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be quiet! Darkish Base Professional 901 overview: no stone left unturned


Bounce to: Exterior | Inside | Potentialities | Conclusion

Case issues kind the premise of each PC construct. What number of fan mounts? Will I nonetheless want plenty of storage bays? Horizontal or vertical graphics mount? What number of USB ports are sufficient? And do I wish to maximise airflow with mesh or comprise noise with sound-dampened panels? If the reply is “I’m actually unsure but,” be quiet!’s Darkish Base Professional 901 could possibly be the chassis for you.

Described as “the epitome of a versatile, but user-friendly case,” Darkish Base 901 goals to tick each field you may consider, in addition to these you by no means knew you wanted. The case is a long-overdue successor to the Darkish Base 900 that launched method again in June of 2016, and naturally, just a few issues have modified since then. President Obama’s not in workplace, the UK exited the EU, and after a world pandemic, many economies are battling rampant inflation.

We’ve gotten used to issues changing into dearer, but Darkish Base 901’s lofty €319.90 / $299.90 / £319.99 price ticket does elevate an eyebrow. That’s a 50 per cent improve over the earlier technology, and locations be quiet! firmly in premium full-tower territory, the place the 901 battles in opposition to the likes of Corsair’s 7000X and Cooler Grasp’s HAF 700. Stern competitors, but we’d anticipate the German producer to supply better refinement and, if previous entries are something to go by, high marks for user-friendly design.

be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 - Standing Tall

From the outset, be quiet! has managed to do one thing that continues to evade most rivals: create a large case that appears modern for its measurement. Dimensions are available at a whopping 604mm (L) x 275mm (W) x 569mm (H), but whereas the 901 dwarfs our common mid-tower take a look at platforms, it doesn’t really feel in any method ostentatious and wouldn’t look misplaced in both the house workplace or gaming den.

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Black is the one color choice accessible at launch – discover the agency’s signature orange inner highlights have been omitted – and, as an alternative, a slender ribbon of RGB lighting extends throughout the entrance panel and alongside the rim of the PSU shroud. A neat impact that provides to the chassis’ elegant manner.

I/O and Qi Upgraded

Persevering with that feeling of outward sophistication is a well-thought-out I/O panel, the place be quiet! features a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Kind-C, 4 USB 3.2 Kind-A, separate microphone and audio jacks, plus touch-sensitive controls for lighting and fan pace flanking the backlit energy button. We’d have most well-liked an additional Kind-C as an alternative of extra Kind-A, but be quiet!’s choice is plentiful and the contact controls work higher than anticipated; they aren’t overly delicate and five-step granular cooling adjustment is dealt with with ease.

Wi-fi charging, a key function for the Darkish Base Professional vary, stays current with a good-sized Qi pad positioned on the entrance of the highest panel. It really works simply as you’d anticipate, however charging capability has been bumped up from 5W on the unique 900 to 15W on the 901. Good.

…and even an ODD bracket. Youngsters, in case you don’t know what that’s, strive asking Alexa.

If the sense that Darkish Base Professional 901 will do far more than your common chassis isn’t instantly obvious, wait till you begin to play with the construct prospects. The equipment packing containers alone are enormous, and such is the scope of supply that you just’ll discover a number of included components that will by no means be used. These embrace an optionally available rear-side fan bracket, an additional cable administration cowl for eATX customers, an interchangeable mesh entrance panel, airflow cowl for the PSU shroud, a VGA holder, one other VGA holder for inverted structure, and even an ODD bracket. Youngsters, in case you don’t know what that’s, strive asking Alexa.

It’s the sheer degree of flexibility that can have fanatic builders rubbing their arms in anticipation. Don’t like stable panels that impede airflow? No trouble, come out the brushed-aluminium cowl in favour of the bundled mesh different. In an analogous vein, the mesh cowl on the roof rests atop stable panels lined with sound-dampening materials. In the event you’re all-in on airflow, these are simply eliminated with out the necessity for any instruments.

Contained in the Stomach of the Beast

Given the largely screw-free method, we’re shocked be quiet! hasn’t opted for a extra user-friendly facet panel mechanism. Because it stands, the heavy tempered-glass panel is notched at eight factors and needs to be completely aligned earlier than being slid into place and secured by captive thumbscrews. Removed from a deal breaker, however in our expertise, such notches can bend over time. On panels as large and heavy as this, we’d want a swing-to-open hinge.

Enterprise inside and it’s like an fanatic’s playground, with plenty of area to discover. Let’s begin with fan mounts. There’s the same old 120/140 on the backside, a 120/140 on the base, three 120s on the facet, and three 120s or 140s each up high and in entrance. No love for 180s, sadly, however in case you’re liquid cooling, there’s room for as much as a 420mm radiator in entrance or as much as a 360mm within the roof.

It’s this degree of consideration to element that enhances the construct course of.

Ample scope, and be quiet! will get customers off to a stable begin with three bundled Silent Wings 4 140mm PWM followers; one rear exhaust and two entrance intakes. These are high-quality blowers that may hit a high pace of 1,900rpm, producing 78.4cfm airflow whereas holding noise degree beneath 30dB. A lot better than the bog-standard followers bundled with nearly all of chassis available on the market, and get this; each the entrance and high mounts are on detachable trays, every of which is outfitted with its personal three-way fan hub. It’s this degree of consideration to element that enhances the construct course of.

Motherboard help naturally extends proper the way in which from Mini-ITX to eATX, and the inside 82.69-litre quantity ensures all the pieces feels roomy even with a completely compartmentalised PSU part. Talking of which, the PSU slots in from the again, and there are full-length detachable mud filters lining the underside and entrance of the case. As we’d anticipate on an enclosure of this measurement, there aren’t any main restrictions. Graphics playing cards can measure as much as 495mm in size, whereas a CPU cooler can stand 190mm tall. Placing these figures into perspective, an RTX 4090 Founders Version measures 304mm, whereas a Noctua NH-D15 stands at 165mm. A great deal of room to spare.

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be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 - Towering Case
be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 - Front Mounts

When it comes to storage, we get two devoted 2.5in sleds fixed to the rear of the motherboard tray, in addition to a detachable two-bay HDD cage on the finish of the PSU compartment. The cage’s particular person sleds may be relocated to both of the 5 mounting factors on the storage column immediately above, however do word that no further sleds are included within the field. You’ll must buy one other 5 to max out all seven slots. It’s additionally price declaring that every sled can accommodate both a 3.5in HDD or two 2.5in SSDs, that means there’s room for a complete of 16 2.5in drives, if want be.

Rotation, Inversion and even an ODD

We suspect most customers will want to swap out the storage column for the bundled radiator bracket – facet fan mounts have gotten more and more fashionable – however arms up, who’s excited to see help for the forgotten optical disc drive? Received to be trustworthy, we’ve not used a 5.25in bay for years, nevertheless it’s a function we regularly see requested, and given the quantity of area inside Darkish Base Professional 901, why not?

be quiet!’s implementation is neatly hidden behind a hatch on the backside of the chassis’s entrance, however putting in the requisite bracket will entail eradicating the laborious disk cage. The hinged door requires a good ol’ tug to open – it actually should be push-to-release – however very like the VCR within the loft, it’s good being protected within the data an optical drive is there do you have to want it.

be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 - Optical Bay

One other important improve over Darkish Base Professional 900 is that vertical GPU set up is now formally supported. be quiet!’s eight growth slots may be rotated by unfastening the screws on the retaining meeting, however there are a few provisos to concentrate on. The growth slots have to be rotated earlier than putting in the motherboard – we discovered this out the laborious method! – and when in vertical configuration, the thumb screws holding every slot in place are tougher to achieve on account of the rear fan.

There are different issues to vertical mounting, too. The required riser cable, sadly, is the one accent that isn’t included within the field and is bought individually at £59.99. We managed to get our arms on one, but even then, there are potential problems; the facility connector on our GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Version is positioned within the one place we are able to’t get to it. The cardboard does look beautiful beneath the be quiet! cooler, however you’d want a right-angled 12VHPWR adapter to connect the cable.

We made the choice to modify again to horizontal – which meant eradicating the motherboard once more – solely to search out our graphics card doesn’t play nicely with be quiet!’s help bracket. It’s one of many better-looking brackets we’ve seen, gripping to the highest of the PSU shroud magnetically whereas doing a high-quality job of hiding cabling, nevertheless the adjustable arms don’t marry ideally with our triple-slot card. The decrease arm both fouls the cardboard or is a smidge too low to supply help resulting from a notch within the thumb-screw channel that stops excellent alignment. We’re solely speaking an additional millimetre or two, thoughts, and a little bit additional piece of rubber atop the arm would supply the suitable contact.

In the event you didn’t understand it by now, Darkish Base Professional 901 affords about as many permutations as a Rubik’s dice. There’s one final transformation that you just’ll love in case you want the windowed panel to be on the opposite facet; yep, you bought it, the innards may be inverted. The method is a little bit simpler than Professional 900 as the entire motherboard tray slides out and in on a rail system, however there are nonetheless a good few screws to undo alongside the way in which, and I/O cabling will want rerouting. The whole course of is nicely documented in be quiet!’s personal set up video, which is price testing above.

Conclusion

The obvious takeaway from our time with this monster case is that you should be formidable together with your construct plans to maximise the options on supply. Our Core i9-12900K take a look at {hardware} slots in with consummate ease, but the completed system seems sparse with out plenty of storage or copious liquid cooling and doesn’t problem the case in any method. CPU temperature beneath load remained comfortably beneath 75°C strapped to a Darkish Rock Professional 4 cooler, and the ultra-efficient GeForce RTX 4080 didn’t even hit 60ºC when gaming. The top result’s a really tidy, extraordinarily quiet PC, however all that vacant area is longing to be stuffed.

the great thing about a full-tower enclosure as versatile as that is you get to strive each potential permutation.

For the purists amongst us, constructing a PC has develop into too easy. Seize a motherboard, slap on a CPU, an M.2 SSD, some reminiscence and a graphics card, and hey presto, that’s primarily job carried out. True DIYers wish to be extra adventurous, and Darkish Base Professional 901 harkens again to that period when rigs had been extra concerned. We spoke about case issues on the offset, and the great thing about a full-tower enclosure as versatile as that is you get to strive each potential permutation.

Whether or not or not it’s an air-cooled setup laden with mesh panels, or a liquid-cooled, sound-dampened construct, Darkish Base Professional 901 has you coated. Vertical graphics help is a welcome addition, the inverted conversion course of has been improved, and with a number of user-friendly gildings alongside the way in which, Darkish Base Professional 901 is finally quite a lot of enjoyable to work with. An fanatic’s playground in each sense.

be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 - Subtle Lighting

be quiet! Darkish Base Professional 901

Verdict: high quality and comfort in a feature-packed tower that can do virtually something.


Club386 Approved

Professionals

Modern for a full tower
Optimise airflow or silence
High quality Silent Wings 4 followers
Possibility for inverted structure
5 entrance USB ports
Qi wi-fi charging pad

Cons

Notched facet panels
Just one USB-C

Purchase


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