Page 2 - Physical Look - Outside
After taking off the fabric bag and plastic wrap on the be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2, I had to take a step back to really understand how large this case was. In some ways, the size is an unavoidable topic, almost like the elephant in the room. There are a few design elements that try to make it seem a bit smaller than it actually is, including curved edges and sloping sides. All of the corners of this case are curved or cut down too. Even so, this case is unapologetically big and just comes with the territory of this form factor. In terms of colors, this is the Orange variant so you will see several orange highlights around the case, including the ring around the left side. Otherwise, the rest of the chassis is black in color. Around the edges we have a mesh pattern on both sides, which is to help with airflow in this tower. The front panel is a solid panel made up of aluminum with a brushed metal finish. This panel has a be quiet! logo on it, and swings open on one side to give users access to other things inside, as we will see later on. Appearance wise, it is not exactly a gamer case, but it stands out in terms of its size and design.
Continuing on the topic of size, the whole case is classified as a full-tower with motherboard support of up to E-ATX motherboards. In terms of dimensions, the chassis is 577mm in length, 243mm in width, and 586mm in height. Comparatively speaking, the only other full-tower case I reviewed was actually the first case I reviewed, the Cooler Master Storm Stryker. That case was larger in all dimensions, but was actually a kilogram lighter. At a weight of 14.39kg, this Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 is almost double the weight of some mid-tower cases. Looking at the materials, the weight is understandable when you see the mixture of aluminum, ABS plastic, and a 4mm thick tempered glass side panel. These material choices do make the case both sturdy and heavy.
At the top, there are a few interesting things to speak of. At the front, you can see all of the I/O on the be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2. This includes two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, pair of headphone and microphone audio jacks, square power button with an orange LED underneath for power status, LED controller switch to toggle the internal RGB controller, round white hard drive activity light, USB Type-C port, and one more USB port. This last USB port is not connected to the computer, but instead provides 5V at 1A for charging devices. While more modern USB chargers now offer more wattage for charging, it is nice to see this option without taking away from any USB ports. The first revision of the Dark Base Pro 900 actually had two USB 2.0 ports here instead of the Type-C and charging ports. In addition, if you want to charge without connecting cables, you can use the integrated Qi wireless charger located on the top panel of the Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2. This is useful for mobile devices and wireless peripherals that support this wireless charging standard, like the Cooler Master MM831. Otherwise, the rest of the top panel is flat with only two small slits at the back of the case for exhausting air out. While some cases may have better ventilated tops for their cases, this is still a be quiet! case, so noise dampening is the bigger priority here.
Moving to the right side and the back of the case, you can see we have a mostly standard look, though there is one difference. At the back we have a large opening at the top for the motherboard I/O panel. Beside this is an opening with mounting positions for either a 140mm or 120mm fan, though a 140mm fan is already attached on the inside. Underneath, we have eight slots for expansion cards. This is standard for a full-tower chassis. Interestingly enough, we actually do not have any vertical slots for vertical placement of the graphics card, which means you will not be able to do so in this case. Finally, at the bottom, we have a mesh area and a single power socket, but no opening for the power supply. This is different from most cases, as usually the power supply would be exposed at the back of a full-tower. However, all will be explained when we dive inside the Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2. Otherwise, the right-side panel here is held on with two captive thumbscrews and slides off easily. It has a plastic insert with an opening underneath. This insert can be propped open or popped off completely to allow for more ventilation.
At the bottom of the be quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2, we have the bottom side with a rubber-padded foot at each corner. The rest of the panel is a solid brushed aluminum panel with two slits at the back corner of the case. There are ventilation holes on the both sides of the case near the bottom, so we should have at least some air supply here, even if it is a bit restricted. There is also a mesh filter for the power supply intake that we will see later on in this review. Otherwise, let us now crack open the Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 to get a better look at the internals.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
