ONE SERVER to rule them all. That’s our dream—a single, centralized PC designed for always-on action, but which won’t run up huge electricity bills. It needs to be able to run multiple services simultaneously, from media streaming to cloud sync and backup. It needs to be configured as headless machine, accessible from other devices on your network, and handle more than one connection, so friends and family can benefit from your NAS server.
For the past few years, we’ve been living the dream with the subject of our September 2022 build. It’s as capable now as it was then, but we set ourselves the task of improving it in every way: a more powerful mobo that consumes even fewer watts? Check. Plenty of drive bays to allow us to easily expand storage? Check. Take up as little room as possible? Check. How about capping the price at $600 for the base unit? No problem.
The result? A pint-sized powerhouse that’s not tied to proprietary technologies or operating systems, and one that will comfortably outlast even the best that Synology or QNAP has to offer the home market right now. Don’t believe us? Turn the page to find out just how to spec, build, and set up your perfect NAS-like server.
OUR PREVIOUS NAS build was centered around Intel’s Gemini Lake Refresh range of Pentium Silver processors. ASRock produced a series of mini-ITX mobos with embedded J-series processors—passively cooled by heatsink for silent operation, but quad core and capable of handling all your server needs. But while Intel has updated its low-powered chips over successive generations, these have been restricted firmly to the tiny PC market. It’s only with the launch of its Alder Lake-N line in 2023 that new mini-ITX mobos, sporting the latest N100 processor, have made an appearance.
Unsurprisingly, given the multigenerational gap between them, the quad-core, four-thread N100 comfortably outclasses even the top-line Pentium Silver J5040, achieving a Passmark CPU Mark of 5,623 versus the J5040’s 3,395. That puts it in the territory of the i5-7400 or i3-9100, with one major advantage: while those chips had a TDP of 65 watts, the N100’s TDP is a measly 6W (the J5040 is 10W). You also gain the benefit of an updated Intel UHD graphics chip, which ensures better hardware encoding of media streams when required.
When it comes to sourcing an N100 board, you have a choice of two models: AS Rock’s N100DC-ITX ($129.99, www.newegg.com/p/ N82E16813162133) and the ASUS PRIME N100I-D4 ($133.10, www. memoryc.com/44806). For the purposes of this build, we’ve chosen the ASUS PRIME because it works with a standard PSU. That way, if you’re interested in upgrading your current NAS server, it’s a simple process to swap out the old board (and RAM) for new.
The box opposite reveals the the components we’ve selected for this build. Although the board can theoretically support more than 16GB RAM, we’ve played it safe and kept the amount the same as our previous build, which we’ve never come close to maxing out. We decided against using a NVMe boot drive, because a SATA SSD is more than quick enough for server usage, plus we need the M.2 2280 port to expand the number of SATA ports available from the measly one on-board port supplied. This also leaves the solitary PCI-e slot free for other uses—in our case, we added a second Ethernet port to double the server’s throughput.
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Connect the PSU’s twin Molex connectors to the SATA backplate.
CASE AND PSU CONSIDERATIONS
Last time out, we featured Jonsbo’s compact N1 case. This time, we’ve chosen its roomier N2 case, which is still significantly smaller than the four-port InWin case we deployed when we first introduced the concept of a self-built NAS server in the April 2021 issue. With a compact footprint of just 222.5 x 222.5 x 224 mm, it will comfortably fit just about anywhere—ideally next to your router. Weighing just 2.9 kg, there’s a built-in fan at the back of the unit to help keep the drives cool.
Because of the case’s unique— and somewhat cramped—design, you won’t be able to just pair any old PSU with it. First, the power supply needs to be SFX to fit the N2’s frame, but you’ll also need one with a long 24-pin connector cable to reach the mobo. After a false start, we settled on the Be Quiet 300W SFX Power 3 PSU. 300 watts is overkill, but the 350mm 24-pin connector is one of the longest we could find on an SFX power supply, and fits snugly. The PSU also met our needs by offering two separate cables for powering the drives—one with SATA, the other offering two separate 4-pin Molex connectors to provide power to all five storage drives via the N2’s SATA backplane.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
You’ll also need six SATA cables to hook up all available drives. Five of these connect via the case’s backplane, and thanks to the cramped design, they’ll need to be right-angled at one end. They also need to be the right length—following online advice, we chose 20-inch cables, which easily reach the M.2 SATA adapter on the motherboard without taking up too much room. Try searching newegg. com for ‘right-angle sata cable’ to check out available offers—a pack of five can be had for as little as $10.99 including shipping (www.newegg. com/p/0ZF-0187-00004). The other cable that connects your SATA boot drive to the mobo’s native SATA port should also be 20 inches—this can be straight at both ends.
One cost we’ve not factored into the main build is that of additional storage. The Jonsbo N2 case can accommodate up to five 3.5-inch hard drives, allowing you to grow your storage over time as your needs expand. When shopping for storage, we recommend you choose drives built specifically for life in a 24-7 system. We’ve been using Western Digital’s Red series of drives for a decade now with no problems, and we’ve also dabbled successfully with a Seagate IronWolf drive. Toshiba’s N300 series is another option.
The N100 only supports a single stick of SO-DIMM DDR4 RAM.
The heart of your server is ASUS’s N100 board.
These days, there are capacities to meet even the most storage-hungry user—our own setup has evolved to house 27 TB of storage, spread across five drives (1x 8TB, 2x 6TB, 1x 4TB and 1x 3TB). There’s no major premium to pay for WD Red storage, either— Western Digital’s WD Red Plus brand offers capacities from 4TB ($99.99) up to 14TB ($259.99), allowing you to connect up to 70 TB of storage to your NAS—see www.westerndigital.com/products/network-attached-storage/ hdd for details.
BUILD YOUR NAS
Putting it all together is complicated by the size and layout of the Jonsbo N2 case. Start by pulling off the front grille to reveal the drive bays— you’ll see a small Allen key held in place on the right. You’ll need this to remove the four non-standard screws. Remove the top to reveal the motherboard’s bay along with a set of cables to the front ports—unlike most cases, the mobo sits on top of the drive and PSU bays. You’ll see a gap beneath the mobo tray and the top of the drive bays—this provides space for trailing cables to and from the PSU bay, but requires you to build the server in a specific order.
The compact Jonsbo N2 is the perfect case for your NAS server.
Turn your attention to the back of the case. Remove the rear grille on the right to reveal the case fan. This helps to cool the drives, and should be sufficient in most cases (our drives idle at under 80 F, even with all five bays filled). Behind this, you’ll see the SATA backplane, with five SATA data ports and two Molex power ports, delivering power to all five drives. There’s also a connector for the case fan, but ignore this.