***Akasa Venom Voodoo Review***

So after winning the above cooler a review is needed so I have had a little comparison to my current cooler the beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro and heres a short and poorly constructed review for you all.

The Akasa Venom Voodoo




http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-080-AK

Socket type Intel LGA775, LGA1155, LGA1156, LGA1366 & LGA2011
AMD Socket AM2, AM2+, AM3 & FM1
Cooler dimensions 131 (W) x 129.5 (D) x 163.5 (H) mm
Heatsink material High grade aluminium fins, copper heatpipes
Weight 1065g
Installation Screws and backplate (Intel & AMD)
Fan dimension 120 x 120 x 25mm
Fan speed 600-1900 RPM (PWM controlled)
Max airflow 83.63 CFM
Max air pressure 2.98 mm H2O
Noise level 6.9 - 28.9 dB(A)
Voltage rating 12V DC
Bearing type HDB (Hydro Dynamic)
Fan life expectancy 50,000 hours
Fan connector 4pin PWM

And The beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro




http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-000-BQ&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=1395

Overall dimensions (L x W x H) (mm) 133 x 150 x 166
Socket compatibility LGA 775/1155/1156/1366
AM2/AM2+/AM3/754/939/940
Total weight 1550g
Noise level @ 900/1250/100% (rpm) 12.0 / 19.8 / 25.9
Air pressure (mm H2O) 2.1
Air flow @ 100% (CFM) 57.2



First up the cooler and its box and contents.

Box.



The cooler.











Fans.







Mounting hardware.



Even comes with Intel LGA 2011 mounting compatibility.




A comparison in size to the beQuiet! Cooler.







Fitted in the case if like me your CPU is surrounded by heatsinks and stuff leave the fans off till it's fitted as you will end up not being able to turn the thumb screws.



The Intel fitment has adjustable sliders for the current 775, 1155/6 and 1366 sockets.




Once it's secure fit the fans my RAM has a clearance of about 1mm in the furthest slots possible so if you have tall memory you may encounter trouble.



Now on to the test my i7 is a bit of a rubbish chip doesn't like a overclock and runs hot plus it is in a Corsair 800D which according to internet folklore isn't that good for air cooling not that stopped me

I only ran prime for half hour to an hour as I am not testing for stability just temperature increase and after a time it just didn't go up any more so ended the test. I had Mx-3 thermal compound on both coolers. The fans were on thier PWM setting and it's hard to tell the difference in noise levels with them as they are both silent coolers but I would say the Akasa is slightly ahead as the beQuiet has a slight hum to it when up to full tilt. The ambient temperature was around 24°c.


The results:

Akasa at idle.



beQuiet at idle.



Akasa under load.



beQuiet under load.



Conclusion:

So it is slightly behind my current cooler at idle and and the gap is a bit bigger under load but I was expecting this due to the surface areas of the two is different.

I think I might have not mounted the Akasa well enough but cannot be sure, As well as it having less of an area to cool compared to the beQuiet. But I am happy enough with it's performance.

But it looks brilliant, Is quiet, Comes with Intel LGA 2011 support and is a great price compared to the beQuiet!

Well done for winning the product, great review, lots of pictures and information!

Nice review!

WOW i honestly expected it to do better than that, but damn what a lovely looking cooler, should be a centerfold in a top shelf computer mag imo ><

Good review, not sure about the base of that cooler though, looks a bit dubious to me..

Nice!

It will probbaly be worth giving this a go again after a weeks use etc as the BeQuiet will probably have had some time to cure where as the Venom may nopt have??

Either way this looks like its a rather good performer!

I will have a go at remounting the Akasa as it is a direct contact jobbie and if you do get it wrong then you will get a rubbish transfer of heat I'll update the OP when I do it

was the comparison done the same day? same room temps etc?

i thought the akasa might have done a bit better......but congrats and thanks for the review..... overclockers should do this more often........

Yeah same time of day under the same conditions.

Looks great, the performance is a bit disappointing though. Not a fan of that baseplate though, surely that's not optimum for transferring heat from the CPU.

Rhodri2311 said:

Looks great, the performance is a bit disappointing though. Not a fan of that baseplate though, surely that's not optimum for transferring heat from the CPU.

Click to expand...

Its better. Direct heat pipe to cpu means the heatpipe doesnt have to go to a plate and the the CPU.


The reason I posted earlier is that if the tests were done on months old tim on the bequiet then it would have had good time to cue etc and as such would provide better cooling.

Given the difference in size of the products I think the Akasa has done a fantastic job!

Andrew Moore said:

Its better. Direct heat pipe to cpu means the heatpipe doesnt have to go to a plate and the the CPU.


The reason I posted earlier is that if the tests were done on months old tim on the bequiet then it would have had good time to cue etc and as such would provide better cooling.

Given the difference in size of the products I think the Akasa has done a fantastic job!

Click to expand...

Yeah I was surprised to see it perform so well, The reason I got the beQuiet is its size and ability to shift the heat from my chip, It is really poor clocker even for a D0 so the Akasa has done a good job just my mounting technique isn't so refined

Well done on the win

However I have been waiting for a review on this cooler and I think this certifies that I'll definitely be going for the silver arrow. Surprised at the scores from the beQuite

Nice review,But considering the overclock on the chip,I must admit im a little shocked it didn't do a little better.