JONSBO N1 Mini-ITX NAS Chassis, ITX Computer Case, 5+1 Disk Bays NAS Mini Aluminum with Steel Plate Case, Built-in 14cm Fan, Only SFX Power Bite, Support H 70mm CPU Cooler

Some may look at this case and think it's a bit of a novelty item, but I'm very surprised at how well it's built, and the thought that went into making things fit within such a tight envelope. I ended up building something that is getting a lot of bang for my buck, so to speak. I like this case even more than I thought I would after watching some YouTube build videos. Everything fits, but just--you have to make sure you get all of your cables tucked in properly so the outer shell can slide closed. Don't even think about not using right-angle SATA connectors on the backplane--there is no extra room for straight connectors. You'll also want to consider buying shorter SATA cables so that you don't have to bunch up the extra lengths. I'm using 18 inch SATA cables with right angle on one end, and straight on the other. I ordered 8 inch bright red cables, but haven't put them in yet. You may want to do the same, depending on your motherboard's SATA connector configuration. I have all 5 HDD slots populated with "renewed" enterprise-grade 12TB drives, and the single large cooling fan is good enough to keep these drives below about 40-47 degrees C when in operation. I tried plugging the fan into my motherboard and controlled it from the BIOS, but in the end I just plugged it back into its socket on the backplane (which is how it comes from the factory) so that the fan runs at full-speed 24/7. It's not too loud for me, but I definitely wouldn't put it next to my work desk or bedside unless you like the white noise. It sounds about like a small room fan at the other end of the room, set on low. No screaming or whining--just a gentle whoosh. I'm using mine vertically, and I didn't reverse the fan, as one or two people have reported. That's not a good idea, regardless of the physics of warm air. This fan wants to blow directly onto the HDD's and that keeps them happy. I've monitored temperatures of the HDD's as well as the CPU, and this single fan is doing its job well enough. If you want to run yours vertically as well, consider buying a right-angle HDMI adapter if you intend to keep a monitor plugged in. Jonsbo thoughtfully included a nice right-angle power cord adapter, so that's one less part you'll need to find. I'm using a Chinese N305 motherboard I bought on Amazon that has two 2.5 GB Intel 226 Ethernet ports and a 10 GB port--one of the deciding factors for me--and at a very decent price, considering that most commercial NAS's charge an extra $100-200 for a 10 GB upgrade card. The motherboard was $299 w/o the memory. I used a single stick of 32GB DDR5. My boot drive is a mirrored pair of 256GB NVME sticks on the mobo. I'm using TrueNAS software on it, and am getting great performance--this easily beats most other off-the-shelf NAS boxes that typically have lower-end, barely-adequate processors and tiny bits of slower memory. This thing will run circles around them for a similar price, which makes this build much more future-proof. It barely lopes along playing 4K videos with Plex or Jellyfin, and can easily transcode them down to 1080p with the built-in CPU in the N305. I know this review is supposed to be just about the case, but I included more detail to show what can be done with it. I must admit that I like this case way better than I thought I would. Opinions may vary on such a space-constrained model as this one, but I'm a fan!

Outer shell is top norch finish and very stylish. I really like how sleek and minimal it looks (kinda having a Apple design style). The internal build is ok-ish ( but hey, this is not an expensive case overall). The PCIe is not aligned properly and it wobbles a lot when place without the outer shell. I bought it to build a PC only for coding. I did not install any extra hard disk and PCIe cards. It works great so far. Cooling is beyond my expectation probably because no disk is blocking the intake fan. The 140mm fan is really quiet (competive to noctua lines). The case is roomy so it is very easy to manage your cable and you can have a decent cooler (I have a 120mm CPU cooling fan). If you wanna put an i7, I think it can handle it. My i5 works well under full stress. You can even do liquid cooling by replace the 140mm intake fan with a single fan radiator (you have to drill into the thin metal frame to hold the radiator). One thing I do not like is the shipping. They charge a big premium but get delayed by one week (taking me half a month to get it). Luckily Amazon refund my shipping charge. Otherwise I would definite give it a 5 star.

This case came recommended on many sites and build lists. I agree that it is well worth the money. It's got it all. Small form factor (relative to the drive bays). Nice layout and access to the drive bays. One screw and the cover slides open to 5 hot swap bays. You can stand it up or lay it down. It's got great air flow with the large included fan. There's really a lot to like and not much to complain about. If you are building a NAS this is the case for you.

Unique form factor which worked well for me. Be careful to the parts you want to install in it. I'll replace it with one of the Jonsbo bigger units, but it's only because I'm expanding my self hosted setup with an LLM (so I need enough room for a GPU). Only downside: the fan is loud as hell and the airflow control isn't that great, because of the holes everywhere. I've had a hard time finding a chassis fan to extract air from the rear and improve the air flow (to this day I haven't found a solution).

So I went into this knowing it'd be blue. I'm fine with that, everything doesn't have to be space gray. In my instance I was coming from an ITX box with a bunch of drives sitting outside, so this is FAR more finished. You need to be careful attaching to the SATA backplane - you'll want right angle SATA cables, and be very careful when closing the case that you don't knock them hard -- the SATA connectors can break off the daughterboard (ask me how I know). A couple of fun facts. I used a PicoPSU 250w, which freed up the power supply area. That allowed me to drill a couple of holes in the retention bracket and install a few more drives, so mine is currently running with 7 3.5 18TB drives. Not bad at all. I did swap the 140MM fan for an arctic cooling one, which increased airflow and reduced noise a bit. I also added a 60mm noctua at the old PSU entrance for the additional drives. This fit the existing mount holes for the PSU. Keeps them all cool, whisper quiet, and not looking like a disemboweled box of parts. Oh, one last thing. The customer service has been superb. I managed to break the SATA backplane - totally my fault. So I reached out to buy a replacement, and they sent me one for free. Great product, great company, will definitely buy from them again.

Great case, replace the stock fan for even quieter operation. I recommend the 'be quiet! Pure Wings 3 140mm' fan as it worked great in my setup. I suggest right angle SATA data cables for ease of install, I used some 8" thin SATA data cables. I wish the case was about .5 inch longer and that space was added to the gap between the motherboard/drive area which would give more room for routing the motherboard power cable.

Beautiful, practical and functional, ideal if you have limited space and very easy to use. I would defo buy it again

Beautiful sturdy case but Noisy, Hard to install components in, Thermal design is poor, I had to flip the face plate to create a ventilation gap at the front. I switched the fan too to a silent fan which just raises the final price. If space isn't a constraint, go for the larger ones unless you just want to use 2 of the 4 HDD bays- that'll give you more space for cable management and less install headache.

i love this case for my NAS, but one of the installation point for one of the feet wasn't tapped right, so the case only works horizontally.

One leg shipped with broken stripped thread, some scratches on unit, besides that… it is a case