Tuesday, July 3rd 2018
Be Quiet! Announces Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 Case
Be Quiet!, the market leader in PC power supplies in Germany for twelve consecutive years, announces Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2. This updated PC chassis implements significant upgrades, emphasizing its pole position in the modular and silent full tower case segment. With the release of Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 and its introduction of new and innovative features, be quiet! successfully demonstrates how forward-thinking and listening to customer and industry feedback improves overall end-user experience.
Like the original case, Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 leaves nothing to be desired due to its modular design, enabling numerous options for optimal component placement. The removable motherboard tray is installable in six different positions, accommodating all types of motherboard form factors, up to E-ATX or XL-ATX. Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 offers unbeatable flexibility and compatibility, providing a perfect enclosure for enthusiast-level configurations, water cooling and overclocking builds, whisper-silent systems and higher-end workstations. For storage components, the case offers abundant mounting space, supporting the installation of up to 14 solid state drives, seven HDDs, and two optical drives. Invertible along with the motherboard tray, one new feature is the highly requested PSU shroud used to hide cables and drives. The power supply cover also offers additional mounting options for an SSD and 120 mm fan. Unused drive slots are now equipped with partially or fully removable HDD slot covers, covering unused mounting holes for a clean interior and perfect cable management.
Efficient cooling ensures extremely quiet operation
Another Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 highlight is its set of three pre-installed Silent Wings 3 140mm PWM fans, contributing to the flagship case's sophisticated cooling concept and perfect airflow. With a unique rotor blade design, rubberized frame and funnel-shaped air intakes, these fans work silently and efficiently. At the same time, the 6-pole motor and advanced fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) reduce power consumption and vibration. The revised case's pre-installed fans' maximum rotations per minute were increased from 1,000 to 1,600 RPM, striking a balance between silence and performance.
Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2's comprehensive airflow design is complemented by L-shaped vents in the case, providing additional noise reduction. The new chassis also comes reinforced with insulating foam mats at the front, top and side and uses specific decoupling mechanisms for key components. Additionally, the case includes a stepless fan controller, now supporting a total of eight PWM fans, as well as providing two configurable cooling zones using silence and performance modes. Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 also provides ample interior space, making the chassis suitable for powerful multi-radiator-using water cooling solutions.
Showpiece of German engineering
Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 is a technical masterpiece, standing out amongst its competition due to its high-quality materials and design. Smooth aluminum surfaces and a robust steel construction lead to extraordinary elegance and stability. Additionally, be quiet!'s high-end premium chassis is equipped with a decoupled tempered tinted glass side window, now painted black at its top and bottom, perfectly hiding screw holes underneath.
Expandable LED strips running at 12 volts are included, illuminating the interior with different colors, easily synchronizing with popular RGB controller ecosystems and components. An inductive charging station is placed on the case's top area for wireless charging of smartphones and other Qi-compatible devices. Also, the previous model's two front panel USB 2.0 connectors are replaced with a USB 3.1 Gen. 2 Type C connector and a quick charging option, while the case is offered in variants featuring orange or silver highlights, as well as an all-black version.
Upgrades for current users
For owners of the original Dark Base Pro 900, the new PSU shroud, windowed side panel, HDD slot covers, and additional HDD cages are separately available through retail channels along with the launch of Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2.
Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 is available immediately at a recommended retail price of €269 / £259 / $269.
Like the original case, Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 leaves nothing to be desired due to its modular design, enabling numerous options for optimal component placement. The removable motherboard tray is installable in six different positions, accommodating all types of motherboard form factors, up to E-ATX or XL-ATX. Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 offers unbeatable flexibility and compatibility, providing a perfect enclosure for enthusiast-level configurations, water cooling and overclocking builds, whisper-silent systems and higher-end workstations. For storage components, the case offers abundant mounting space, supporting the installation of up to 14 solid state drives, seven HDDs, and two optical drives. Invertible along with the motherboard tray, one new feature is the highly requested PSU shroud used to hide cables and drives. The power supply cover also offers additional mounting options for an SSD and 120 mm fan. Unused drive slots are now equipped with partially or fully removable HDD slot covers, covering unused mounting holes for a clean interior and perfect cable management.
Another Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 highlight is its set of three pre-installed Silent Wings 3 140mm PWM fans, contributing to the flagship case's sophisticated cooling concept and perfect airflow. With a unique rotor blade design, rubberized frame and funnel-shaped air intakes, these fans work silently and efficiently. At the same time, the 6-pole motor and advanced fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) reduce power consumption and vibration. The revised case's pre-installed fans' maximum rotations per minute were increased from 1,000 to 1,600 RPM, striking a balance between silence and performance.
Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2's comprehensive airflow design is complemented by L-shaped vents in the case, providing additional noise reduction. The new chassis also comes reinforced with insulating foam mats at the front, top and side and uses specific decoupling mechanisms for key components. Additionally, the case includes a stepless fan controller, now supporting a total of eight PWM fans, as well as providing two configurable cooling zones using silence and performance modes. Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 also provides ample interior space, making the chassis suitable for powerful multi-radiator-using water cooling solutions.
Showpiece of German engineering
Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 is a technical masterpiece, standing out amongst its competition due to its high-quality materials and design. Smooth aluminum surfaces and a robust steel construction lead to extraordinary elegance and stability. Additionally, be quiet!'s high-end premium chassis is equipped with a decoupled tempered tinted glass side window, now painted black at its top and bottom, perfectly hiding screw holes underneath.
Expandable LED strips running at 12 volts are included, illuminating the interior with different colors, easily synchronizing with popular RGB controller ecosystems and components. An inductive charging station is placed on the case's top area for wireless charging of smartphones and other Qi-compatible devices. Also, the previous model's two front panel USB 2.0 connectors are replaced with a USB 3.1 Gen. 2 Type C connector and a quick charging option, while the case is offered in variants featuring orange or silver highlights, as well as an all-black version.
Upgrades for current users
For owners of the original Dark Base Pro 900, the new PSU shroud, windowed side panel, HDD slot covers, and additional HDD cages are separately available through retail channels along with the launch of Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2.
Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 is available immediately at a recommended retail price of €269 / £259 / $269.
14 Comments on Be Quiet! Announces Dark Base Pro 900 rev. 2 Case
I do wish they could extend the front intake area by about 30% or so, and the case would be nearly perfect.
More mesh would be nice. I also wonder if they will intrioduce a limited edition white version like last time (quantity was 2000 only). Or perhaps even more limited version of red, green and blue versions (maybe like 100-500 units).
It is not a perfect case by any means. There are no actual reviews yet as far as i know but from Computex coverage i've see the main negatives seem to be that the PSU shroud top plate may not fit in place if you attach a really thick USB 3.0 front panel cable to the bottom edge of the motherboard for example. Also very limited airflow at the top.
So nothing major. Personally i would love to see a cheaper non-pro version without the window, no fan controller, no fans included and no rgb strips. Also no Qi charger plate. I would imagine this would lower the price from 269€ MSRP to something like 150€ MSRP making it much more accessible.
Then again at this (RGB) day and age im not suprised if it's not happening.
Thankfully due to modularity of this case you can mount the back panel in front (it has a slot for 120mm fan and dust filter included) and put the glass at the back where you can't see it if it's agains the wall in a non-reversed layout (i.e on your right side). You know those who don't care about windows and RGB...
If you are familiar with how the airflow from a fan looks, you'd know most of the actual airflow is concentrated in less than 1/3 of the area, so in theory it should be possible to make a good compromise with airflow and noise dampening.
The saving grace for the Dark Base 900 is the possibility of four intake fans; three in the front and one in the bottom (the shroud needs to go). Crank the fan speed a little up and the airflow should be sufficient for a HEDT CPU and a high-end GPU, no OC of course. As I mentioned, this case could use some larger intake area to give it some more headroom, and it would be nearly perfect. By that I mean nearly perfect for what it's trying to achieve; a high-end silent case, not a high-airflow case.
www.gosumodz.com/EVOLV-ATX-CNC-Service (based in Hamburg, Germany)
Maybe you can find a similar service in your area.
Cutting of the plastic frame of the door took me about 2 hours of dremeling and filing.
Top panel without those dumb L-shaped air restrictors:
Fun fact: With those airflow mods my system runs quieter than without. Water temps dropped by a solid 10° with the fans now spinning at 600rpm instead of 800rpm.