Test System

Assembly

As the motherboard tray is removable, you are able to install the board, GPU, and air cooling easily outside the confines of the chassis. However, even for our sample setup, installing everything straight into the case was an easy task. There is plenty of space all around, and cable routing is one of the best I have seen in quite some time - even though I am not really a fan of the plastic covers instead of rubber grommets.


Adding a hard drive requires you to pull one of the cages out to then slide a 3.5" drive into place. Screw it into place with the special screws be quiet! provides. This cage has been used in numerous be quiet! cases in the past, and its versatility is excellent as you may remove those you do not need or even use - each individual cage can also hold two 2.5" drives instead.


Adding an SSD to the rear of the motherboard is done by traditional means. Simply remove the mounting plate of your choice, add the drive with the included screws, and put the plate back into its place. You will be able to add a total of three drives this way.


The PSU bay is quite traditional as you simply slide the unit into place and screw it into place. There is plenty of space for larger units - you should run into no issues after having picked the power supply that is right for your system's needs.


With everything in place, you can see how clean everything inside the Dark Base 700 looks. It is amazing how orderly all the cables look behind the motherboard tray because of the Velcro strips and numerous hooks to use zip ties on. Routing things nicely was an almost mesmerizing experience as every cable was routed in the best possible way - I never had to look for a plan B while assembling everything.

Lighting Gallery

Those who know the be quiet! enclosures will remember that the company offers most of their models with different color elements. This is not the case with the Dark Base 700 as it utilizes RGB lighting instead. There are plenty of brands that are trying to steer clear of the lighting craze, and be quiet! has done so for quite some time as well. However, their implementation is one of the best I have seen. The design is in no way compromised, and the lighting is extremely well lit around the edge of the front panel. Even though the light needs to pass through the side elements and down the front feet, it does so effortlessly. Thanks to the button on top, you are able to cycle through all the usual colors, including the company white and orange, but there are also various lighting modes, like breathing in a single color or cycling through them all, and you can turn them off completely as well.

Finished Looks

The power button will light up white when the system is turned on. It is a little bit unevenly lit, which is unfortunate. You can clearly see all the hardware within the Dark Base 700 even though the only lighting element is embedded within the ADATA RGB memory.