We’re back to small form factor, portable PC’s for those that enjoy smaller, more discreet aesthetics from their build. It might be used for LAN parties, be needed to fit into a small space or (in my case) just because they look good anywhere! We’ve turned to Jonsbo this week for 2 reasons: the Z20 is constantly requested in the YouTube comments, and, we’re consistently impressed with Jonsbo products - they’re always well built and result in a stunning build.
Case Overview
We plucked the Z20 from its box. The case is a beauty, we love the pixel like cutout design on the front, which flows around on to the glass, this time in black to match the rest of the case. It is available in multiple colourways on the Jonsbo website, black felt right for this build, but we were also partial to the Orange/Black variant. With the handle attached, the case is a compact (h)335mm x (w)198mm x (d)382mm. As for hardware support we have:
Graphics Cards up to 363mm
Air Coolers up to 163mm
2 x 120 or 2 x 140mm fans on the top or up to a 240mm radiator
2 x 120mm fans on the bottom
1 x 120mm fan on the rear
ATX PS2 Power Supplies up to 140mm or SFX/SFX-L
Stripping the Z20 down to the chassis is simple but protracted. There are 4 thumb screws on either side to remove the panels, 1 thumb screw and 3 screws to remove the top radiator/fan support bracket on the top, 4 screws to remove the PSU cover and a further 2 to remove the PSU support bracket. The screws are pretty interchangeable so you don’t need to separate them out at least! There is a benefit to the depth of the construction, the case is solid in its completed form, we have no concerns with that.
On the top of the case you have the option to mount a very sturdy steel carry handle. It connects with 2 plates hooking into the mesh on top of the unit connected by the handles body. You need to click the final piece into their slots securely before affixing the 2 allen key screw which gives the handle rigidity. I was a little dubious about the handle at first, having a single screw holding each end did not seem sturdy enough, but it has held up well during testing.
Parts List
Why Did We Choose This Hardware?
We have privately built a Z20 before, Matt had his personal PC in one until recently. Aesthetically we wanted: small form factor, minimal RGB and intense airflow. In that build there was a RTX 4090, i7 14700K cooled by a Kraken Elite 240mm. Due to the heft of the 4090 we were only able to put slim fans at the bottom of the case. Matt is very particular about noise and became bothered by the vibration of the slim fans and decided to switch to something a bit bigger.
For this one we took the purpose of the original build, but tweaked it to allow for full size Noctua fans all around to keep everything cool and quiet. It should still pump out 1440p at high frame rates without serious issue. The i5 14600K might bottleneck the Prime 4070 Super very slightly with CPU heavy games. Something that could be picked up if we were to benchmark the rig, but we’re more bothered about real world application, and we don’t think it will have a serious impact.
To keep it all cool and quiet we stuck with the NZXT Kraken Elite 240mm, using Noctua NF-F12 fans to push air through: it’s a powerful combination! The synergy of silence and control is commendable. The Kraken line of coolers use NZXT’s Cam software making it really easy to control the curve for the pump speed, allowing it to operate effectively but remain whisper quiet. The NF-F12’s perform fantastically at lower speeds, and can ramp all the way down to 300 rpm making them all but silent.
What Was It Like To Build In?
We’ve already touched upon the fact that this case was simple but time consuming to strip down. There was a lot to dismantle before starting to populate the case with its components. It was understandable that it needed to be done in such a way to keep the case rigid enough to allow it to be picked up by the handle. To allow for this the top of the case needed to be non-removable, necessitating an alternate way to mount the radiator. This is accomplished by removing a slide out bracket, fitting the rad and sliding the bracket back and screwing back in.
The PSU was to be hung at the front of the case and so needed to be supported from both sides to keep it tightly in place. Requiring the PSU mounting bracket to be affixed to both the case and a mounting plate to be attached to the opposing side. Once secured in place the PSU was solid!
Cable management was a bit of a challenge, luckily we’d chosen an SFX-L PSU, which are typically supplied with shorter cables. The case technically supports ATX PSU’s, if you decide to take that route then we wish you luck managing full length cables in this space! There is a small channel for cables towards the top of the case, just big enough for 2 x 8 pin CPU cables and a sizeable channel running vertically next to the PSU. We’d have liked to have seen a solid back on this channel to keep the cables more hidden, but it works if you push everything over to behind the PSU. We also utilised space below the PSU to coil some cable overspill neatly.
Overall it was a fun, challenging build process. Looking at the completed product it was worth the effort, but this isn’t a build for the faint of heart!
Airflow
With 5 x 120mm Noctua fans, the airflow in the case is about as optimised as it possibly could be. That said, we were a little unsure about how well the bottom fans would do pulling in air though as the case sits only 12mm from the desk. During testing the fans seemed to simply ignore the small gap at the bottom for airflow and proceed to take as much as they needed, sending it straight up to the graphics card.
We decided to move away from the norm and instead of having the fan to the rear of the case as exhaust we made it an intake. The case came with a dust filter included on the rear which should minimise dust build up in this configuration. This had the desired effect of keeping a steady supply of cool air to the radiator.
Performance
The build stood up well to scrutiny when put under normal load and performed well under stress testing. Gameplay testing saw all fans running at around 600-700 rpm, so the build was very quiet. Results below:
Ambient temp 23.8°C
Spider-Man Remastered
3440x1440
Medium
148-156
62°C CPU
69°C GPU
High
136-157
69°C CPU
70°C GPU
Very High
114-132
71°C GPU
70°C CPU
Forza Horizon 5
3440x1440
High
226-240
59°C CPU
67°C GPU
Ultra
149-171
61°C CPU
69°C GPU
Extreme
104-128
61°C CPU
69°C GPU
CPU-Z
Max Temp 88°C @ 600 rpm
Max Temp 82°C @ 1500 rpm
Furmark2
3440x1440
Avg fps 167
Max temp 68°C
Hotspot 74°C
Roundup
Building this week's rig was an interesting and eye opening experience. We’ve seen in recent builds that going for a small form factor case comes with trade-offs. The question that follows is what compromises are you willing to make? Should you want a tiny build, you sacrifice power. If you want something bigger but still portable you can keep the power, but may have to compromise on the cooling, which in turn may throttle the power! We feel this week we’ve struck a good, if safe, middle ground: a RTX 4070 Super is a very capable card after all! You could even treat yourself to a ProArt RTX 4080 Super and run into few issues with this build! The biggest compromise here is to time, disassembly of the case and populating the components took a bit longer than normal. I suppose not everyone switches cases super regularly so it may seem of little consequence. With that in mind this is a build for those familiar with PC DIY, if you consider yourself in that camp you’d get a lot out of this!
Check out the full video below!
Blog post written by Sam Thwaytes