Category Archives: Builds

Almost perfect – Jonsbo A4 case review

Sometimes there’s a product that you want to be good so bad that you’re willing to overlook some of the more glaring mistakes. That’s how I felt about the Jonsbo A4 ITX case. It’s a SFF (small form factor) m-ITX case that brings Jonsbo’s unique design aesthetics to user’s wanting a smaller foot print computer. Unfortunately, it’s not all tiny roses and sunshine.

Based on the design, the case it truly intended to be use with either a 120mm or 240mm AIO (all-in-one) liquid cooler. While AIO’s are fairly common in the current day, enthusiast are more often turning to creating custom loops in their build to maximize space efficiency. The “dream” CPU block from Barrow, that combines the pump, CPU plate, reservoir, is just 2mm too tall to fint into this case, which is a shame.

The biggest offender though, is the cable management. Or lack there of. With the case being so small, planning and routing cables is a the only way to be successful and that takes a lot of time. This is definitely not a case for the unitiated or faint of heart. It can be made into a beautiful build, but you’ll need to bring your A-game.

What are you’re thoughts? Is this your next ITX case or are the issues a deal breaker for you? Sound off in the comments here or in the YouTube comments section.

Check out the other Jonsbo case I’ve looked at, the late Jonsbo VR1

Sweet Shreds! 1st gen threadripper is on sale

Let’s say that you were in the market for a high-core-count processor to work and play with, but wanted to keep the pain to your wallet minimal? You could always do something like the Ryzen 7 3900X. With 12 cores, all but the most intense tasks will not be an issue. But that’s still a near $400 CPU so it might be a bit rich for some. If only there was an option that was nearly as fast but for nearly half the cost!

Oh, wait. There is and it’s called the THREADRIPPER 1920X.

Continue reading Sweet Shreds! 1st gen threadripper is on sale

20tb for less than a grand – part 02

Last time on The Marduk Report, we took a look at the parts that would go into building a great NAS for less than a grand.

In this second part, we go in depth with setting up the OS, getting the system ready for files along with sharing them, and talk about what was learned from this experience and where it will move to next.

This is a long video, so buckle up.


Remember to check back for more content and be sure to let us know what kinds of products you want to see on here.

20tb for less than a grand – Nas4free build part 01

So we all know that the best weapon against disaster is preparedness. You can take a lot of the sting out of  a disaster if you’re already expecting it and have taken necessary steps to mitigate the damage.

Data backups and storage can be seen in much the same way.  As much as I wish it was true, HDDs don’t last forever. So to prepare for that time when our drives die, you should be backing up your data. And not just to a single drive you were using five years ago and just found at the bottom of your junk drawer, but using the 321 rule at the very least. If you don’t know what that is, there’s an explanation in the video below.

This video is the first in a two part build log of NAS (network attached storage) where we take a look at the components needed to build one and then do the build itself.  It’s pretty incredible the amount of storage one can fit in such a small footprint.

Putting together a build like this is actually fairly simple as CPU performance doesn’t need blisteringly fast parts to do a great job.

What do you think? Would you consider this build for a NAS or do you have something else that you think would work just a little better for a little less? Let me know! And make sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE for more videos!