Akasa Zen thoughts

JIM_BOB7813 · 24 May 2007 at 12:26

My black Zen case arrived this morning. The case is quite light and looks great. The optical drive mountings are a cool feature and having 2 120mm fans included nice. I haven't yet built the PC but I can already see some issues:

1. The thumb screws are normal screws mounted in a plastic casing, they feel very cheap.
2. The side panels are awkward to fit.
3. I cannot find a vent at the front of the case. I put a torch behind the front fan and saw very little light coming through.
4. The automatic sprung cover for optical drive blocks the eject button when the cd tray is out.
5. The cover at the bottom of the case for usb/audio could block your usb stick if it is large enough.
6. The usb ports are upside-down so and activity light on a usb stick will face the floor.
7. The power button is also a bit wobbly!

I appreciate it is a budget case but my old superflower case that cost me £25 has much better build quality.

What's the opinion of other owners? Is the air-flow good? I see there are plenty of vents along the side of the case but I cant find one at the front!

Thanks.

mishima · 24 May 2007 at 12:50

The build quality is one of the down-sides to the Zen. I've always felt the materials used in there are quite flimsy and a few items could have had more consideration in production. But, being only £29 and having such superb airflow and looks its undoubtedly the best case in the budget range. It's also very quiet and has lots of space.

Begbie · 24 May 2007 at 13:57

Got one myself, came from a genric crappy case, this just looks so much better and the airflow is much better. Altough it is noisy, mostly due to my components I think ( OT any one recommend a decent fan controller?). But for what your paying for it, its fantastic.

The only thing that bothers me is the dvd drive, it covers the button and the dvd drive doesn't fit in right so when I open the drive it will just pop back in!

PinkFloyd · 24 May 2007 at 14:41

2. The side panels are awkward to fit.

--Never had a problem with fitting them when I built a system in one earlier this year.

3. I cannot find a vent at the front of the case. I put a torch behind the front fan and saw very little light coming through.

--Vent is at the bottom of the front panel iirc, not ideal, but better than no front intake at all.

4. The automatic sprung cover for optical drive blocks the eject button when the cd tray is out.

--You do realise you can just push a dvd drive in and it will shut properly, they are designed to do this and won't break.

6. The usb ports are upside-down so and activity light on a usb stick will face the floor.

--What a Tragedy!! :eek:

Does it really matter?

Overall its an excellent case for the price, you won't do any better for the money.

Jonny L · 24 May 2007 at 16:40

Somebody just got told

mishima · 24 May 2007 at 22:19

fobose · 24 May 2007 at 22:48

I have an Akasa Mirage, and I find the side panels awkward to fit on that. There is a rail on the bottom you need to line up, aswell as a rail down the side at the front and unless the case is pulled out from under the desk with no desk legs in the way it takes a lot of patience. - My old chieftec Scorpio was a doddlle to attach the side even in the most awkward positions.

I also find the top panel doesn't "fit" properly, as once you place it on top you need to give it some force at the back so its in place but it is very easy to slide out and back in to position though.

<edit> - I do like the case though, it looks good and the inside is awesome, shame the front USB/firewire/headphone ports have crappy connectors on them tho and not a "block" that is easilly to fit without having to figure out what goes where.

WJA96 · 25 May 2007 at 07:21

JIM_BOB7813 said:
My black Zen case arrived this morning. The case is quite light and looks great. The optical drive mountings are a cool feature and having 2 120mm fans included nice. I haven't yet built the PC but I can already see some issues:

1. The thumb screws are normal screws mounted in a plastic casing, they feel very cheap.
2. The side panels are awkward to fit.
3. I cannot find a vent at the front of the case. I put a torch behind the front fan and saw very little light coming through.
4. The automatic sprung cover for optical drive blocks the eject button when the cd tray is out.
5. The cover at the bottom of the case for usb/audio could block your usb stick if it is large enough.
6. The usb ports are upside-down so and activity light on a usb stick will face the floor.
7. The power button is also a bit wobbly!

I appreciate it is a budget case but my old superflower case that cost me £25 has much better build quality.

What's the opinion of other owners? Is the air-flow good? I see there are plenty of vents along the side of the case but I cant find one at the front!

Thanks.

The going rate for one of these is about £25 Incl. delivery. For double the price of a Zen (£55-£60) you can have a Lian Li PC-7, which fixes most of the issues you have with the Zen, but even the beautifully made Lian-Li optical drive stealthing plates partially block the CD eject button when extended. You can easily remove the stealth cover too.

I really think you should send this back and spend some serious money on a case as I just don't see you being happy with it long-term.