In the event you identify your organization “Be Quiet,” your PC instances 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 taking a look at a PC case right here that features all the pieces 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 measurement and worth counsel it needs to be, although it is actually no slouch. However it may effectively be the high-performance tower that you simply maintain for the ages, for its superior appears to be like and magnificence.
The Design: Deluxe Supplies and Extra
A lot 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 inner 3.5-inch drive cage, (2) that the middle latch is designed in such a manner that the door might not open, and (3) that you simply may 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 now not functioned. This after nearly breaking off the tabs whereas making an attempt to pry the door open, solely to search out they tightened, finger-trap-style, as we pulled.
The front-panel ports embody 4 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Sort-A and one USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Sort-C. Entrance-panel audio jacks are separate, which preserves the stereo perform of the microphone jack in case you’d wish to reassign it as an output, which can change into extra essential to multichannel audio followers as motherboard producers proceed to lower the variety of audio jacks on their rear panels.
The Be Quiet’s inside fan controller can take instructions from the motherboard (therefore the sync button) or ignore them (therefore the pace buttons), and the ARGB management buttons on the other aspect of the entrance panel do the identical factor otherwise: The case gives monochromatic mild patterns, however helps multicolor patterns offered by the motherboard after synchronizing one among its ARGB outputs.
The Qi wi-fi cellphone charging pad talked about above seems right here, behind the front-panel ports, on the entrance of the highest panel.
Once 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 optionally available 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 proper panel’s vent may appeal to extra consideration, however the Darkish Base Professional 901’s rear panel might show simply as influential amongst builder selections: You’ll be able to rotate its slot panel 90 levels to help 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 function 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 mixtures as much as 421mm lengthy and 63mm thick with out hanging previous the highest of the motherboard. Briefly: You get a number of house up high, and you’ll seal it off acoustically should 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, protecting each the facility provide’s air inlet and a 140mm hidden fan mount. To entry it, you have 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 can be mounted on 3/8-inch spacers to scale back the windage that might have in any other case been brought on by 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, should 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 tons of doubtless sloppy cable runaround…bravo.
Eradicating a lot of the exterior panels lets us view the entrance drive cage from two angles, making it simple to know why it’s important to take away these components to put in the 5.25-inch exterior drive bay. Additionally on show is a filler panel that supposedly matches as much as 5 further 3.5-inch drive trays, 4 extraordinarily giant cable-hanging brackets, two further 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 components that should be detachable and/or reconfigurable.
From the wrong 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’ optionally available drive trays. Your complete panel that holds (however doesn’t embody) inside drive trays is detachable; should you like, you’ll be able to substitute 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. In the event you want greater than 68mm of thickness, you’ll be able to 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 under 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 sort of dizzying. It features a guide, a magnetic base help bracket for graphics playing cards in the usual orientation, a help 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 a number of other luggage of small {hardware}.
A second field of {hardware} comprises a vented front-panel insert, a louvered alternative 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 embody 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 cellphone charging pad, two USB 3.2 Gen 1 cables for the Sort-A ports, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 cable for the Sort-C port. Discover that not like many older and/or cheaper instances, Be Quiet’s HD audio cable doesn’t embody a bridge loop between left and proper microphone connections; see the outline of the front-panel jacks above for a doable purpose why.
As you’ll be able to see, our full ATX motherboard match inside 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 amazing job of offsetting the look of a case in any other case outlined extra by texture than by form. Word, too, the blue lighting that highlights the front-panel ports and controls.
Testing the Darkish Base Professional 901: Large Cool, Large Quiet
Here is a recap of the elements we used for our thermal and acoustic testing, using our regular ATX mainboard.
Because the Darkish Base Professional 901 is one among three lately examined instances 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 optionally available 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 opponents 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 opponents, 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 effectively sufficient to maintain our system secure, however there isn’t any denying it did not win.
And now for the shocking 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 normally attempt to check followers at full pace to find out most cooling efficiency, and doing so with the Darkish Base 901 Professional yielded thermal wins for 2 out of three elements. Alternatively, these victories weren’t all that enormous, and cranking down its followers to make it qualify as a quiet case would have brought about it to fall out of first place thermally. Like non-silenced instances, it is all about stability. (And that is why our personal builds are configured to spin the followers down every time our hotter elements attain acceptably low temperatures.)
Verdict: It is Cool, if You are Flush
Judging the Darkish Base Professional 901 as a high-performance case quite than a run-quiet case helps make sense of its additional options, akin to the flexibility to help 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 to be like could also be sufficient to win over some big-spending DIY builders.
The Darkish Base Professional 901 isn’t the clear knockout thermal or acoustic performer we hoped, which retains it from Editors’ Selection honors, nevertheless it’s a near-run factor, and your components expertise might range. Give or take just a few levels or decibels, you will nonetheless get understated beauty and nice high quality should you name the Darkish Base your new PC’s house.
