Akasa Venom Toxic Case Review

1. Introduction2. Akasa Venom Toxic Case (External)3. Akasa Venom Toxic Case (Internal)4. System Installation5. Akasa Venom Toxic Case (Super High Res Gallery)6. Testing Methodology & Performance Results7. Acoustic Performance8. Closing Thoughts9. View All Pages

Akasa are well known for producing a wide range of products for the enthusiast market, such as fans, laptop cooling pads, power supplies and CPU coolers. They have had good sales success with their range of cases and today we are looking at the Venom Toxic, a full ATX design which offers a high level of airflow.

The latest ‘Venom' products are targeted towards the gaming audience and include the ‘Venom Toxic' and ‘Venom Strike' case, two CPU coolers and a range of cooling fans.

Specifications overview:

• Dimensions: 620 x 555 x 232mm (H x D x W)
• 5.25″ Drive Bays: 6
• 3.5″ Drive Bays: 7
• Front Cooling: 1 x 220mm White LED Fan
• Rear Cooling: 1 x 140mm Viper Fan
• Bottom Cooling: 1 x 120mm/140mm Fan (optional)
• Side Cooling: 4 x 120mm/140mm Fans or 1 x 200mm/220mm (optional)
• Rubber Slots for cable routing behind motherboard tray
• Dust Filters
• Full Water cooling support
• Space for up to 4 x 330mm GPU's
• Expansion Slots: 10
• Front I/O Ports: 1 x USB3.0 / 3 x USB2.0 / 1 x eSATA / 2 x Audio
• Built in Fan Controller (6 Fans)

The Venom Toxic ships in a colourful box with a high resolution image on the front and some basic specifications listed close by. Inside, the case is protected between thick Styrofoam pads and a plastic protective cover.

Inside is a bag filled with screws and some zip ties to neaten the build. There is also a handy little reference manual, which explains the build procedure.

The chassis is immediately eye catching, with the yellow stripes down either side of the top and front panels. The yellow accenting certainly stands out and reflects the ‘Toxic' naming convention Akasa are using.

The front of the Venom Toxic is dominated by the top panel section which contains a lot of functionality (including a little storage area for pen drives). There are two oversized knobs on each side which control up to three fans each. There are also three USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA connector, with a single USB 3.0 connector next to a pair of audio in/headphone jacks. The entire front section of the case is meshed which allows for a high level of air flow.

There are six expansion slots here and Akasa have also included a 5.25 inch to 3.5 inch adapter bay. Akasa have adhered an attractive ‘Venom' badge at the bottom of the front panel, above the company logo.

The case shipped packed with bubble wrap. There is a large 140mm ‘Viper' fan at the top, next to rubber mounted watercooling holes. The case has a total of 10 expansion slots which should satisfy a wide audience of user. The power supply is installed at the bottom and is lined with foam to help remove motion related vibrations.

The left hand side panel has a huge mesh window for installation of up to four 120mm fans, or a single 180mm – 230mm fan. Above this are three smaller mesh windows which are just included for appearance and to improve air flow a little. On the flip side, Akasa have printed a product logo, which is only clearly seen in specific light.

At the underside of the case is a position for a fan and a dust filtered air intake, positioned directly underneath the power supply.

Removing the side panel is easy, simply unlock two thumbscrews. The insides of the case are painted black, with yellow accenting to highlight the fan and expansion ports.

The other side panel is removed in the same way, by removing two thumbscrews. There is a large opening behind the motherboard section for easy removal and installation of backplate oriented CPU coolers. Akasa have included a handful of rubber mounted routing holes to neaten up a system build.

At the top of the case, are positions for installation of up to eight drives, these are locked in place with plastic sliding locks. There is a black coloured 220mm fan mounted at the front in an intake position.

Akasa have installed a large black coloured 230mm ‘Venom' fan at the top of the case, in an exhaust position. Underneath, is a supporting, yellow coloured 140mm fan, also in an exhaust position. We think the larger fan would have looked better in a matching yellow.

The bottom of the case includes a position for an optional fan. All intake areas are covered with dust filters to ensure the system remains as clean as possible.

Installing a hard drive is straightforward, and all of the bottom trays can fit a 2.5 inch drive without the need for a 3.5 inch bay adapter.

This process only takes a couple of minutes.

The drives can be slid into place with a little push. They lock in place, with an audible click. Installing an optical drive requires the removal of the front panel section and the subsequent cover. The drive then slides in and locks into place.

Akasa have included a fan controller, split into 2 x 3 fan configurations, directly manipulated via the two oversized knobs on either side of the interface panel at the front of the case. There is a USB 3.0 connector which is blue and connects to the I/O panel of the motherboard at the rear. This is a slight negative point for us, as we prefer the neater internal connector methodology.

The expansion ports have a plastic locking system in place, which clip open to allow for graphics card, and device installation. Compared with the Lian Li metal lever system it feels rather fragile and somewhat fiddly.

The case is well engineered and we had no problems fitting the power supply and motherboard in place, taking only a handful of minutes for each.

The Venom Toxic can handle graphics cards up to 330mm in length, which means it will accept the biggest products on the market, including an AMD HD6990. We liked the routing positions as a very clean system build was possible with minimal effort. Cable management really is exceptionally good.

On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source.

Today we are building a high performance enthusiast level system for testing. For a change we are using the AMD FX 8150 processor with an Asus motherboard (not pictured on the build phase of this review).

Processor: AMD FX 8150 Black Edition.
Motherboard: Asus CrossHair V.
Cooler: Noctua NH D14.
Memory: ADATA 1600mhz Gaming memory.
Graphics Card: HIS HD6950 ICE Q.
Power Supply: Corsair TX750M.
Boot Drive: Patriot Wildfire 240GB SSD.
Secondary Drive: 1TB Samsung.

Windows 7 Enterprise Edition 64bit

Thermal Diodes
Raytek Laser Temp Gun 3i LSRC/MT4 Mini Temp
Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2

Firstly let us have a look at the chassis design and airflow, as it comes ‘out of the box’.

The large front mounted 220mm fan sucks in cool air from the front, backwards, across the drives, components and motherboard, being pulled out of the top and rear of the case thanks to the 140mm and 230mm exhaust fans. Additional cool air is pulled in from the meshed side panel.

We have placed thermal diodes into 5 case positions. 1: at the top of the case, beside the optical drive bay. 2: beside the CPU cooler, next to the exhaust fans. 3: Next to the drive bay rack. 4: In the very center of the chassis, next to the graphics card. 5: close to the power supply, underneath the lower section of the mother board.

Ambient room temperatures were maintained at 23c throughout.

The AMD FX 8150 Black Edition was overclocked to 4.8ghz with a +0.125 boost in core voltage. Fans were set to a midway/high point via the controller.

There is plenty of airflow inside the case, and the results are positive. The cooling isn't quite at the same level as the Cooler Master Storm Trooper case which we reviewed in early November. Still, this case can clearly cope with some high end, overclocked components.

We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.

Today to test the chassis we have taken it into our acoustics room environment and have set our Digital Sound Level Noise Decibel Meter Style 2 one meter away from the case. The room rates as 21dBa before powering on the system (air conditioning unit in the far corner of the room causes this).

As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.

KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refrigerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum

We have replaced the graphics card with a Sapphire HD5670 Ultimate edition.

The internal fan controller was also bypassed, directly hooked into the motherboard.

By using the built in fan controller and setting all fans to ‘low', the noise emissions can be reduced further. Noise levels generally are very unobtrusive, although the case is clearly audible, much like the Cooler Master Storm Trooper.

Akasa have years of experience in the chassis sector and the Venom Toxic is a very impressive piece of engineering. Their entry into the gaming sector has yielded a well designed, capable airflow chassis which will suit overclocked system builds with high levels of heat emission.

The Venom Toxic might not attract the eye in the same way as a streamlined, understated Lian Li chassis, but the bold, bright colours will certainly appeal to the gaming audience who want to make a statement. The front panel functionality is extremely impressive, and the dual controls for two sets of tri fan configuration means that the noise to performance ratio can be carefully balanced.

The meshed panel design is proving popular with a wide audience, and the side panel mounting system allows the user to configure either a quad 120mm configuration or a single larger fan, up to 230mm. We know that people in this sector love the ability to choose how they cool their new system build, so while not unique to the Venom Toxic, it is a welcome addition.

Internally, the black paintwork is complemented by the yellow accenting on the fans, and mounting brackets. The only concern I have, is the expansion slot lever system, which is supported by a rather fiddly plastic implementation. We feel utterly spoilt by the latest Lian Li lever locking configuration, which is metal and clearly built to last a very long time.

The Akasa Venom Toxic is available in the United Kingdom for £119.95 inc vat, and it offers good value for money. There is no doubt that the Cooler Master Storm Trooper is a superior design, with better cooling prowess, but it will set you back £30 extra. Both cases are extremely appealing however and if you are willing to make a few compromises, then the Akasa Venom Toxic is certainly ‘worth buying'.

Pros:

• dramatic design will appeal to gamers.
• plenty of fans.
• fan control is useful.
• loads of internal space.
• can accept the biggest graphics cards.
• Great design for cable routing.
• side panel means multiple fan configurations can be used.
• front panel is fully loaded.

Cons:

• The appearance might alienate some people with more ‘reserved' taste.
• Competition is tough in this sector.
• expansion bay locking system isn't great.

Kitguru says: An excellent gamers oriented chassis from Akasa which will prove popular for those people who really want to make a statement, without spending a fortune.

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