Akasa Venom Toxic Case Review

[siopao1984]

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Akasa Venom Toxic Case Review by VR-Zone.com

It has been over two and a half years ever since the release of the Infinity Zor case which was fairly popular among enthusiasts. Two and a half years later Akasa came to release a new massive gaming tower case, the Venom Toxic. As the product’s name suggests, the new case is designed to match both the theme and performance of their Venom enthusiast-level series, such as the Venom Voodoo cooler which we reviewed a few months ago, all of which are aiming towards hardcore enthusiasts. In this review we will examine what this massive new case can offer to enthusiasts.

Manufacturer’s features and specifications

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Akasa supplies the Venom Toxic case inside a very large and colorful cardboard box. A lot of pictures and information about the case can be found around the sides of the box. Inside the box the case is very well protected between Styrofoam pieces and wrapped inside a nylon bag.



The bundle is extremely simple, especially considering the class of the case. It includes all of the necessary screws and hardware (all of which except the motherboard stand-offs are black), a small black and white manual and several simple black cable ties. There are no extra accessories or cable straps.

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The Venom Toxic case is a massive gaming tower case featuring an aggressive, futuristic design with many edges and sharp angles combined with a bright yellow/black theme. Following the theme of the series, Akasa designers made sure that the front and top panels resemble the form of a snake. Despite the plastic front and top panels and the large perforated areas, the case is fairly heavy, weighting over 13kg when completely empty.



The faceplate of the Akasa Venom Toxic case is made out of hard plastic and metallic mesh. Actually only the frame of the faceplate is plastic, the majority of the front is covered by a metallic mesh, including the five 5.25” and the single 3.5” external device covers. Two yellow stripes are being formed at either side of the faceplate. The venom series logo can be seen at the lower middle part of the faceplate while a nickel plated sticker with the company logo can be seen at the lowest bottom middle part of the faceplate.



Perhaps the most interesting part of the case is the top side of the faceplate, where Akasa placed all front access ports and controls. The large power button can be seen at the center, which also lights up blue once the system is powered on, with a large fan speed control knob on either side of the panel. Each of the two knobs can handle up to 20W, which is at least three fans, allowing the user to manually control the speed of virtually every fan inside the case. Given that most 120mm-140mm case fans hardly consume more than 4W, the controllers are pretty powerful and offer plenty of expansion headroom. In between the two knobs there are three USB 2.0 ports, a single USB 3.0 port, an eSATA port and the standard headset jacks. Interestingly enough, there is no reset button. In order to utilize the USB 3.0 port, the cable has to be routed to the back of the motherboard.



Right behind the many ports and the fan control rheostats Akasa designed a small storage compartment and placed an anti-skid rubbed pad inside it. The storage compartment is fairly deep and can be used to hold anything the user would like; a phone, a USB-charging device or even a drink.



At the top of the case a massive 230mm cooling fan can be found hidden beneath a metallic mesh. The entire top panel can be removed by simply pulling it upwards from the rear side of the case. There are mounting holes to replace the 230mm fan with two 120mm/140mm fans or to install a 240mm watercooling radiator.

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The chassis of the Venom Toxic case is all black, including the rear and the interior. From the rear side of the tower we can see that the PSU compartment is placed at the bottom part of the case and a 140mm exhaust fan is installed near the top.



Right above the rear exhaust fan Akasa drilled four round holes which are covered by rubber grommets. While these holes are most usually used for watercooling hoses they can also be used to route cables to the rear of the case, such as the user of this case will have to do with the USB 3.0 connector.



A dust filter has been placed at the bottom of the case to filter the air of the PSU intake. It can be removed by simply pulling it from the rear of the case. This case has very tall round feet with anti-skid bottoms, although given its weight it could really use a set of four optional wheels for people which would move this around often.



On the right side panel of the case, Akasa subtly etched a very large logo of the Venom series on the otherwise plain black panel.





The left side panel of the Venom Toxic case is very complex, with most of its surface covered by a thin black perforated mesh. The large mesh above the system area is filled with mounting holes for a plethora of cooling fans. Akasa used soft plastic for the fan holes which should absorb fan vibrations of quality fans up to a medium speed; however we would like to see a mounting method with higher vibration absorbing potential when so many fans are to be placed on a thin mesh of a side panel. The side panel can hold either up to four 120mm fans or a huge 180mm-230mm fan. No fans are factory installed.

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Akasa designed the interior of their Venom Toxic case to be almost entirely black but painted several parts with the same striking yellow paint, creating an interesting theme. This might feel like a waste to most since the case does not have a windowed side panel and internal aesthetic enhancements are pointless. The motherboard tray is cut behind the CPU area, allowing the installation of large CPU coolers without having to remove the motherboard from the case. There are numerous holes, large and small, covered by rubber grommets for routing cables from and to the back of the tray.



Here we can see the massive 230mm fan which Akasa installed at the top of the case, aided by the 140mm exhaust fan at the rear which looks tiny next to the 230mm behemoth. The rear exhaust fan has yellow blades, the top exhaust fan is entirely black.



Most of the case’s bottom has been perforated to allow the PSU to draw cool air from the bottom of the case and for the installation of the optional 120mm fan. Both holes have dust filters installed, although the fan’s filter requires opening the case and removing the fan in order to reach it. A PSU too long will block the installation of the optional bottom 120mm intake fan. The PSU will sit on rubber studs which should keep it scratch-free and absorb any vibrations.



The six 5.25” devices are being locked with plastic locking mechanisms but they can be secured with screws if necessary. The locking boards are another part which is painted bright yellow.



The case offers six 3.5” metallic trays for installing internal hard disk drives. A massive 230mm intake fan with white blades is responsible for the cooling of the drives, as well as serving as the major air intake point of the Venom Toxic case. This fan also features white LED lighting.



The black metallic trays feature rubber anti-vibration grommets for the silent operation of mechanical disk drives. The installation of 2.5” drives is possible even though there are no rubber grommets over the installation holes, which is reasonable given that solid state drives produce no vibrations at all.



Our ICTT system is nothing short of tiny inside the Venom Toxic case and plenty of room is being left to work and to route cables. Long PCIe cards of up to 330mm in length will fit inside the case and will not be blocked by the drives. Installing a system inside the Venom Toxic should be an easy job even for people who rarely build their own computers. It really is a shame that this case has not a windowed side panel.

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In order to assess the thermal performance of the case we will be using our Integrated Casing Torture Test (ICTT) system to take readings over a period of one and a half hour. All of the case fans are operating at their maximum speed during the test and both side panels are closed. The exhaust temperature probe was placed above the rear fan of the case.



The Akasa Venom Toxic managed to display exceptional thermal performance during our testing, even considering the size of the tower and the large number and size of the factory installed cooling fans. The temperature of the HDD area displayed the best performance results, which is to be expected with such a massive intake fan delivering the airflow. Despite the omission of a side panel factory installed fan, even the temperatures of the CPU and the GPU were kept relatively low after constant pressure.

The acoustics performance of the Venom Voodoo case is well above average, even with the huge cooling fans which Akasa installed from the factory. The fans of the Venom Voodoo generate 33.5dB(A) while running at their maximum speed, a just barely audible figure. This product is aiming to please hardcore gamers, therefore we do not believe than any gamer would notice the humming noise of flowing air coming from the case; besides, with the inclusion of on-the-fly fan speed control knobs there hardly can be anything to complain about.

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Quality (30% of the total score)

The overall quality of the Akasa Venom Toxic is definitely very good, although we found that there is room for slight improvements. The steel body of the case is very well made and without sharp edges or other manufacturing imperfections and the plastic faceplate and top cover is made of thick and hard plastic, making the case almost invulnerable to damage. It is also worth noticing that the Venom Toxic was one of the few cases we have ever tested with a tool-less expansion card locking mechanism that actually works very well! The aggressive design with the numerous sharp edges of the Venom Toxic case can become a concern if someone forcefully hits (e.g. if slips and falls on) the case. Finally, the meshed parts are extremely soft compared to the toughness of the rest of the case and they can be easily bent and/or broken with a not-so-forceful bump.

Quality Score 9.0/10



Performance (30% of the total score)

We are certain that the overall performance of the Akasa Venom Toxic gaming case will leave no enthusiast indifferent. This case can cope with massive thermal loads even without more than the three factory installed fans and its cooling potential can be expanded even further. If someone wants to install a watercooling system and place the radiator at the top of the case, the massive 230mm fan can be placed on the left side panel to serve as an intake, severely enhancing the cooling of the entire system. When it comes to acoustics, the stock fans of the Venom Toxic perform very well and the case itself is very versatile at the same time, allowing for the on-the-fly speed control of many (virtually all) of the system’s fans through its fan controller.

Performance Score 9.5/10



Aesthetics (30% of the total score)

Aesthetics are a very subjective matter, especially with products of such a design. Some people will certainly find the complex, aggressive appearance and the black/bright yellow theme of the Venom Toxic very cool, while some will be apathetic or even classify it as repulsive. The case is obviously aiming towards certain hardcore enthusiasts and modders, not casual and office users. What could certainly be improved is the addition of a windowed side panel or even the option to purchase a windowed side panel separately. The entire yellow theme of the case’s interior, the spacious design and the excellent cable routing system are nothing short of a waste without a side panel window.

Aesthetics Score 8.5/10



Value (10% of the total score)

With its massive size and numerous features, the Venom Toxic certainly does not fail to justify its price tag. The case currently retails for about 110€ (190$ SGD) at the time of this review, a very fair price for the quality and features of the product. Unfortunately the aggressive, complex design will drive away a large percentage of enthusiasts and especially professionals who always prefer much simpler and classy designs. The lack of HPTX support will also drive away the users which constantly upgrade to the most powerful hardware available or those which at least planned on upgrading towards a HPTX system in the future. However for those that do like the appearance of the Venom Toxic case, it will be difficult to find another product offering this level of usability at a similar price.

Value Score 9.0/10

[SirJeff]

available nani xa dre sa cebu? if available na, asa ta nga store pwede makapalit ani ug pila ang price ani niya?

[ryan101@yahoo.com]

nice case sir siopao?

[ModMii]

bitaw sir siopao naa na ni sa cebu?