The be quiet! Shadow Base 800 FX is a voluptuous chassis that doesn't feel massive, being able to strike a great balance in that sense. At 180 dollars, it also doesn't feel expensive, as you get four retail ARGB fans, some embedded ARGB elements, as well as a capable controller. That said, it does feel that be quiet! could have added a bit more bang for your buck and in the process rectified some shortcomings of the case, because some aspects feel a little out-of-balance for a case of this price segment.

The main selling point besides the well-designed and placed ARGB elements, being an FX variant, is the fact that it offers ample space for your hardware no matter what. If you like to go for custom liquid cooling, it can fit two 420 mm radiators easily. Want a thick radiator with push/pull configuration on the front? That's no problem either as you will have tons of room for your GPU regardless. All air coolers on the market will fit as well and no matter how long your PSU is - the Shadow Base 800 FX can easily hold it.

Couple that with the details in design and engineering, from small things like the clean, white illumination around the power button or the sound dampening on the solid panel, to the thoughtful way you can easily gain access to each dust filter for cleaning. The fact that the cable mess of four ARGB fans and case wiring comes pre-routed well is also a very nice touch.

The biggest drawback of a case of this size is the fact that, without spending additional money, you can't fit beyond a single 3.5" storage drive unless you find a way to mount the included PCB elsewhere. That seems like a weird departure from what we have seen with be quiet! in the past. Now, with the Shadow Base 800 FX, you have to spend an additional $10 to buy one of their HDD Cage 2 brackets - as such a potential additional $20 investment for two of those. One could argue that once you remove the overhead of packaging, SKU management etc, that be quiet! could have included these and gone for a $189.99 price point easily.

In the end, even without this, the be quiet! Shadow Base 800 FX managed to impress with plenty of details, and the fact is that the HDD cages are readily available, so it isn't an unsurmountable shortcoming. As such, we can wholeheartedly give the Shadow Base 800 FX the Editor's Choice!