Page 4 - Installation and Conclusion
The be quiet! Dark Base 701 is a comfortable case to build in. This is in part due to the size of the case and the generously large passthroughs for cable management. One bonus is the pre-installed fans are properly cable-managed, and the many removable brackets lend to the easy build process.
For this build, I started off by installing the I/O shield. The ATX motherboard standoffs were pre-installed, so I installed the motherboard, processor, cooler, and memory. I then mounted my power supply onto the PSU bracket with the four provided screws. After sliding in my power supply, I tried to tighten the four captive thumbscrews on the bracket to secure it to the case. Unfortunately, I ran into an issue with one of the screw holes not fully threaded and prevented the bracket from fully tightening. After several minutes of forceful negotiation and swapping screws, I managed to have a secure fit. I then proceeded to cable manage the 24-pin ATX cable and CPU power cables and plug them into the motherboard.
Connecting the front panel I/O cables was a straightforward ordeal. I was unable to hide the rainbow-colored wires of the user-facing audio jacks, but it plugged in easily with a fair amount of room under the motherboard to route it through. The front panel only had the power switch and power LEDs, and they came as a single module without the finicky little cables, so it plugged in effortlessly. The USB 3.0 header had a convenient spot to poke out from the center channel. Finally, I connected the controller fan cable into my motherboard fan header. I left the ARGB LED connector out, as that was not available on my motherboard, but the light strips were still fully usable.
The process for hard drive installation is a little different from other builds. In order to mount a 2.5” or 3.5” drive, be quiet! supplies round rubber grommets that have to be twisted into place. These are not the most fun to work with, and made my fingers hurt after putting a few in. A total of twenty are included, so it becomes a chore if you need to populate all the drives. On the bright side, be quiet! includes some thumb screw posts with a flat head tip to go into the hard drives. Once the posts were in, I simply pressed-fit the drive into the rubber grommets. The grommets are to reduce vibration, which is a good design feature. At the same time, if you lose the custom mounting hardware, you will not be able to use standard screws to mount drives. This unique drive installation is tool-free, so it does make future drive swaps quite easy.
I spent around ten minutes tidying up the cables in the back. It was a pain-free process to get an acceptable result. The routing channels were very easy to use, and there were plenty of tie-down points to anchor the cables. The included cable ties were handy, although I was unable to find the most optimal way to utilize them. You can see for yourselves in the photo how it turned out. There is approximately 24mm of depth at the back here to manage cables in addition to the basement where I stuffed the excess lengths.
Finally, I can have a taste of the fruits of my labor. I turned on the power supply and hit the power button on the front and questioned if it was working. The lights came on, and I was greeted by the two large light strips illuminating the area with the warm glow of be quiet! orange. The only issue was that I could not really hear the fans whirring at a distance. But is that a bad thing? I was quite surprised at how quiet the case was. It was only when I toggled the fan control button, where on the third and maximum setting, that it was very audible like a vacuum cleaner. In terms of sound, using the APH Networks sound scale, where 0 represents silence and 10 indicates loudness, I would rate the Dark Base 701 at a 7.0/10 on turbo. In a normal use case, it is whisper quiet. Using the first and second settings, the sound would be rated at 2.0/10 and 3.0/10, respectively. Getting back to the lights, these are very pretty. Not only does the light diffuse well, the animations, especially in RGB rainbow effect, are very smooth and a winning feature in this case.
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The be quiet! Dark Base 701 is a full-featured mid-tower case promising maximum airflow and usability. It is on the large side of mid-tower cases with a hefty build, but there is a lot of attention to detail with thoughtful design elements throughout. Outside, it has a simple design with large mesh panels on the front and top. The front I/O panel is easy to access with built-in controls for three fan speed settings and a plethora of RGB LED lighting modes. The two large vertical addressable RGB LED light strips that adorn the front of the case illuminate in a soft and elegant manner. The glass side panel provides a good view of the internals, and the metal side panel has sound dampening material. The internal structure is invertible, allowing for components to be mounted and presented either on the left or the right, along with the option to vertically mount the graphics card with separately purchased hardware. Cable routing channels are roomy with many tie-down points. The detachable front and top brackets allow for easy cooling installation, and accommodate large 360mm radiators or three 140mm fans. The case comes with three high quality Silent Wings 4 140mm PWM high-speed fans and an internal fan and lighting control hub. The front and bottom intakes feature removable fine mesh filters that minimize dust ingress. On the downside, there are some issues with fit and finish. Sharp plastic edges, screw holes not fully threaded, fragile clips, and uneven panel gaps apparent on the white color are unfortunate areas to consider. At the time of writing, with a price of $240 USD, the be quiet! Dark Base 701 is marketed as a high-end chassis. It has great versatility and thoughtful design elements that help it stand out from the crowd, but the minor quality issues found leave a stain on what would otherwise be an objectively excellent case.
be quiet! provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation
APH Networks Review Focus Summary:
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that are not likely going to matter to the end user.
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks, but should be considered before purchasing.
-- Final APH Networks Numeric Rating is 7.5/10
Please note that the APH Networks Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other publications.
The be quiet! Dark Base 701 is a full-featured, high-end mid-tower computer case that delivers on usability and performance.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
