Akasa is no stranger to unusual Raspberry Pi cases. Their previous case, the all-aluminum Gem Pro, featured a unique “gem” pattern and offered impressive passive cooling for $32. Akasa’s latest case, the $33 Maze Pro, is smaller. less “in your face” case with an unusual maze pattern designed to quickly remove heat from the Raspberry Pi 4.
The Raspberry Pi 4 has been with us for a while and it is well documented that it is hotter than previous models. Whether your goal is to replace your desktop with a Raspberry Pi 4, consume media, or your Chia Farm then a quiet housing can make all the difference to your performance. Can the Akasa Maze Pro keep our Raspberry Pi 4 cool enough to fit in between the? best Raspberry Pi cases?
Design of the Akasa Maze Pro
The matte black, all-aluminium body of the Akasa Maze Pro measures 97 x 65.5 x 35mm (3.8 x 2.5 x 1.3in) and gives us all the cutouts we need to access USB, Ethernet, HDMI and power. Above the USB 2.0 ports is a slit designed to accommodate the official Raspberry Pi camera, a nice touch that is often overlooked.
There is no dedicated slot for the official Raspberry Pi display, but with care it can be routed through the micro SD card slot. Next to the micro SD card slot is a power button, connected to the GPIO and a Wi-Fi window. The Wi-Fi window is an odd thing, but it appears to be an opening for the onboard Wi-Fi on the Raspberry Pi 4 to connect without interference from the aluminum chassis.
The bottom of the case is nothing more than a means of sealing and protecting the bottom of the Raspberry Pi. What we are all interested in is the top end of this case, and here we learn why the nickname “maze” has been given to this case. We do not solve the maze with a ball bearing; rather, it’s a new way to add an aesthetic flair while providing a large surface area to dissipate heat. Akasa has a history of unusual heat sink patterns, Akasa’s Gem Pro is a striking and efficient housing with a “gemstone” pattern designed to provide a larger surface area for heat dissipation.
GPIO access is possible, albeit a bit tight. By removing four screws we gain access to the GPIO (see Raspberry Pi GPIO Pinout) but the direct use of HATs and other add-ons is excluded. Using an adapter cable would reduce this problem. Using the jerky jumper pins is manageable, but it will test your dexterity as well as your eyesight when trying to identify the pins in the dark of the case.
Building the Akasa Maze Pro
Building the Akasa Maze Pro is easy. In total there are four screws holding the base of the case up, and inside the case we designed two “posts” to press the main processor/SoC of the arm and the power management IC (PMIC) which is known to the work a little hot.
There is no cooling for the RAM or VL805 USB 3.0 controller. The Raspberry Pi 4 mounts upside down on the case cover using four screws that go through the bottom of the case and apply the physical pressure to hold the SoC and PMIC on the posts. Before we fix the Pi in place, we need to connect the included power button to the GPIO.
Using the Akasa Maze Pro
Whether you’re surfing the web, playing games, running a home server, hosting a media player, or growing Chia, the Akasa Maze Pro provides quiet cooling for all your basic needs. It even stays cool enough to avoid throttling when you overclock your CPU.
We turned on the Raspberry Pi 4 and let it rest for five minutes, after which we measured the idle temperature at 34 Celsius (93.2 Fahrenheit). We then ran the automated stressberry benchmark and the temperature rose to 44.3 Celsius (111.7 Fahrenheit) and then fell back to 37.9 Celsius (100.2 Fahrenheit). These temperatures are good, not as good as Akasa’s Gem Pro, but that’s a bigger case with more aluminum to dissipate the heat.
By repeating the test procedure and pushing the CPU to 2.1 GHz, we saw the idle temperature rise slightly to 36 Celsius (96.8 Fahrenheit). When running the stressberry test, the temperature rose to 54.5 degrees Celsius (130.1 Fahrenheit), well below the hard limit of 85 degrees Celsius that causes the CPU to throttle.
Bottom Line
The Akasa Maze Pro is a modest case that looks good and keeps everything cool without making any noise. It is smaller than the Gem Pro and fortunately also lacks the sharp corners of the Gem Pro. It may not cool as effectively as the Gem Pro, but it provides great cooling for a passively cooled case, which is good enough to avoid throttling even if you’re overclocking your Pi 4.
Access to the camera and the power button are nice features to have and add value to the case. The GPIO access is bearable, but certainly not ideal. We can fix this problem with an extension cable, but this will stop the power button from working.
At $33, however, the Akasa Maze Pro is more than double the cost of the Argon Neo, our favorite case, which supports both active and passive cooling and is three times the price of the Pimoroni Pibow Coupe 4, which benefits from a fan. . but is also an excellent case with easy access to the GPIO pins. To really take advantage of the Akasa Maze Pro, you really have to love the design, not just the functionality.