Page 3 - Physical Look - Inside
The side panels of the be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 White can be removed by loosening the two thumbscrews at the back. Once loosened, these captive thumbscrews remain attached while users can slide the panels out and remove them. Unfortunately, there was a notable amount of damage here, resulting in a front gap between the solid panel and the rest of the case. While I was able to bend the panel back into place a bit, I could not fully resolve this issue. Otherwise, each panel has three hooks on the top and bottom to keep them in place. The panels are interchangeable between each side.
The tempered glass side is standard with a thick pane of glass attached to a steel frame. It has an opaque white border around the edge to provide users an area to hold the side without leaving marks. It is not tinted, giving users a clear view of the components inside. Unfortunately, there is no dampening foam or rubber to prevent vibration between the panel and the rest of the case. The solid steel side, on the other hand, has a layer of sound-dampening material to reduce noise output. This material is thin and dense, which adds a bit of weight to the steel side.
The front panel pops off from the bottom edge, as there is an opening here. You can pull the bottom off the ball-and-socket joints and slide the top off. The top I/O is fixed to the rest of the case so there are no cables attached. Instead, there is an exposed set of pads on the bottom edge, which line up with pogo pins on the front plastic panel. This powers the ARGB light strip here. On the back of the panel, you can also see a layer of sound dampening foam. Once you remove the front panel, you can also take off the plastic filter, which reduces dust from getting sucked in. These metal rails can also be removed by loosening the thumbscrews so users can mount their cooling without being inside the case. Another thin magnetic mesh filter can be found at the bottom. This is separated so it can be removed when you have a 5.25" optical drive.
The fans found here are two retail-grade Silent Wings 4 140mm PWM high-speed fans in their white variant. Each of them reaches a maximum rotational speed of 1900RPM, providing an airflow of 78.4CFM and an air pressure of 2.36mmH2O. According to the manufacturer, this has a lifespan of 300,000 hours with its fluid dynamic bearings keeping a maximum 29.3dBA of noise output. By default, these fans are plugged into the integrated fan controller.
Peering inside, you can see that the be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 White maintains a typical open-concept design with the primary divider separating the power supply basement. Everything inside is white, maintaining a consistent color choice from the outside. The paint on these panels does not scratch off easily, which is a good feature. The Dark Base Pro 901 White can accommodate E-ATX motherboards, which is expected given its large interior space. By default, it comes configured from the factory with the motherboard facing the left side panel. However, similar to the Dark Base Pro 900, you can invert the interior layout so that the motherboard faces the opposite direction in an opposite orientation, and it positions the GPU above the CPU.
At the back, you will see the large opening behind the motherboard. This is helpful for installing third-party coolers, as you can change the mounting mechanism while keeping the motherboard in place. There is also one large opening above the motherboard for cables to route and connect here. Moving further up, there are three 4-pin PWM headers, which is part of the internal fan controller. At the top, there are mounting rails for users to install cooling options. These rails are installed with thumbscrews so users can attach fans or radiators outside of the case for easier access before putting it in place. There is accommodation for up to three 120mm or 140mm fans. It can hold radiators up to 360mm in length too. At the back, we have one more 140mm Silent Wings 4 White PWM high-speed fan. Finally, above the rails are a pair of removable solid panels. They are lined with acoustic dampening foam to reduce more noise.
Down to the bottom, we can see the expansion slot covers. There is a total of eight slots, which is typical for a full-tower case. As mentioned previously, all of the slots can rotate to accommodate for vertical mounting of your video cards. At the bottom, you can see the divider between the power supply and the rest of the chassis is a solid panel. The other thing here is a thin translucent line on the edge of the power supply shroud. This is another addressable RGB LED light strip that is plugged into the controller. Finally, there is a notable gap at the back for users to pass wires and cables, like the front I/O connectors, through here.
Towards the front, we have the other side view of the two front fans. As expected, these are mounted on rails to so you can install more cooling options here. This includes up to three 120mm or 140mm fans or a radiator up to 420mm in size. If you do choose a larger radiator, you may need to remove the plate that sits over the basement. Depending on the thickness of your radiator and fans, you may also need to remove the drive cage underneath. Moving on, you can see there are actually no rubber grommets around the routing holes to the right of the motherboard. Instead, we have a white metal piece that covers visibility from one side while still allowing users to route cables through. I am not really a fan of this, as this means less flexibility for thicker cables or headers. All of the holes are folded over with smooth edges to prevent users from accidentally cutting their cables or fingers here.
At the front, you will notice a set of five plastic covers. This is where you can install 3.5" or 2.5" disk drives. You will need a drive bay, which you can either take from the basement drive cage or obtain separately. If you instead want to use this area as air intake, you can remove this entire area and swap it out with an included set of fan rails. This lines up with the ventilated side panel out the back.
On the other side of the be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 White, we have the cable management area. At the front we have the aforementioned five slots for mounting storage options. Down the middle, we have a large cable valley in the middle for users to lead cables through. There are two pre-attached Velcro straps that hold all of the front I/O cables together. These cables are all sleeved in white and blend in well with the rest of the enclosure. At the top, you can see the clearance above the motherboard tray, which is quite spacious. Behind the motherboard area, there are two metal trays for mounting 2.5" drives, such as SSDs. When mounted, these have space near the connections, so the cables attached to your SSDs are not bent too much. There are routing holes and multiple tie-down points to organize these cables and keep them neat. Otherwise, there is a lot of space at the back for cable management. At a minimum, we have 2.7cm between the side panel and the case, which is good for even thicker cables.
At the bottom, we have a drive cage at the front with two metal bays included for two 3.5" or four 2.5" storage options. As such, users can install up to two 3.5" or six 2.5" drives in the Dark Base Pro 901 White with the included equipment. At full capacity with additional cages purchased, you can increase the count to a maximum of seven 3.5" and sixteen 2.5" options. I think the included amount of hardware is sufficient for most people and I am glad there is space to increase this count this when needed. Next to the drive cage, we have the area for the power supply. The area is lined with foam to reduce any vibrations that may occur from the power supply.
As I have mentioned, there are many accessories with the be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 White, and they are found in two separate cardboard boxes. From left to right, we have a set of rails to allow for mounting fans or radiators on the side. This can accommodate up to three 120mm fans or a 360mm radiator. Next, the front mesh panel provides more airflow to your system. Underneath, we have all of the screws found in individual plastic pouches. Nearby is a translucent plastic box, which holds the rest of the screws and some Velcro straps. A C-bracket is close by, and this is a graphics card holder. It also has paths to route the power cables through and hide extra wires from plain sight. Three metal shells are included here to help with propping up your graphics card when it is mounted vertically, mounting an optical disk drive, and managing cables with an extended ATX motherboard. Next to the mesh panel is a slotted plastic tray that can be used to provide ventilation between the power supply. This is because users actually have the option to install one more 120mm or 140mm fan in the place of the drive cage. Finally, the large plastic piece on the right is used to hide cables near the hard drive cage near the front.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. Physical Look - Outside
3. Physical Look - Inside
4. Installation and Conclusion
