INTRODUCTION

   As we've pointed out many times in past reviews it's really no secret that due to the tendency of the industry to make everything "smaller" and "compact" for the mainstream consumer market full tower PC cases are a rare sight nowadays (strangely enough space was not an issue back in the 90's). Of course some of the more "popular" manufacturers did their very best to release such models in 2015 and 2016 in order to cater to the needs of enthusiasts but in the end only a handful of those high quality and feature-rich full towers were really worth your hard earned money. Be quiet! was not really among those manufacturers but they did release not one but two large mid-towers back in late 2016, the Dark Base 900 and the more "advanced" Dark Base Pro 900 which is finally here with us today for a thorough review.

   be quiet! is a premium brand manufacturer of power supplies and cooling solutions for your desktop PC. be quiet! products are convincing which is proved by reaching and defending the market leadership in PSU business in Germany since 2006 *. This is validated and accompanied by numerous awards for both power supplies and cooling solutions. be quiet! is awarded for nine times in a row as “Manufacturer of the Year” in the power supply category by the readers of the well-known German hardware magazine PC Games Hardware. In the category “fans”, be quiet! earns the first rank for five consecutive times and belongs to the Top 3 CPU cooler brands for more than three years in a row. The community of Hardwareluxx also voted be quiet! as “Manufacturer of the Year” in the PSU category for four consecutive years.

   Before we start with our review it's worth pointing out the not too many differences between the Dark Base 900 and the Dark Base Pro 900. For starters both cases offer a modular design meaning you can invert the entire interior (make it face right instead of left) by relocating the removable motherboard tray and the HDD slots. Both cases also come equipped with three SilentWings 3 fluid-dynamic bearing 140mm PWM fans (6-pole motors), feature sound insulating mats on the interior and have enough interior space for up to seven 3.5" and fifteen 2.5" drives, eleven 120/140mm fans (the Dark Base 900 has room for 13 fans) and/or three 240/280/360/420mm radiators, 185mm tall CPU coolers, 150mm long power supply units (284mm without a bottom fan installed) and 323mm long graphics cards (472mm without HDD cages). The Dark Base Pro 900 however has a few tricks up its sleeve including an side panel made out of 4mm thick tinted tempered glass, two LED strips featuring 5 switchable colors, fan hub for up to four PWM and four 3-pin fans and an integrated wireless charger for Qi enabled devices at the top. Time to take a closer look and see what you can expect from the massive Dark Base Pro 900 by be quiet!.