A Closer Look - Inside

To gain access to the interior of the Dark Base 700, simply remove the thumb screws holding the side panels in place. All the solid panels of the chassis feature a sound-dampening mat to keep things as quite as possible. Looking inside, the layout is pretty standard for cases with no 5.25" drive bays and a shroud at first sight. Looking at the backside of the motherboard tray, it becomes apparent that be quiet! is making good use of all the space available.


There is an RGB and PWM fan-controller PCB that comes with a PWM pass-through cable to ensure you can route the signal from the motherboard to all attached cooling units. There are also three 2.5" mounting possibilities behind the motherboard tray. be quiet! gives you around 25-27 mm of space to work with, which should be more than enough for most users.


A unique element of the Dark Base 700 are the plastic covers on those HDD cage openings you won't use. These are not only there to close the gaps as you can extend them into the chassis to where you are able to route cables through these easily without having a large opening inside the finished build.


Looking at the metal shroud, it also comes covered with multiple plastic panels. This modularity is great as you can simply remove those you don't want for a fan here or some ventilation for the PSU.


Looking at the front of the interior, there are two 3.5" hard-drive cages under the shroud, which may also be used for up to four 2.5" variants. Above that are nothing but fan-placement opportunities or the ability to install a 280 or 360 mm radiator.


The PSU bay at the bottom of the rear comes with rubber squares on which the unit will rest as an anti-vibration measure. Above it, you will find seven horizontal expansion slots and two extra vertical ones. All of these come with reusable covers, and you will be able to show off your GPU nicely if you buy an additional PCIe extension cable. In the very top is the second retail-grade 140 mm fan. Thanks to these high-quality fans, you can easily increase interior airflow by buying more of these units.


In the ceiling, you will see mounting possibilities for a radiator of up to 360 mm in size as well. Instead of having to detach the case's top cover, one can simply pull the mounting tray out of the case, mount the fans or radiator, and slide it back into place. This is a great way of making such a large part's installation as painless as possible.


All the cables within the be quiet! Dark Base 700 are of the usual black variety. You will also find a unique USB 3.0 Type-C Gen2 plug alongside the connectors for the RGB and PWM fans.

Reverse Layout

be quiet! continues the tradition of the larger Dark Base 900 by allowing you to reverse the motherboard tray. While things are not quite as modular, turning the tray around is quite easy - just remove the plastic cover on the shroud and take out the hard-drive cages. Once those are out of the way, you will have to remove numerous screws that hold the motherboard tray in place to take it out and flip it over. As a final step, simply use the screws to secure the tray in place and move the case cables to keep things as tidy as possible. This level of functional modularity is quite amazing, especially considering it has been engineered into the confines of a mid-tower case.