For those who wish to make their PC’s look more like a Mac, there are several cases which can fulfil that wish, the most popular yet tedious approach is to buy a G4 mac pro and totally deface the case till no tomorrow. That would be the BEST way in achieving a mac like case.
For those who arent too keen on customising their own cases (like me), there are alternatives, such as the Lian Li case and the case I’ll be reviewing now, the Akasa Zen (White) case.
Today as well as my casio watch, I also received my Akasa Zen Pc Case. I’ve been meaning to get my pc case changed due to the noise it generated. I had about 6 case fans (yup case fans, not including other fans) installed on my previous case which meant the noise was simply unbearable. Though that’s what you get when you want a cool motherboard and cpu.
A very detailed review on the case can be found through XtremeComputing though the photos are a bit grainy. I’ll try and review the case here to provide a further understanding of the case
My new one includes several new features, this includes:
- 2 x 12cm fans, front and back. Bog standard ones (Airflow was 47.98 cfm and noise was 23.1dB(a))
- Nice white case with clear plastic effect on the front of the case
- A cpu vent
- 5x Tool free 5.25″ drive bays (external)
- 2x 3.5″ drive bays (external)
- 4. 3.5″ drive bays (internal)
- 7 pci slots at the back
- an i/o port containing 2 usb2 ports and two audio ports (audio in and mic)
The case didnt include a PSU which was good as I was simply swapping my pc case. Installation was pretty much the same as my previous installation,was scared a few times when I couldnt get one of the screws to come out, it eventually did and I managed to replace it with a new one to avoid any future screw ups (no pun intended).
A bit of paint was chipped off during the installation so be warned before you install your pc case, use a static mat and move the case gently to avoid bumps.
Once the case was installed, I tried turning the pc on.. BINGO, everything seems to work perfectly fine and you can instantly grin at the nice blue LED power switch. That was probably the biggest surprise I had so far when installing it.
The case definitely reduced the noise and temperature by a substantial amount (with less power and fans). Now I’m getting CPU readings of about 34 degrees. I will hopefully try improving that a bit further by adjusting the CPU vent (yup, make sure you adjust the cpu vent so it vents more air out).
Update: Managed to adjust my case so the CPU vent extends further to aid the cpu ventilation, now a further 4 degrees was knocked out thanks to the vent, some suggestions for further improving the cooling would include adding a fan into the vent, and buying some more fans (though thats obvious haha)
The only thing that worries me now is that if the side of the case is blocked, the cpu can easily overheat due to lack of ventilation., hopefully that won’t happen, just make sure the side isnt blocked.
Pros:
- Sleek and pretty for all you mac wannabes
- Big fat 12cm fans for front and back
- Nice Big power switch with Blue LED (simple and effective)
- No cuts whatsoever (be careful when snapping some of the bits off though)
- CPU vent
Cons:
- As its a white case, its almost impossible to find the right drive bezels to match the case, I tried everywhere with no luck, the top bay does provide some integration with your first optical drive but afterwards its going to make your pc case look silly haha
- The fans should really be akasa’s amber ultra quiet fans to further reduce the noises, though costing about £10 per fan you can see why they’ve invested their money on other things
- Paint easily chippable
- Some bits are a bit rigid (the i/o ports and the power button, only slightly though)
Overall a good buy, definitely worth investing on if you’re considering making your pc a pretty sight hehe.
Tags: gear
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