Published in Reviews

Akasa affordable PC case

by on23 March 2007
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Review: Akasa AK-ZEN-01-WH

 

Akasa AK-ZEN-01-WH is stylish case and many of my friends really appreciated its design. Zen is affordable case for each pocket and is silent due to 2 x 12cm front and rear Akasa fans. It looks great with its ipodish white design but after a couple of months of lab usage I have to share its pros and cons.

 

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Good thing is you can choose between Black or White edition. We tested the white one.

 

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As you can see front panel is aesthetically designed. I/O front panel is hidden at bottom, it is easy accessible and gives you 2 USB ports plus one audio I/O port. Big power button with blue led and restart button are also nice designed and soft at pressing.

 

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The button that ejects the DVD / CD drive tray is not perfect. You can ejects the CD / DVD but you can not press the button and get the tray back. You have to physically push the tray to get it back. 

 

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The case is (H x W x L)  450 x 200 x 500mm and there is enough space for ATX or micro ATX motherboard type. 12cm front and rear fans come with fan noise up to 23.1db and are quiet and have good airflow.

 

It is very hard to change the components inside of the case. More than half holes for screws on the motherboard place are drilled incorrectly and you have to work on them to make it possible to screw the screws correctly. You can blame the cheap finishing but bare in mind as it is a cheap case.

 

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PSU bearing is half way done because holding part on the side of the case is not in the same line level with the main holding part.

 

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You can fit Blu-ray, HD-DVD, DVD or CD drive or all together in a case, it has four 5.25 inch bays and mounting is easy due to new screw free mechanism. The case has two 3.5 inch bays for floppy or card reader and four 3.5 inch bays for hard drives and it should be enough for average user. Front fan is positioned that it can cool Hard Drive at the same time as providing good airflow within the case.

 

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The case is big enough for water cooling system as most of them will fit inside.

 

Conclusion:

 

Akasa AK-ZEN-01-WH is a stylish case and if you don't want to experiment inside the case or regular changing some components it is a good choice for you. It will cost you only  £30.54 inc VAT or some $50 in America or 50 € in Europe.

 

It is not the biggest case you've seen but it looks great, but it is rather small inside. We can recomend it anyone who doesn't want to spend more than €50 and still have a good looking case.

 

 

 

Last modified on 23 March 2007
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