Installation Impressions
Unsurprisingly, we didn't encounter any major problems with the Silent Base 800's design during installation. Its spacious interior made it easy to install and remove hardware.
For testing we installed our typical test hardware for mid-ATX cases: an OCZ ZX 1000w PSU, an Asrock Fatal1ty 990FX Professional motherboard, 8GB (2x4GB) of Kingston RAM, an AMD Phenom II X6 1100T CPU with the Prolimatech Megahalems and an Inno3D GeForce GTX 580 OC GPU. We also crammed in half a dozen Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500GB HDDs and a Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 1TB drive.
For the photos, we used more modern hardware: the Asrock Z97 Extreme9 mobo, the Be Quiet! Straight Power 10 800w PSU, 16GB of DDR3 RAM, the Intel Core i7-4790K and the Noctua NH-D15 CPU cooler. For storage we used three 3TB Seagate hard drives and two SSDs.
We began by installing Noctua NH-D15's CPU bracket to the back of the Asrock board, but forgetting this step is no problem thanks to the hole in the motherboard tray. The motherboard slotted into place without any fuss at all and connecting everything else was as easy as can be.
The DVD-RW slipped in effortlessly thanks to the tool-free 5.25" system, which again is one of the best solutions we have come across. Installing the 3TB hard drives was just as easy and we really liked the rubber strips, as they not only dampen vibration but they make installing/removing drives a breeze.
When working with cases such as the Corsair Obsidian Series 650D, we were annoyed by the limited room between the back of the 3.5" drives where the data/power cables connect and the case door. The PSU's SATA power cables were pressed hard up against the right side door causing it to bulge. Be Quiet! has not made this mistake, providing loads of headroom here.
Installing the Be Quiet! Straight Power 10 800w PSU was simple and there was loads of room to accommodate an even bigger unit, such as the Thermaltake Toughpower 1500w.
However, extra-long graphics cards that exceed 290mm such as the Radeon R9 295X2 will require you to remove the 3.5" drive cage, though there's enough room for most high-end graphics cards. Overall, the Be Quiet! Silent Base 800 is a real pleasure to work with, providing the necessary features and space required to build the ultimate performance PC.