2003 Winter Case Review Part 2: The ATX Avalanche

Jeantech Butterfly Series JN424SB, Continued

The JN424SB is clearly a step up from the previous Jeantech 2011. In almost every way Jeantech has made an effort to both upgrade and maximize the features and benefits of the JN424SB over the 2011. The biggest highlight of this case comes in the form of a removable drive bay, as well as a channel located on the right hand side of the case with a second 80mm side panel-mounted fan to help exhaust heat from the internal hard drives. In addition, Jeantech strengthens the case by adding a cross member that runs the length of the case from back to front, which eliminates the bend and twist that we found in the 2011 Series case. It is clear that Jeantech has gone to great lengths to enhance the value of the JN424SB. We believe that once most users know the difference between the 2011 and the JN424SB they will bypass the 2011 in favor of the JN424SB, as the JN424SB is a much better built chassis for the money.

The innovative pull-down motherboard tray, as well as the rest of the case, is seen here in this picture.

While Jeantech will not win any awards for being the lightest case in the testing roundup, it was not the heaviest, either. With its steel construction, it is a chassis that features a hard tooled design with both riveting and some welding to assemble this case. The edges inside the JN424SB are considerably better finished and rolled to prevent cuts and scrapes than the edges found in the 2011 model. The buyer's hands will appreciate this enhancement.

The JN424SB features a screwless locking mechanism to allow the easy insertion and removal of external bay devices. While the side panel of the JN424SB does not feature a window, there is not much to see due to the addition of a cross member that covers much of the motherboard area. As with the 2011, the JN424SB features the butterfly-style motherboard tray, as well. We have found this to be quite a good feature, as well as a popular one; however, the butterfly design and the additional enhancements of the JN424SB drive cage have limited the cooling potential somewhat. With only a single fan in the front of the chassis and a single fan in the rear of the chassis, cooling is diminished, even with the two 80mm fans located in the side panels of the case. We found during our testing that the cooling of the JN424SB was considerably improved over the 2011, but much of this improvement is due to the improved grill design of the JN424SB, as it features more slits for air intake than does the 2011 design.