height restriction. My thredripper server will hopefully go in a N5.

[@sc0or]

Nice idea, but a used (or a new) 4300G costs the same as GT710/730 with few times higher scores at the same time. So, if you have no slim graphic card in your table imho it's better to purchase a G CPU

[@ElevatedSystems]

That will work as long as you're OK running a server without ECC support.

[@sc0or]

@@ElevatedSystems Well, that's not a server-server, right? But rather a server "box". I had no problem with cosmic rays yet which can change a single bit in my RAM. But may be u r right

[@PremacyMazda-j5p]

С удовольствием использую корпус Jonsbo N1 Gray. Очень хороший и удобный, для небольшого сервера на 5 дисков.

[@ickyendeavors4179]

Just a few other notes I like to think about... you can find AMD with integrated graphics, but remember: a 5700G/5600G, however, they are PCI-E 3.0 Only (not 4.0) so you will cripple graphics card performance, SAS to SATA splitters not so much as many are perfectly fine in a PCI-E 3.0 slot of even 4X to handle SATA, which doesn't kick enough bandwidth. What you absolutely, positively must avoid if you choose a 5600G/5700G is a card like a 4060/4060TI that is configured to use only PCI-E 8 lanes. Because if you put an 8 line PCI-E 4.0 card into a PCI-E 3.0 slot, you get completely demolished for the performance.

[@ElevatedSystems]

The non-Pro G Ryzen CPUs also do not support ECC memory.

[@goddessofwar4955]

@@ElevatedSystems exactly. Thank you for the add on!

[@rgblack316]

I am running this same board with a Ryzen 7 5700g. So it is possible to run a 4000 and 5000 series processor on it.

[@RaghavSinhaThisisme]

Question: is this case only compatible with SAS drives? Can you use a motherboard without SAS compatibility due to the expansion board that the case comes with?

[@RaghavSinhaThisisme]

Ah, finding out u need a pcie sas controller card for the case since most motherboards only take SATA and this case requires sas drives for some reason

[@Housestationlive]

theses niche market are not niches. this is where manufacturers made mistakes. with youtube and video media explosion, everyone needs huge storage capacity, not only business owners.

[@shineymcshine]

Yes! I've been following the NAS case market for years now and there still isn't a "perfect" solution for homes & small businesses. The demand is there if anyone were to actually get it right.

[@Housestationlive]

@@shineymcshine this is too bad there is a mixed configuration between ssd and hdd. no one goes for 3 hdd and 3 ssd, especially for a storage solution.

[@gerardDuPre]

the hdd backplane is sas or sata?

[@rogerhalt3991]

I want a compact NAS so I’m going Fractal Terra or the N3. I wasn’t aware of an AMD refresh so I’ll hold out until then, thanks!

[@sentranne]

Nice!!

[@Housestationlive]

this cases addresses the silverstone cs280 issue, where the gpu is limited in WIDTH because of the remaning space between the last bracket and the very end of the case. very, very, stupid issue to have on a case.

[@tommsla123]

This is the best NAS Case

[@LiLBitsDK]

aw man the 3300X... never managed to get my hands on one *sniffles*

[@CJones-ic9tc]

Dust control?

[@4eyesleo]

How often do you guys hotswap HDDs in your homelab NASes? :)

[@stephenxs8354]

So how is it a game changer?

[@frankwong9486]

N4: To make a matx and low profile slot design which basically mess up ( still count as changer but goes wrong direction ) They have a new model like n5 which support full height card, and all slots support 3.5 instead of n4 weird 4+2+2

[@helljester8097]

Frankly mAtx support was huge for me. Agreed having only half of those drive bays hot swap is a weird step back compared to the n2 or n3.

[@PlayingItWrong]

It's a magnificent retirement home for a matx gaming system, and your pcie lanes can be utilised for a 25gbe nic or a nvme 4x4 board (it'll need to be one with 2 on each side)

[@stephenxs8354]

@@PlayingItWrong Gaming? Tons of other suitable cases with full size slots.

[@stephenxs8354]

@@helljester8097 Tons of nas cases that support matx.

[@asldfjkalsdfjasdf]

Power consumption?

[@davidg5898]

Of a case? 0 watts.

[@asldfjkalsdfjasdf]

@@davidg5898 He did not only present the case but a build with it.

[@davidg5898]

@@asldfjkalsdfjasdf The build was only to show what it's like to work in the case.

[@1xXNimrodXx1]

RTX8000 flex for the ladys ?

[@bluesquadron593]

IO shield

[@gaidin]

Not selling off your old components is just such a poor financial decision. With rapidly depreciating assets you are FAR better off to sell once you are finished with it....even if you have to re-buy later back into older technology. Anything other than that is putting sentiment and emotion over common sense.

[@stephenxs8354]

A single sas card will give you 8 or more sata ports.

[@Kyrylo_Borovyk]

For me this case is like a beautiful girl... with a d%ck. It looks good, but that compromise solution with placing two 2,5 inch bays instead of 3,5 from the right is ruining the whole purpose. 2,5 bays can be used via adapter with 3,5 inch if needed, but not vice versa. It is understandable that power supply will require space, but it will be better having FlexATX in top section instead and utilize space leftover in bottom section for proper second sata backplane.

[@PyromancerRift]

I prefer intel for nas. The iddle power consumption is much lower than ryzen and almost all of them have IGPU.

[@ElevatedSystems]

Idle power consumption is user configurable and no consumer Intel CPU's support ECC until 12th gen, with the use of an expensive W680 Pro motherboard.

[@omarguerrero6417]

The case is terribly designed Cleary

[@makilee1762]

N3 is better