Be Quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 Review: A Great PC Case

[Steve]

Germany-based Be Quiet! made a strong impression with the Silent Base 800 in late 2014, delivering on all fronts including top-notch thermals, easy installation, an excellent build quality and plenty of features. Most impressive of all, that was their first desktop PC case ever developed.

Now approaching two years since we tested Be Quiet's initial creation, the company is taking things to the next level. In its most basic form, the new Dark Base 900 is a large well-made enclosure that makes good use of varying materials such as steel, aluminum and glass.

At its core, however, we've come to appreciate it as an engineering masterpiece that is without a doubt one of the most flexible and customizable computer cases on the market today. Almost every aspect of the case can be customized and changed in some way. Out of the box it appears similar to any other high-end full-tower case, but break it down and you'll quickly realize this is a different animal you have in your hands.

Read the complete review.

 

[madboyv1]

Oooh, this is a very nice case both inside and out... I do run my desktop to the left of me so being able to invert the layout so the tempered glass window being on the right side would be nice.

As for the price, considering on how expensive similar and smaller cases by Lian Li and IN WIN can be, $250 for this size of a case with the sheer customizability and features is either right on the money or downright inexpensive.

 

[Kibaruk]

If I hadn't switched to a notebook, would definitely consider getting one of these.

 

[Slappy McPhee]

Oooh, this is a very nice case both inside and out... I do run my desktop to the left of me so being able to invert the layout so the tempered glass window being on the right side would be nice.

As for the price, considering on how expensive similar and smaller cases by Lian Li and IN WIN can be, $250 for this size of a case with the sheer customizability and features is either right on the money or downright inexpensive.

Agreed

 

[Boilerhog146]

The inversion is called BTX ,thermaltake armour,and Kandalf both had a kit you could buy to do this type of inversion(BTX),my coolermaster stacker, can do this as simple as sliding the tray out, flipping it ,and sliding it back in,great in a game room where there are multiple rigs to show off..actually it is currently in BTX mode ,posted a pic somewhere else here a while ago..

The Black and orange accents remind me of an 865PE chipset .DFI lanparty MoBo that I have the orange on the board is uv reactive,be cool to have a uv reactive case,,out the old Blacklights,,

 

[madboyv1]

The inversion is called BTX ,thermaltake armour,and Kandalf both had a kit you could buy to do this type of inversion(BTX),my coolermaster stacker, can do this as simple as sliding the tray out, flipping it ,and sliding it back in,great in a game room where there are multiple rigs to show off..actually it is currently in BTX mode ,posted a pic somewhere else here a while ago..

Not quite. BTX physically rearranges the motherboard, most importantly changing the location of the I/O connectors, as well as any expansion slots. As an example which I stole from image search:

What cases like the Dark Base Pro 900 are doing is physically flipping an ATX style motherboard upside down and mounting the board on the opposite side of the case.

 

[Boilerhog146]

Iv'e seen BTX boards like that one ,never seen a retail.only oem,which that one appears to be,that one faces to the right,they also face left .a dell dimension ,forget the model ,cookie cutter box. had a left facing set up..

still a nice case ,simple to work on ,top notch review,

Nice to see an inverted system .with cf or sli in it . for a change ,someone using their imagination.. ,lol.
some green uv el wires,some uv cables..
I knew I saw one,somewhere ,Dell Dimension C521 I have one here. ,facing to the right its not inverted ,

had to go find a pic, couldn't upload mine for some reason, nub I guess..

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

Really confused as to why they have the power receptacle where your power supplies own receptacle would be. It makes no sense. How do you get your own power supply to receive power?

 

[madboyv1]

Really confused as to why they have the power receptacle where your power supplies own receptacle would be. It makes no sense. How do you get your own power supply to receive power?

The power supply is recessed into the case slightly to accommodate some of transformer acrobatics this case can do. The power receptacle provided on the case is a switched passthrough that plugs into the power supply. Think of it as a really short extension cable I guess. They tend to do this a lot in small form factor cases, such as the Silverstone Raven RVZ01/02 and the Silverstone ML07/08 as an example.

Iv'e seen BTX boards like that one ,never seen a retail.only oem,which that one appears to be,that one faces to the right,they also face left .a dell dimension ,forget the model ,cookie cutter box. had a left facing set up..

still a nice case ,simple to work on ,top notch review,

Nice to see an inverted system .with cf or sli in it . for a change ,someone using their imagination.. ,lol.
some green uv el wires,some uv cables..
I knew I saw one,somewhere ,Dell Dimension C521 I have one here. ,facing to the right its not inverted ,

had to go find a pic, couldn't upload mine for some reason, nub I guess..

Are you talking about this board? (praise the power of image search!):

"Facing right" just means from that perspective the IO ports are at the top of the board. If you flip the board 180 to match the perspective of my image (as well as right the board since it is actually upside down in this picture), the IO ports are in the same place as the picture BTX motherboard.

 

[Steve]

Really confused as to why they have the power receptacle where your power supplies own receptacle would be. It makes no sense. How do you get your own power supply to receive power?

The power supply is recessed into the case slightly to accommodate some of transformer acrobatics this case can do. The power receptacle provided on the case is a switched passthrough that plugs into the power supply. Think of it as a really short extension cable I guess. They tend to do this a lot in small form factor cases, such as the Silverstone Raven RVZ01/02 and the Silverstone ML07/08 as an example.

Iv'e seen BTX boards like that one ,never seen a retail.only oem,which that one appears to be,that one faces to the right,they also face left .a dell dimension ,forget the model ,cookie cutter box. had a left facing set up..

still a nice case ,simple to work on ,top notch review,

Nice to see an inverted system .with cf or sli in it . for a change ,someone using their imagination.. ,lol.
some green uv el wires,some uv cables..
I knew I saw one,somewhere ,Dell Dimension C521 I have one here. ,facing to the right its not inverted ,

had to go find a pic, couldn't upload mine for some reason, nub I guess..

Are you talking about this board? (praise the power of image search!):

"Facing right" just means from that perspective the IO ports are at the top of the board. If you flip the board 180 to match the perspective of my image (as well as right the board since it is actually upside down in this picture), the IO ports are in the same place as the picture BTX motherboard.

So by using a BTX motherboard the case is now somehow inverted? That is an impressive motherboard form factor, MagicATX

Really confused as to why they have the power receptacle where your power supplies own receptacle would be. It makes no sense. How do you get your own power supply to receive power?

Here you go, there is a short extension cable. This allows the power supply mounting point to be moved as you change the internal layout.

https://static.techspot.com/articles-info/1203/images/Image_20.jpg

 

[Boilerhog146]

Yes that's the one I guess I posted it incorrectly,but correct in its position in the Dell case ,the lettering is all upside down my guess a BTX then inverted.

 

[Graylok]

Looks nice, it took me 3 hours and a million cable ties and a lot off swearing...... the rubber bits go under the setee
as does the odd screw (and there are no spares). It looks lovely finished though
.go anywhere near the front panel and you will get sleep or off....
don't buy a qpad -- mine does multiple lletters or not at all = they helpfully told me try another computer... another £120 down the drain....

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

So by using a BTX motherboard the case is now somehow inverted? That is an impressive motherboard form factor, MagicATX



Here you go, there is a short extension cable. This allows the power supply mounting point to be moved as you change the internal layout.

https://static.techspot.com/articles-info/1203/images/Image_20.jpg

That makes more sense, but then I'm left wondering how the PSU gets mounted and also still lies flush with the grill vent.

 

[madboyv1]

That makes more sense, but then I'm left wondering how the PSU gets mounted and also still lies flush with the grill vent.

It's not flush, you can see a little space in the slider image (I didn't know it was one, pretty cool) at the beginning of the review:

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

It's not flush, you can see a little space in the slider image (I didn't know it was one, pretty cool) at the beginning of the review:

Yeah but that seems like it gets in the way of the airflow and allows a ton of dust to get in...look above that grill plate.

 

[madboyv1]

Yeah but that seems like it gets in the way of the airflow and allows a ton of dust to get in...look above that grill plate.

My guess is that Steve did not put a small panel back on when he took that picture. See the back of the case during the outside showcase:

I do agree that the extra space in between the outside plate and the PSU is kind of an odd dead zone, and depending on the case fan configuration could be an ingress for dust. I doubt the overall effect is large enough to be a major concern though.

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

My guess is that Steve did not put a small panel back on when he took that picture. See the back of the case during the outside showcase:

I do agree that the extra space in between the outside plate and the PSU is kind of an odd dead zone, and depending on the case fan configuration could be an ingress for dust. I doubt the overall effect is large enough to be a major concern though.

Can't tell, but the PSU might b upside down, also...which causes the air to flow where? Down. Not good.

I've never been a big fan of having the PSU at the bottom of the cage...it's a stupid place to put it. Your heat mainly comes from the HDD, the CPU and graphics cards, and the PSU. Why have the PSU generating heat (which rises) into where your GPU and CPU are? Meanwhile, the fans in the front are blowing heat into the case, rather than out, so heat from your HDD goes into the case, as well.

 

[madboyv1]

Lol I just reread the review, from page 3:

Installing the power supply is a bit more messing around than normal as it doesn't simply just slot into the rear of the case where it can be accessed externally. Instead it sits internally and requires a separate panel for rear access. This means the rear panel must first be removed to secure the power supply into the internal bracket. It's not difficult but quite a few extra steps are involved.

That rear panel was never completely put back, so there's what happened there...

Can't tell, but the PSU might b upside down, also...which causes the air to flow where? Down. Not good.

I've never been a big fan of having the PSU at the bottom of the cage...it's a stupid place to put it. Your heat mainly comes from the HDD, the CPU and graphics cards, and the PSU. Why have the PSU generating heat (which rises) into where your GPU and CPU are? Meanwhile, the fans in the front are blowing heat into the case, rather than out, so heat from your HDD goes into the case, as well.

Normally when a PSU is mounted at the bottom, the cooling fan is aimed down and there is a vent directly below the PSU. In that situation, the PSU is pulling air straight from the outside and then expelling the air out the back of the PSU, never exposing itself or other components to the waste heat it generates. If you're looking to cool the PSU effectively without using heated air from internal components, there is not much of a better solution. This case does not do that of course, but the bottom of the case is still one of the cooler areas. The orientation of the PSU is correct, as there is no venting on the bottom of the case (see last image of page 1), and honestly the temperature difference caused by other components heating air near it is practically negligible.

 

[Someone8MyPosts]

Lol I just reread the review, from page 3:

That rear panel was never completely put back, so there's what happened there...



Normally when a PSU is mounted at the bottom, the cooling fan is aimed down and there is a vent directly below the PSU. In that situation, the PSU is pulling air straight from the outside and then expelling the air out the back of the PSU, never exposing itself or other components to the waste heat it generates. If you're looking to cool the PSU effectively without using heated air from internal components, there is not much of a better solution. This case does not do that of course, but the bottom of the case is still one of the cooler areas. The orientation of the PSU is correct, as there is no venting on the bottom of the case (see last image of page 1), and honestly the temperature difference caused by other components heating air near it is practically negligible.

I'll respectfully disagree on the negligence of heat from other parts. I've had my build for 9 years now and the only thing I've replaced is the PSU, due to power spikes. I built it the way I did, back when liquid cooling was still for enthusiasts, and I still kept on with fans. It's been a work horse and while not perfect in it's cooling, it's obviously done the trick. My GPU is fanless and has been going longer than any other I've had.

 

[madboyv1]

I apologize as I need to clarify, the temperature difference caused by other components heating air near it is practically negligible to the general performance and cooling ability of the PSU; I did not mean that as a blanket statement. Everything in the case creates heat and lots of it, and the performance of the processor, graphics card, and some SSD will be effected, so whichever way you're able to get that hot air out is better than not doing it at all; if anything having the PSU's fan pointing into the chassis means it is helping remove the air from the main body, even if it is exposing itself to higher temperatures.

I've had to replace one hard drive, as well as take off an Accelero Hybrid I had installed because the pump failing, so I count myself lucky for not having to replace any major parts yet myself. *knock on wood*

 

[Zoeff]

Curious, how did you connect the AX1500i? That PSU uses a different connector than what I'm assuming comes with the case to connect the PSU with the exterior plug.

 

[madboyv1]

Curious, how did you connect the AX1500i? That PSU uses a different connector than what I'm assuming comes with the case to connect the PSU with the exterior plug.

You ca--- oh. hmm. That's a C19 cable. Guess you might be SOL with that power supply, because while adapters exist, finding one that'll fit the task at hand may prove difficult. Either that, or case mod time~

 

[Zoeff]

Curious, how did you connect the AX1500i? That PSU uses a different connector than what I'm assuming comes with the case to connect the PSU with the exterior plug.

You ca--- oh. hmm. That's a C19 cable. Guess you might be SOL with that power supply, because while adapters exist, finding one that'll fit the task at hand may prove difficult. Either that, or case mod time~

Thing is though, techspot seems to be using it in this review successfully so I'm wondering if they found a solution.

 

[madboyv1]

Thing is though, techspot seems to be using it in this review successfully so I'm wondering if they found a solution.

You're right... Maybe that's why there was a panel missing right above the PSU (as was discussed with no resolution 8-9 replies ago).