For those who identify your organization “Be Quiet,” your PC circumstances had higher be additional hushed-up. And allow us to be the primary to say that the German agency’s newest chassis, the $299.99 Darkish Base Professional 901, merely screams high quality—right into a pillow. We’re a PC case right here that features every thing from triple three-fan radiator mounts to a wi-fi smartphone charging panel on high, in a good-looking metal construction that weighs greater than 35 kilos. This flagship case prices a bundle, and we did not discover it the overwhelming performer that its dimension and worth recommend it must be, although it is actually no slouch. Nevertheless it may nicely be the high-performance tower that you just preserve for the ages, for its superior appears and elegance.
The Design: Deluxe Supplies and Extra
Many of the surfaces on the Darkish Base Professional 901 that are not vented, or tempered glass, are coated with black anodized brushed-aluminum inserts. That features the facia and decrease drive-bay door, the entrance port space, and the body surrounding the top-panel wi-fi charging pad and vent.
Sure, we mentioned “decrease drive-bay door”: There is a single 5.25-inch exterior bay hidden on the backside of the 901’s entrance panel. The one obstacles stopping most customers from placing one thing there are (1) that the drive bracket replaces the interior 3.5-inch drive cage, (2) that the middle latch is designed in such a method that the door might not open, and (3) that you just would possibly like to depart a espresso cup in entrance of the PC generally. Of these three problems, we have been capable of get the entrance panel’s middle tabs to launch the middle knob of the door panel solely by eradicating the panel from the chassis and bending the tabs aside till they not functioned. This after virtually breaking off the tabs whereas attempting to pry the door open, solely to seek out they tightened, finger-trap-style, as we pulled.
The front-panel ports embrace 4 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Kind-A and one USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Kind-C. Entrance-panel audio jacks are separate, which preserves the stereo operate of the microphone jack in case you’d wish to reassign it as an output, which can turn into extra necessary to multichannel audio followers as motherboard producers proceed to lower the variety of audio jacks on their rear panels.
The Be Quiet’s inner fan controller can take instructions from the motherboard (therefore the sync button) or ignore them (therefore the velocity buttons), and the ARGB management buttons on the alternative aspect of the entrance panel do the identical factor otherwise: The case gives monochromatic mild patterns, however helps multicolor patterns supplied by the motherboard after synchronizing one among its ARGB outputs.
The Qi wi-fi telephone charging pad talked about above seems right here, behind the front-panel ports, on the entrance of the highest panel.
After we mentioned “most” surfaces have been coated with brushed aluminum, we have been leaving room for the 2 panels that Be Quiet did not put a lot additional look work into: the right-side and rear panels, that are each completed in textured black paint. A vent on the entrance of the best panel feeds an non-compulsory radiator mount, its mesh filler offering the one little bit of aptitude seen from this angle.
Behind the best panel’s open vent is—you guessed it—a sheet of noise-dampening acoustic foam.
The correct panel’s vent would possibly entice extra consideration, however the Darkish Base Professional 901’s rear panel might show simply as influential amongst builder decisions: You possibly can rotate its slot panel 90 levels to assist vertical-mounting a graphics card, and a detachable energy provide bracket permits insertion of the facility provide by means of the case’s again panel.
Each the highest and entrance panel characteristic vents on the sides, however that is the place the similarities between them finish. By default, the highest panel’s mesh cowl hides a 2x120mm and a 1x120mm fan cowl, which in flip hides a 3x140mm/120mm fan bracket that helps 360mm-format radiator combos as much as 421mm lengthy and 63mm thick with out hanging previous the highest of the motherboard. In brief: You get numerous house up high, and you’ll seal it off acoustically when you do not use these mounts.
The fan bracket has a built-in three-fan splitter board that is wired (through contact pins) again to the case’s fan controller, and the fan-hole covers have inserts fabricated from acoustic foam. This mix lets builders select between most airflow or most quietness, and the cut up acoustic panels even permit these with dual-fan radiators to cowl the outlet the place the third fan would have gone.
The Darkish Base Professional 901’s backside filter reaches entrance to again, masking each the facility provide’s air inlet and a 140mm hidden fan mount. To entry it, you will need to attain underneath the entrance edge and gently however firmly pull its face off.
Unsnapping the entrance fan mounts’ mud filter exposes two 140mm followers which might be mounted on 3/8-inch spacers to scale back the windage that might have in any other case been attributable to the shut proximity of their blades to a secondary (120mm) set of fan mounting slots. A magnetic mud filter on the backside of the fan mount covers the built-in 5.25-inch drive bay gap, which permits the case to transform from twin to triple 140mm followers by sacrificing the 5.25-inch bay, when you do not use it.
Like the highest panel, the strong panel insert is lined with acoustic foam, and the fan body behind it incorporates a three-fan splitter with contact pins that join it to the case’s built-in fan controller. That pin design reduces heaps of doubtless sloppy cable runaround…bravo.
Eradicating many of the exterior panels lets us view the entrance drive cage from two angles, making it simple to know why you must take away these elements to put in the 5.25-inch exterior drive bay. Additionally on show is a filler panel that supposedly suits as much as 5 extra 3.5-inch drive trays, 4 extraordinarily massive cable-hanging brackets, two extra 2.5-inch drive trays, and a 12.9-inch-deep energy provide bay.
Every 3.5-inch drive tray may also maintain as much as two 2.5-inch drives, one mounted to its high panel and the opposite to its backside. All of the close by screws point out different elements that should be detachable and/or reconfigurable.
From the other way, we see nothing greater than a cable-concealment cowl over a bigger slot on the entrance of most ATX motherboards, and 5 plastic covers for the chassis’ non-compulsory drive trays. Your complete panel that holds (however doesn’t embrace) inner drive trays is detachable; when you like, you possibly can exchange it with an included triple fan bracket.
The entrance panel helps radiator and fan combos as much as 457mm lengthy by 68mm thick—with the decrease drive cage eliminated, that’s—and drops that thickness again to 57mm with the drive cage put in. For those who want greater than 68mm of thickness, you possibly can take away the drive cage and the filler panel above it.
These three holes ahead of the cable-concealer panel are for the three additional standoffs of 13-inch-deep motherboards. (Putting in a motherboard of that depth requires eradicating the concealer panel.) At that time, builders are left with gaps above and beneath the motherboard tray for cable runs.
Constructing With the Darkish Base Professional 901
The Darkish Base Professional 901’s “fundamental” set up package and cable combination is nearly dizzying. It features a handbook, a magnetic base assist bracket for graphics playing cards in the usual orientation, a assist base for graphics playing cards mounted vertically, a 5.25-inch drive bay bracket, a plastic screw bin with reusable cable ties and different {hardware}, an extra cable-concealing bracket to be used with oversize motherboards, and several other baggage of small {hardware}.
A second field of {hardware} incorporates a vented front-panel insert, a louvered substitute cowl for the strong one which covers the entrance drive cage, a fan mount that matches rather than the detachable drive bracket on the entrance of the motherboard tray, and a filler panel that covers the vent aspect of that very same drive bracket.
Cables embrace ARGB, PWM and SATA-style energy inputs for the ARGB strip/fan controllers, energy button and LED leads, HD Audio, a SATA-style lead for the wi-fi telephone charging pad, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 cables for the Kind-A ports, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 cable for the Kind-C port. Discover that not like many older and/or cheaper circumstances, Be Quiet’s HD audio cable doesn’t embrace a bridge loop between left and proper microphone connections; see the outline of the front-panel jacks above for a doable cause why.
As you possibly can see, our full ATX motherboard match throughout the small portion of the case between the cable concealer and rear panel, with little greater than the graphics card extending ahead of that house.
The ARGB strip does an excellent job of offsetting the look of a case in any other case outlined extra by texture than by form. Notice, too, the blue lighting that highlights the front-panel ports and controls.
Testing the Darkish Base Professional 901: Massive Cool, Massive Quiet
Here is a recap of the parts we used for our thermal and acoustic testing, using our traditional ATX mainboard.
For the reason that Darkish Base Professional 901 is one among three just lately examined circumstances to incorporate a strong and vented panel for a similar location, we determined to check the opposite two to see the way it stands up. Who would have guessed {that a} absolutely noise-dampened case would solely drop from first to a tie for second after switching its non-compulsory vented face for the initially put in strong half?
Voltage regulator readings are even tighter, with the 901 becoming a member of what seems to be a four-way tie for first. Nearer examination reveals that two closest rivals are literally a tiny step behind at 1 diploma C hotter on common. Name it a wash.
The entrance of the Darkish Base Professional 901 consists of solely two followers on a triple-fan mount, and we may have performed with fan positioning to find out the easiest way to maintain our GPU cool. We did not (in equity to the rivals, for which we stored followers of their default positions). However even when we had, we doubt {that a} small change in fan place would have gotten our graphics card 6 levels C cooler. The Be Quiet case carried out greater than nicely sufficient to maintain our system secure, however there isn’t any denying it did not win.
And now for the stunning half: As a result of we examined the 901 at 100% followers, and since the followers used on this case have been highly effective, all of its acoustic foam could not block out all the additional part noise. Placing the strong face again on merely made the roar of its airflow extra apparent by mildly muting the noise of the fan motors.
We often attempt to take a look at followers at full velocity to find out most cooling efficiency, and doing so with the Darkish Base 901 Professional yielded thermal wins for 2 out of three parts. Then again, these victories weren’t all that enormous, and cranking down its followers to make it qualify as a quiet case would have brought on it to fall out of first place thermally. Like non-silenced circumstances, it is all about steadiness. (And that is why our personal builds are configured to spin the followers down every time our hotter parts attain acceptably low temperatures.)
Verdict: It is Cool, if You are Flush
Judging the Darkish Base Professional 901 as a high-performance case somewhat than a run-quiet case helps make sense of its additional options, reminiscent of the flexibility to assist as much as three triple-fan radiators on an built-in fan controller. That the case supplies really feel pretty much as good as the outside appears could also be sufficient to win over some big-spending DIY builders.
The Darkish Base Professional 901 just isn’t the clear knockout thermal or acoustic performer we hoped, which retains it from Editors’ Alternative honors, but it surely’s a near-run factor, and your elements expertise might range. Give or take a number of levels or decibels, you may nonetheless get understated attractiveness and nice high quality when you name the Darkish Base your new PC’s residence.
