Jonsbo N2 NAS Builds for £250, £500 and £750-1000

Top Jonsbo N2 NAS Builds For £250, £500, £750+ nascompares.com/2023/09/08/to...
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Amazon:
Best Jonsbo N2 Build for Under/Around £250
Jonsbo N2 + TopTon Intel n5105 Celeron / Pentium n6005 Build (+$35)
Jonsbo N2 Case ￡74.04 (Ali) - amzn.to/3Z3f3Mu
Topton N5105 + 128GB NVMe + 4GB RAM ￡193.48 - amzn.to/47ZibNw
SATA 6 Connector ￡4.19 - amzn.to/3ZbYGNJ
400W SFX PSU ￡24.36 - amzn.to/3qQRzxG
￡264.64 (128GB M.2 NVMe + 4GB RAM + 400W PSU)
Aliexpress links
Jonsbo N2 - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DD9...
Topton N5105/N6005+4GB - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DCl...
SATA x6 Cable - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DeD...
400W SFX PSU - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dk3...
300W PSU - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dmu...
--
Best Jonsbo N2 Build for Under £500
Jonsbo N2 + Intel Core i5 12th Gen + 16GB RAM + 10GbE Build
Jonsbo N2 Case ￡74.04 (Ali) - amzn.to/3Z3f3Mu
SATA 6 Connector ￡4.19 - amzn.to/3ZbYGNJ
400W SFX PSU ￡24.36 - amzn.to/3qQRzxG
B660M ITX Motherboard £235.79 + Intel Core i5 12490F CPU + 16GB RAM - amzn.to/3LatkS2
ARGB CPU Radiator Fan (LGA1700) ￡13.38 - amzn.to/3sLPy6c
(better option for CPU Fan) Noctua NH-L9x65 CPU Cooler £49 - amzn.to/3EqsLjd
X540-T2 Intel Chipset PCIe x8 Dual Copper RJ45 10Gbps ￡39.34 - amzn.to/3Z3GSUU
Tbkoly Controller Card Motherboard Expansion Card 1 To 5 Port SATA £20.45 - amzn.to/3P8F3RV
(Optional) 2x M.2 NVMe PCIe 4 X 8 Card GLOTRENDS Dual M.2 PCIe 4.0 - amzn.to/3ZaeEbk
Aliexpress Links
Jonsbo N2 - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DD9...
SATA x6 Cable - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DeD...
400W SFX PSU - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dk3...
Mobo+Intel i5-12490F+16GB - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DCM...
Cheaper CPU Fan - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dd9...
Better CPU Fan - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dk1...
2x M.2 NVMe Card - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmF...
---
Best Jonsbo N2 Build for £750-1000
Jonsbo N2 + Gen4/5 MoBo + Intel Core i5 12th Gen with Int Gfx + 32GB RAM + 10GbE Build
Jonsbo N2 Case ￡74.04 (Ali) - amzn.to/3Z3f3Mu
SATA 6 Connector ￡4.19 - amzn.to/3ZbYGNJ
600W SFX PSU ￡43.78 - amzn.to/3sMaf1P
Asrock Z690M-ITX/AX gEN 4/5 Motherboard £171.20 - amzn.to/3EMpjQ9
Intel Core i5-12600K 12th Gen £239 - amzn.to/45UtNiQ
Corsair VENGEANCE LPX DDR4 RAM 32GB (2x16GB) £59.99 - amzn.to/45CB2fV
ARGB CPU Radiator Fan (LGA1700) ￡13.38 - amzn.to/3sLPy6c
(better option for CPU Fan) Noctua NH-L9x65 CPU Cooler £49 - amzn.to/3EqsLjd
X540-T2 Intel Chipset PCIe x8 Dual Copper RJ45 10Gbps ￡39.34 - amzn.to/3Z3GSUU
Tbkoly Controller Card Motherboard Expansion Card 1 To 5 Port SATA £20.45 - amzn.to/3P8F3RV
(Optional) 2x M.2 NVMe PCIe 4 X 8 Card GLOTRENDS Dual M.2 PCIe 4.0 - amzn.to/3ZaeEbk
Total £586.63 (Amazon) + ￡123.51 (Aliexpress)
AliExpress Links
Jonsbo N2 - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DD9...
SATA x6 Cable - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DeD...
Cheaper CPU Fan - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dd9...
Better CPU Fan - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dk1...
2x M.2 NVMe Card - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmF...
600W SFX PSU - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DFm...
H610 mini itx Motherboard - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DlX...
i5-12600K CPU - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DkQ...
Corsair 16GB Memory - s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DlY...
Pros:
Extremely powerful for almost any task you throw at it
Full support for major NAS software platforms and high-end features
Outstanding Plex media server performance
Abundant RAM support
Flexibility in networking, from 2.5Gbe up to 10Gbe
------
Jonsbo N2 NAS Build Complete Guide UnRAID/TrueNAS - nascompares.com/2023/09/01/jo...
Video Chapters
00:00 - Why this video happened
01:07 - The Start
01:33 - MASSIVE THANKS
02:25 - NAS Software, Important!
02:59 - Dollar $, Pounds $ and Euros €
04:17 - Hard Drives and SSDs
05:32 - Top Jonsbo N2 NAS Builds For £250
10:53 - Top Jonsbo N2 NAS Builds For Under £500
17:32 - Top Jonsbo N2 NAS Builds For £750-1000
23:55 - Little Tip + Plan for future tests
25:30 - Conclusion
Thinking of buying a product mentioned in today's video? If this video has helped you make that decision, you can use the links and we will get a small % profit of whatever you buy.

[@shuraragi]

them seagulls woke up and decided to choose violence 💀

[@nascompares]

Two can play at that game

[@itwasntme761]

General advice: do not cheap out on PSUs, to some it might look like a waste of money but consider that the machine you are building has to last many years and will most probably be on 24/7 or almost, the PSU is not only in charge of powering your system but also to protect it, a short circuit or a power loss in the house can harm/kill components if the PSU does not protect them, or even effect their lifespan if the delivered voltage (by the PSU) is unstable. Also when it comes to cheap PSUs do not trust what the label says, it is normally best to check out what the community's suggestion is before pulling the trigger. Its fine to buy a 25$ PSU, but please consider the downsides, in my view my HDDs and hardware (and arguably data) are worth and extra 20$ even for my low budget. The video war really helpful though, will there also be a video regarding the setup (software side)? I'm still hesitant to build my own NAS mostly because I'm not sure how difficult it is to replicate various services offered by synology and qnap (like Synology Drive easily available on PC and Smartphones) and how secure it would be on something like TrueNAS and others

[@nascompares]

Thanks for sharing dude! You are 100% correct about the PSU (petty sure I saw a variation of this during the PSU fail/swap bit). But some users are gonna always opt for the cheaper PSU, regardless of efficiency and quality, as their budget is simply too small to start with. Remember that awesome Diskworld MAA book quote: "The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet." Yep, PSUs too. Also, latest Jonsbo N2 build vid went live an hour ago. Have a great weekend man

[@itwasntme761]

​@@nascompares Oh yes, the budget is always the problem and a cheap unit might last a decade giving 0 problems. I simply brought this up because I did the mistake of getting a cheap PSU a decade ago with my first PC build and it did not end well for me, the goal was to make ppl think/understand on the functions of a PSU, so that if they think it is worth it they can revisit their budget

[@jimnielsen9299]

Agree, absolutely not worth it to save a few quid on getting the cheapest, i’ve been fiddling with computers for 40 years, both as a hobby and work, ive seen quite a few cheap psu’s die….and take out various other hardware like cpu and ram.

[@mastroitek]

I see that I found the PSU club!😂 I agree on all points, especially after seeing some videos about nameless PSUs testing

[@davidg5898]

I'm looking forward to the N3 build. I really like what Jonsbo is doing with these NAS style cases. I'm very happy with my N2.

[@teammarl9394]

Lol @ the seagulls! :D

[@nascompares]

MATE! They were a frigging NIGHTMARE that day

[@praetorxyn]

Looking forward to the N3 build, as I'm considering doing a build in that chassis for UnRAID or TrueNAS Scale, then I could transition my Synology NAS to being a backup box.

[@trunksviper6583]

some times i think this man live on a boat and has the greatest stabilization software on the planet because the seagulls use him ass a pit stop. good content, i have a asustor and im not fallowing the 123 or 321.

[@iFaFo_0]

I have both N1 & N2. Amazing little cases, I highly recommend them if you want to save space. If you have an old itx pc it can live an incredible second life as a NAS in one of these.

[@TKsTechTalk]

Great video as always. I was just curious about something in the £500 build with the F CPU. I've never used an F CPU but I always thought that it would not boot or display video without a discrete GPU or does motherboard you mentioned itself allow video output maybe through the onboard VGA/HDMI/DVI port? I apologise in advance if it was already answered in other comments or maybe the seagulls addressed it in the video!

[@vollhorst140]

I do like these DIY Nas Video a lot. Thank you. Please more! How reliable is all that „crap“ from ali express anyway? I have serious doubts that the 500buck build mobo will post without a gpu. And why all that questionable stuff anyway, why not a Corsair psu and a ie msi motherboard?

[@ricardocappucci9571]

The seagulls are great😂 I really enjoy your videos

[@nascompares]

I like exactly 50% of your comment!!!

[@cranil]

FYI if you use the SATA port multiplier, don't run truenas or zfs on it.

[@mastroitek]

the fact that we can even think of building a DIY NAS for 250$ is great, though at that budget I would really consider buying used (which I understand it was not the scope of the video), in the end CPUs, RAM, SSDs and cases do not really age, sometimes I even buy used HDDs if they don't have a lot of hours on them and I can pick them up personally

[@nascompares]

All really good points. I keep thinking about making a video on buying 2nd/used kit for NAS, but the issue is that it's just too random to stand the test of time. In my most recent vid with Ed from @spaceinvaderone (Nas to UnRAID tipping point) he did a really good section, shopping around eBay for old HP server stuff. But other than making a more general video about "what to look for in a used NAS", it's tough to make a dedicated video on. Leave it with me and I'll see what I can script up. Cheers for watching man

[@mastroitek]

@@nascompares Yeah sure, it is always dependent on the region, platforms are available, deals of the moment, what is the budget and most of all it is about "personal needs". And in any case, no matter how good the video will be, there will always be the argument "well but with 15$ more and replacing "this" I can get "that"...." Definitely a tough video to make! Cheers :)

[@cheezymoser]

Do you have any input on using the Intel i5 13500 as a NAS/ Home server CPU?

[@keithweiland]

When you do the N3 NAS build it would be interesting to find out if the Asrock H610M-HDV Motherboard will fit, it is an m-atx board but is only 19.7 cm x 18.8 cm so might fit and would allow use of both PCIe slots.

[@nascompares]

I checked and Jonsbo still still state that you can only use M-ITX on the n3. The fact it has two PCIe slots on the case is for double width, full height cards. The N3 is TALLER, so you get to use taller CPU fans, but card use hasn't changed

[@keithweiland]

@@nascompares Hey thanks for responding. They probably say that because they have only put standoffs for m-ITX assuming there is nothing in the way, the case dimensions seem to indicate that the board will physically fit, and if you look at the Asrock H610M-HDV there aren't any additional holes for standoffs, just an extra 2.7cm width at the PCIe side and 1.8cm depth at the power connector side over an m-itx. It might be tight on the width but the depth will certainly fit and if it does it would make for a compelling board for this case due to the extra PCIe slot.

[@chunglamyu882]

I just found “QNAS mini", 8bays for 2.5hdd or ssd, use 3D printed enclosure, is that good or bad?

[@Cary_mac]

I'm coming back in to re-review my overall thoughts on the N2. This past week I updated my hardware so I could utilize NVME, 10gbe and the 8500T cpu I had laying around. My reports - This case is not enjoyable for heat when thinking about NVME. My initial thoughts was that everything would be great. I had a proper cpu cooler and then also a heat sink for the nvme. Upon firing up everything looked great.....but then I got warnings. My NVME was getting to temps of almost 60c! I quickly shut the system down and pulled the shell off to make sure the heat sink was alright. Everything seemed just fine but after further thought I have always had airflow over the basic heatsink which make a bit difference. So what do I do? Luckily I had either a 140mm or 120mm BeQuiet! Silent Wings 2 fan laying around and jerry rigged it to the top shell and decided to blast the entire mobo with the airflow. CPU is sub 35c and the NVME is now sub 34c. Users Wanting NVME beware and reminder you HAVE to have decent airflow. The N2 simply is not great for airflow with NVME or other pcie adapters that generate any kind of heat.

[@andrebrait]

The SATA cables for the Jonsbo N series cases must have right-angle plugs on one side. Don't forget that. Those Topton (and other names) motherboards seem to be riddled with bugs and weirdly high idle power consumption (still low, but could be lower). Much like their pfsense appliances, they seem cheap and they have the right hardware, in theory, but it seems they have weird behaviors all around. Name brand motherboards can be finicky enough. While the chinese ones are cheap, I would not put one of those in charge of my data.

[@jimnielsen9299]

Good to know, i had a suspicion those boards could have bugs/issues/quirks as ive sables quite a bit with the chinese X79/X99 “Frankenstein” boards and those do tend to have some Strange issues now and Them lol

[@FynnR]

Currently running a TopTon N6005 NAS board in a Jonsbo N1 case and I can confirm that C-states are kinda not there. Still, with a 6W TDP CPU and HDDs spun down you're not drawing much power. Can't tell exact numbers since the runtime of my NAS is kinda all over the place but it works really really well for my usecase. The 4 cores will choke eventually in Plex Media Encoding or with a higher amount of Dockers running. Not suprising haha!

[@mrhoratiu]

Man, you talk fast :D no wonder the seaguls felt there is a competition going down there :D Nice video! Thanks!

[@lifefromscratch2818]

The seagulls are a nice ambiance we don't get with most tech channels.

[@nascompares]

Damning with faint praise! Thank you though bud

[@CosmicReef]

I ordered the parts for the 1.000 £ built. Thank you very much! I would have used your amazon-links (I actually did) but Amazon does not want to deliver anything to me. When I ordered, they asked me for a read-access to my bank account till the end of the year. So I had to order elsewhere. I think, you would need an amazon-alternative that is not 4 weeks away from my location. But anyway, great built! Looking forward to an five ssd drive nas, with 5*8 TB SSDs 🙂

[@philconners8871]

Where were you able to find the N2 box? Amazon DE and UK don't have it in stock and AliExpress wants double price for it.

[@CosmicReef]

Not where I was looking. I looked at the german Otto (they sell all sorts of stuff), and the had only the N1. I just took this case (and a bigger psu) @@philconners8871

[@spda242]

Damn, the Seagulls are going all out today 😂

[@nascompares]

Absolutely lost it

[@user-hc6uo5fp8n]

Software for a NAS have you look at EasyNAS or Rockstor or CasaOS can you review them and give your opinion on them?

[@nascompares]

Will review latest CasaOS in a Zimablade review in a week or two. I've added the others to the list! Cheers!

[@user-hc6uo5fp8n]

Found out about Easynas in linux magazine NAS for the Masses Article from Issue 254/2022.

[@tombouie]

Thks Robbie buts I likes your Sabrent DS-UCTB 10-Bay USB 3.2 Enclosure (~US$350) Review a lot better or maybes the cheaper Mediasonic Probox 8 bay USB 3.0 HDD Enclosure (~US$250) ; Hey, I heard more from that Sea-Gull than Eddie lately (?Where's the old Eddie-nator at?) Oh, justs-likes the Eddie-nator, that Sea-Gull shows-is quite enlightening ;)

[@CosmicReef]

Hi. I built your big NAS build. I would have two questions: A) I use Samsung QVO 8 TB drives. Is there anything I have to do / setup because I use SSDs? B) Your amazon Link to the SATA-Port Replicator says "Tbkoly Controller Card", if I use the link it leads to "SaiDian 1 x SATA-Port-Multiplier Controller Riser Card Adapter 6 Gbit/s 1 auf 5 Port SATA 3.0 Motherboard", there is no Tbkoly Controller Card on Amazon. I couldn't find one and used the replacement instead, but it didn't work. It works perfect if only one drive is connected, the second drive does not appear. Any idea, or like a new link to a working port multiplier?

[@nascompares]

Unfortunately I cannot control the Amazon links long term. They work when I make them, but Amazon will redirect to "available/stock products" and hide things that are unavailable or out of stock. I'm surprised that redirected the card isn't playing nice, it's on part picker in a few N1/N2 builds. Might be a driver issue. Regarding the drives, I'd maybe update the firmware on them if possible (Samsung have had a few duff fws in the last 5yrs), but that aside, they should be good to go

[@mrdali67]

Unfortunate the Asrock Z690M-ITX/AX is not easy to find anymore (Amazon uk/de don't ship to Denmark and .se have almost nothing to offer. And the price has gone up quite a bit on Ali Express unless your willing to take a chance at a used board. To me the Z790M-ITX Wifi seems to the be the same board, just with DDR5. Also supports 12gen Intel cpu's. Perifials seem the same as the Z690-ITX/AX Should there be any problems going with this board ? ( I can buy this new in local stores at a little higher price as your initial listing for the Z690 from Amazon.

[@rrhett2119]

Can you confirm that the Asrock mobo will allow 4x+4x+4x+4x lane bifurcation? I cannot confirm it, and the HyperCard requires lane bifurcation to work. An ixt board with two onboard nvme drives plus 4 drives through pcie would be a killer compact, all flash, low power, portable nas.

[@HaimPeretz]

This is a mini itx built not micro. Also, the N3 only support mini itx

[@chardzardinator]

7:20 am I the only noticing the toy of the... adult persuasion in the bottom of the screen? Seems an odd "related product" to a motherboard haha

[@kentcurrie7326]

Persistent seagulls!

[@WillFuI]

i recently knew someone who had issues with 12th gen e cores in true nas.

[@jimnielsen9299]

Shame that if you live in Denmark the case costs a whopping 40 quid in shipping (same online shop as the one used in the video for the purchase) while it ships free to the UK, which in reality turns it into a 140 quid case for me = budget build is not really an option….

[@nascompares]

Sadly, yeah. Even worse when the shipping costs that much and is still insanely slow too. I ended up changing a number of the build items through production as some were U.S shipping only. Seriously, if you think the UK are ok for the shopping of these bits..the US largely has access to the lot, and more often than not cheaper *waves sad little union jack flag*

[@jimnielsen9299]

@@nascompares true, sadly the Price for the case incl shipping is even more expensive than buying it here, which in my book makes it a Way too expensive case, i’ll probably go for a fractal case instead, love the video though…. As always good info and inspiration, i had not looked into nas motherboards before, certainly something i’ll be doing a lot more 👍

[@Dee77777]

#TeamSeagull

[@nascompares]

You son of a...

[@Tyrone-Ward]

Under 250 WHAT?!?

[@christopherjames9843]

Dude, stick to your pre-builts. All those Aliexpress parts are sketchy as all get out. Who would entrust their data to that junk?