Best compact case for a DIY NAS: Jonsbo vs Fractal

A DIY NAS gets much easier to buy when the case sets the rules first. Choose Jonsbo N3 for eight front-access hard drives, Jonsbo N4 for a low-profile mATX build, Fractal Node 304 for Mini-ITX with an ATX PSU, or Node 804 when you want more expansion space. Drive count starts the shortlist; the HBA bracket, PSU length and cable exits finish it.

Specifications and layouts come from the makers’ pages, drawings and product sheets, checked October 25, 2026.

Quick picks: give every part a home

• Eight front-access HDDs: Jonsbo N3. Eight 3.5-inch backplane bays and a separate SSD mount around a Mini-ITX board. Choose the short SFX supply before ordering the rest.
• Low-profile mATX: Jonsbo N4. Six HDD positions, two SSD positions and four low-profile expansion slots. It gives a larger motherboard a compact home, with a clear limit on card height.
• Mini-ITX with an ATX PSU: Fractal Node 304. Six shared drive mounts, fixed brackets and supplied front/rear fans. Match the drive layout to your expansion-card length.
• Room for an HBA and another card: Fractal Node 804. A roomier mATX cube with five full-height expansion positions and flexible drive mounting. Give the motherboard’s actual slots and lane allocation the final vote.

If you’d rather install drives and start using the NAS, compare the prebuilt NAS picks. These cases suit a build where choosing the board, controller and storage software is part of the fun.

Compare the cases

Dimensions below use width × depth × height throughout. Card and cooler limits are in millimetres.

Case and best fit	Drives, board, power and clearance
Jonsbo N3: choose eight front-access HDD bays when a Mini-ITX board gives you the connections you need.	8 × 3.5-inch backplane bays + 1 × 2.5-inch mount. Mini-ITX; two full-height slots. SFX PSU ≤105 mm, card ≤250 mm, CPU cooler ≤130 mm. Maker cooling drawing: two standard 100 mm drive fans; two optional 80 mm board fans. 233 × 262 × 298 mm.
Jonsbo N4: choose a compact mATX layout when your HBA, NIC or other expansion cards are low-profile.	6 × 3.5-inch + 2 × 2.5-inch: four HDD bays on the hot-swap backplane, two fixed HDD positions; SSD mounts fixed. ITX/mATX; four low-profile slots. SFX PSU ≤125 mm, card ≤230 mm, cooler ≤70 mm. One 120 mm fan included. 286 × 300 × 228 mm.
Fractal Node 304: choose Mini-ITX and an ATX supply when fixed drive brackets suit your maintenance routine.	Six shared 3.5/2.5-inch mounts, no hot-swap backplane. Mini-ITX/Mini-DTX; two slots. ATX PSU ≤160 mm, cooler ≤165 mm, card thickness ≤45 mm. Card length: 170 mm with all three drive brackets; 310 mm with two brackets installed. Two 92 mm front fans and one 140 mm rear fan included. 250 × 374 × 210 mm.
Fractal Node 804: choose the larger mATX cube when you want drive cages and more full-height expansion positions.	Eight dedicated HDD + two dedicated SSD + two shared mounts, no hot-swap backplane. mATX/Mini-ITX; five slots. ATX PSU ≤260 mm, cooler ≤160 mm; card ≤320 mm, or ≤290 mm with a lower front fan. Product sheet: three 120 mm fans included, ten fan positions. 344 × 389 × 307 mm.

Jonsbo N3: eight drives behind the front panel

The N3 specifications and feature drawings make this the front-access pick. The motherboard lives above the drive compartment, with the PSU and drive cooling arranged around the lower section. Its backplane and slide-in drive handles keep individual drive access at the front.

The hard limit to notice is 105 mm PSU length. Buy to that measurement, including room to route the leads; “SFX” alone doesn’t settle the fit. The upper compartment takes full-height cards up to the stated length, giving a short HBA a more natural home than N4’s low-profile-only layout.

For fans, the maker’s cooling-position drawing marks the 100 × 25 mm drive pair as standard and 80 × 25 mm board fans as optional. Plan the board compartment around your CPU cooler and HBA airflow instead of assuming the drive fans cool everything.

Jonsbo N4: six HDDs, four on the backplane

The N4 bay drawing is worth opening before filling a shopping basket. The four left-side HDD positions use the hot-swap backplane; the other two HDDs and both SSDs use fixed positions. That is six HDDs plus two SSDs, not eight hot-swap hard drives.

N4’s attraction is the mATX board support. Pair it with low-profile cards and their low-profile brackets, a cooler within 70 mm, and an SFX PSU within 125 mm. A full-height bracket on a short PCB still won’t fit those rear openings.

The maker shows individual SATA data connections on the backplane. Count the controller ports and power connections for the drives you will populate; the case isn’t your storage controller. Our SATA/HBA guide handles controller and cable choices.

Fractal Node 304: keep the drive brackets in the plan

Node 304 is the ATX-PSU alternative for a Mini-ITX NAS. Its current V2 manual gives the configuration that matters: 170 mm card length with three drive brackets installed, or 310 mm with two installed. Each bracket carries two shared drive mounts, so the long-card layout leaves four mounts.

Six drives and the headline long-GPU allowance belong to different layouts. For a storage-first build, favour a short HBA or enough motherboard SATA connections. For a longer card, budget the remaining mounts before choosing the case.

The product sheet’s PSU guidance adds another useful detail: modular connectors can require a PSU shorter than 160 mm beside a long card. Measure the connector and cable bend as well as the PSU body. Its fixed brackets use ordinary drive data/power cabling; replacing a disk means opening the case and working with the bracket.

Fractal Node 804: take the extra room when expansion matters

Choose Node 804 when an mATX board, full-height HBA and another card are central to the build. The split chamber layout and five rear expansion positions give you more planning room than the smaller cases.

The Node 804 manual separates eight dedicated HDD positions, two dedicated SSD positions and two shared mounts. That gives ten HDDs plus two SSDs, or eight HDDs plus four SSDs, depending on how you use the shared pair. Its storage-server drawing shows how the cages and floor mounts work together.

Leave the lower front fan in your clearance sketch: it changes the card allowance from 320 to 290 mm. The maker product sheet lists three supplied 120 mm fans and ten possible fan positions. You can plan a sensible air path without filling every mount.

Will your parts fit? Make this shopping checklist

1. Board: form factor, ports and slots. N3 and Node 304 are the Mini-ITX choices; N4 and Node 804 add mATX. Put the HBA and any NIC/GPU onto the board’s slot diagram, then compare their brackets with the case’s rear openings. Count motherboard SATA ports after any M.2 sharing rules in its manual.
2. PSU: body, connectors and cables. Write down the actual length limit: N3 105 mm SFX, N4 125 mm SFX, Node 304 160 mm ATX, Node 804 260 mm ATX. Trace the leads to the motherboard and drive compartment on the drawing. Match the backplane’s power connectors and use the PSU’s own compatible cable set.
3. HBA/GPU: measure the whole route. Include bracket height, card length, thickness and the space needed where drive cables leave the card. Node 304’s populated brackets and Node 804’s lower fan are part of that measurement. Plan motherboard PCIe lanes alongside the physical slots.
4. Drives: count mounts and connections separately. Choose the number of HDDs first, leave the intended SSD/boot layout marked, and assign data and power to every populated position. Use our NAS hard-drive guide for drive selection rather than choosing disks by the case’s marketing bay total.
5. Cooling: draw the air path. Check CPU cooler height, fan size/thickness, fan headers and a clear path over the drives and HBA heatsink. The quiet-cooling guide covers fan choice and curves; the case dimensions tell you what physically fits.

For a quick layout check, open page 2 of the Jonsbo assembly sheets, PDF page 8 of Node 304’s manual, or PDF page 9 of Node 804’s manual. The Fractal pages are maker example builds, useful for seeing occupied space. Mark your own parts on the plan before ordering.

Build order: save the fiddly jobs for an empty case

The N3 assembly sheet and N4 assembly sheet both put power installation and cable routing ahead of the motherboard. That is a good way to avoid reaching under a finished build for one forgotten connector.

1. Remove the panels and the brackets the manual identifies. Sort the drive grommets, handles and screws by job.
2. Prepare the board, then install the PSU and route the difficult leads. Fit CPU, RAM and cooler as their manuals direct. Leave drive data/power and front-panel cables accessible.
3. Install the board and expansion cards. Seat the HBA, attach its cables and check the lid, fan bracket and drive positions before tightening everything down.
4. Mount and label the drives. Record which serial number occupies which bay. Use the maker’s grommets or brackets, connect the backplane as drawn, and use your storage OS’s replacement procedure before removing a pool disk.
5. Check fans and drive detection before creating the pool. Make sure every intended disk appears and that cables stay clear of fan blades. Then use our ZFS vs mdadm vs hardware RAID guide to choose the storage layout.

Finish the plan with a backup destination and an appropriately sized UPS. A tidy drive cage is satisfying; a NAS that shuts down cleanly is better still.

Pick the case that fits your build

N3 for eight front-access drives; N4 for low-profile mATX; Node 304 for a Mini-ITX build with fixed brackets and an ATX supply; Node 804 for more expansion room. Choose the board, PSU and HBA as a set, then fill the drive bays your chosen layout leaves available. That gets you a NAS you can assemble, cool and service without turning every upgrade into another puzzle.

Keeping a tower with external optical bays? Our hot-swap SATA drive-cage guide compares front-access trays and trayless cages, with the bay, data-channel and power-connector counts for five or eight HDDs.