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be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 CasingI'm a big fan of be quiet !, and has been looking forward to begin reviews of their products. We are starting a small series of be quiet! products with their Dark Base Pro 900 case. Read here what it offers of features and how it performs.
be quiet! is a German manufacturer that makes casings, coolers, power supplies and other accessories of the highest quality. They choose quality rather than quantity, which is possible to see in their product line. It is elegant and subdued, and I really do not think they have an RGB product yet. There must be a certain will to resist to ride that wave. But be quiet! manages that with full conviction. As a preview, I think that you should watch this video be quiet! have made about this particular case. Dark Base Pro 900 is a large full ATX case with a lot of customization options
Technical specifications: Since this case has a meter long specification list, I have chosen to pull the primary things up. To see the full list, I have made a PDF copy of it, which you can download here.
Now let's see how it is wrapped: The box you receive is robust, with print on all pages showing specifications and illustrations of the case. Inside the box, the case is well protected with flamingo on the sides and in a nice cloth bag. It simply oozes quality. (You can despite cloth bag still get the shock of static electricity when unpacking the case) Note the extra bottom filter that is .
Accessories to the case: When you have unpacked the case, and found the content which is inside the, this is what you'll find. A cardboard box with bracket for pump, Velcro strips and various screws and rubber accessories. A long cardboard box with LED strips for the light control. They are not flexible or magnetic as we have seen from other suppliers, but long PCBs with double sided 3M tape.
Now it is time to look at the case: As you can see, the case is incredibly stylish. It has brushed aluminum on top and front, and the rest is made of steel. As you can see, it is the orange version I received. It is quite nice with the discrete edges in the distinctive orange color. On the back of the case you can see, there is room for a fan at the top, and some free space above the power supply. You can move the motherboard up and down as shown in the video. It creates more space for water cooling at the top or fans at the bottom, whichever setup you plan to use.
The control panel on top has USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 connectors and audio in / out. There is a large power button and a small reset button and an LED for drive activity. These are all kept in sleek black design, even the interior of the USB connectors are black. It is completed. At the top of the case is the possibility of wireless charging of mobile devices. be quiet! have simply followed the wave, and there is no doubt that wireless charging is the future. Behind the noise damped front door we find an variable fan control and a small button to control the light. You can choose from several different colors, which I show a little later. The fast reader will notice that even the front door can be reversed in this modular case. At the bottom you can pull out the dust filter, it covers the entire bottom of the case. Easy to get to vacuum and you can put in the extra filter meanwhile.
The glass is tinted tempered glass. It gives a subdued look into the hardware. The other side is made of steel, with an adjustable vent hole. The glass sits over some rubber bushings, and you hold it in place with thumbscrews. Easy and effortless.
As you can see, the glass is slightly smoky coloured. All panels are noise damped on the back with foam, to avoid unwanted vibration and noise. Thumb screws on the side panel is attached, so you do not lose them. It is common for most thumbscrews throughout the case.
The side panel has a ventilation cover, which can be open or closed. This way, you can draw in air at the back of the motherboard and the hard drives. There is mounting holes for 2 x 120 mm fans behind cover if you really want something airflow back there.
Taking off the glass panel, you enter the case. Here is plenty space, but it's also a fairly large casing. On the left side is the mounting of the PSU bracket, and it can be moved back and forth, so you can adjust the space for your needs. On the right side hangs all the drive trays, and all the disks has to be screwed on. There is plenty of air around the discs, the way it is made. That's pretty cool. Note that there is no nothing which can be mounted without screws. It is probably also limited how much you move things around, once you've built the system.
For a look at the back you can see that there are oceans of space. All drive bays sits with thumb screws, so they are easy to take out. On the rear panel it is possible to mount a single 2.5 "drive. So you can make a system without drive bays in use. On the rear panel you will also find the fan control, which also functions as lighting control. It is possible to connect the 4 PWM fans and 4 fans without PWM. You can control the fans both automatic and manually, so they can all be controlled with PWM signal from the motherboard.
All panels can be peeled off, so the entire case can be torn apart. It is only the frame that is riveted together. Under the case there is no ventilation, as all the air in the entire casing is pulled in from the sides. There are four large rubber feet so that the case is raised from the ground. If you remove the bottom cover, you can install a few fans at the bottom. It gives a good airflow into the case, with cold air from the bottom that takes the hot air up to the top. If you remove the top cover, you can see that there is plenty opportunities for water cooling. You can mount virtually any type of radiator in this case. Taking of the front cover, you enter to the fans, and you can easily and effortlessly install the optical drive and change fans. Note that all covers can be removed with the fingers (except the bottom cover which has a few screws) and there are no wires in the way when you have to remove the covers. Everything is mounted on the frame.
That was a thorough review of the case, now it's time to mount some hardware. It's not often I find the installation of hardware so smoothly, but I really think it did with this casing. There have been thought about everything in this case, and I could effortlessly move back plate so I could mount my radiator and give it plenty of free air. The power supply was also moved back and forth, but I put it back again as it was the most practical solution. All in all I am super happy with the installation and options in the case. The only thing I could wish, should be a cover above the cables from the power supply. It could have been the icing on the cake, if be quiet! had found a clever solution for that. Optionally with some form of grid or mesh so that the airflow from the bottom is still possible.
On the back there is plenty of room for wiring, and as you can see, the cutout in the base plate is also big, so after mounting the CPU cooler is completely free of trouble. I had no trouble mounting the sidepanel.
Test of light: You should not be cheated from some pictures of the light in the case, so I have taken some. The light in the front is nice subdued and lights up in a nice orange color. The applied LED strips also provide a cool light, and I have chosen to install one in front and one in the top. You can see the lighting in the pictures below and the different colors to choose from.
My opinion: There is no doubt that you are dealing with some of the best quality you can find with this case. I certainly think there been thought about things, and it is only in very few areas I can point out anything. The casing is fully customizable, and you can customize it exactly to your needs which is great. With this case you should not think about on which side the case must stand or what cooling solutions you can choose whether it is water or air. There simply is room for everything. The light is also quite awesome and damped, and you can turn it off if you do not bother having it on all the time. And then there's the fan controller, which can both run manually and automatically. That is also a nice feature. The only thing I just stumbled upon was missing in the case was a cover for the power supply, because there is not anyone who wants to look at cables. The price of the casing is about 1600 DKK in Danish shops, which is actually a quite nice price for a casing of this quality and with all the features that this casing offers. My judgment is a GOLD rating, since I simply have not had a better casing between my hands. This casing oozes quality, and you really sense, that be quiet! have thought things through. There is choosen any shortcuts anywhere.
Read about be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 here.
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