Testing methodology
The new flagship BeQuiet! case is on sale now. The improvements over its predecessor are obvious, but there was a lot to draw from for the new Dark Base Pro 901. The ability to rotate the motherboard remained, and we can already reveal that it has a positive effect on cooling. This also makes this case suitable for the most powerful builds, which are associated not only with a lot of waste heat, but also with large dimensions of components.
Metodika testovania
Three 140 mm Silent Wings 4 fans in the “high-speed” variant take care of active cooling of the case. Two are behind the front panel and one at the back, behind the tower CPU cooler. The panels in front, on the ceiling and even on the tunnel can restrict the air intake and thus change the measured temperature results. Therefore, we will test the case with perforated panels at all noise levels and then at 39 dBA also the closed variant for comparison. We didn’t forget to test the cooling with the rotated tray, which causes the hardware on the motherboard to be rotated 180 degrees. This variant is tested with perforated panels at a noise level of 39 dBA.
Testing is done in a home environment where I strive for the most accurate results possible. In the room during testing, the air temperature in front of the case is 23 degrees Celsius and the minimum noise level I can measure with the Voltcraft SL-100 noise meter is 32.4 dBA. The sensor of the noise meter is aligned to the center of the top of the case at a distance of 10 cm, for the best measurement of the speed difference of the fans, which I change using the motherboard. For easy comparison to other cases, they are always regulated to fixed noise levels.
Individual components are heated for 10 minutes in FurMark synthetic stress tests and with Prime95 (custom settings) at the same time. This time is long enough to allow all components to warm up sufficiently. There are then 15-minute cooling breaks between tests, during which the component temperatures (and the case air temperature as well) are brought back to default.
Noise mode levels:
- 36 dBA
- 38 dBA
- 39 dBA
| Test setup | |
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 3700X |
| Motherboard | ASRock X570 Taichi |
| CPU cooler | Scythe Fuma rev. 2 (single fan) |
| Thermal compound | Noctua NT-H2 |
| Graphics card | Asus RTX 2060 Super Dual |
| RAM | Patriot, 2× 8GB, 3600 MHz/CL17 |
| SSD | Western Digital Blue 500GB (2280) |
| Power supply | Corsair RM750X |
- Contents
- Exterior
- Interior
- Testing methodology
- CPU and GPU cooling tests
- Motherboard cooling tests
- SSD cooling tests and under-ceiling temperature
- Conclusion
Overall, the be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 is an excellent full-tower case that is perfect for enthusiasts and gamers who are looking for a case with excellent build quality, noise suppression, airflow, and features.