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I'm facing a bit of a conundrum, because I just can't seem to cross the T when it comes to airflow with the Dark Base Pro 900 in an inverted layout. The issue is that the air comes in, flows a bunch over the socket area (and the through the CPU cooler) and to a lesser degree the PCIe slots (and to the GPU cooler). The problem is that there just isn't enough airflow to the PCIe slots. There's a filtered intake on the front (two 140mm fans) and a filtered intake on the bottom (another two 140mm fans). This puts a bunch of pressure squarely around the CPU area. This wouldn't be an issue for the GPU if Nvidia hadn't designed GPUs that also blow directly into this area, fighting against all that pressure - especially since the other fan on the GPU - the one that exhausts outwards - will be getting bugger all airflow like this. To clarify, I am using a Founder's 3090 so it has a funky cooler. What I could do is add intakes on the top, but this isn't a filtered intake so it'll be pretty dusty. I'm also concerned that it'll struggle with the limited airflow in that spot, not to mention that the slits are optimised to exhaust air towards the back of the case, so an intake config could just recycle all the heat coming out from the rear CPU and GPU exhausts. Another solution could also omit the optical drives and add another 140mm fan in its place, but I am unfortunately one of the few people still pottering about that actually uses optical drives and CDs. If push comes to shove, I'll use an external one, but that seems a bit silly when I have two perfectly good slots in my very large case already. I could really use some creative ideas - all are welcome! P.S. This is how Be Quiet! expects it all to work in a standard ATX layout:

So I’m building a new pc to upgrade from my 1660 system and wanted to know about thermals for the new build. I’m going to have a 5950x with a be quiet 360mm aio, 3080 ti, and a 1200W Corsair HX series psu. I planned on building in a be quiet dark base pro 900 because I like all the room for hard drives and easy access panels, but don’t know how well the case will do thermally seeing as it is a silent case. I don’t necessarily need the case to be quiet, I picked it for the reasons mentioned above. I read a few reviews that mentioned the Rev 2 has faster fans than the 3 included 1000 rpm be quiet fans in my case and was wondering how much of a difference this would make in a system spec’d like mine. If anyone could help me out here with either another similarly priced case in the range of $250-$350 or let me know how I could better improve the thermals, that would be greatly appreciated! TLDR: Building a new PC and want to know if my case can handle the heat produced by my system.

So I redid the tubing in my case a little bit. The biggest change was from the 140mm rad to the CPU block and the CPU block to the 360mm rad up top using 90 degree fittings and I was wondering what you thought?

Greetings I just received the Be Quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 like two days ago and I got it with [as far as I read, more on of the people did as well] standard wiggling/lose/problematic front door. Here, I offer You a simple fix. All You need is a sticky foam, that's ususally bundeld with power supply units, motherboards, or can be purchased on amazon [anywhere else really]. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=single+sided+black+foam And here's shown what the problem demonstrates like: Here goes a quick [and really crude, but effecient] fix [takes up to 3-5 minutes, when You have the right materials/tools] It's no breathtaking solution, but it's better than RMAing Your case and waiting for miracle to get one without wiggle. kind regards Bryan

I am pretty certain that I am wanting to use the be quiet! dark base pro 900 for my next build. I wanted to ask a question about the case though. I am wanting to invert the motherboard, while i am going to get an air cooler at first, I may want to upgrade to an AIO in the future. If I have the motherboard inverted I would imagine that mounting the AIO on the top would be difficult. I don't necessarily mind mounting said AIO in the front, however I care about potentially loosing hard drive cages. Does anyone know if you mount a 280 mm in front, with the optical drive cages still installed, do you still have enough room for at least one hard drive cage?

TLDR: Running stock fan setup, need to make airflow/temps better for upcoming project I built this computer as a video editing workstation for my company a little while ago with this subreddit's help. We have a really big project coming up and I need to install an ssd in the PC so I thought it would be a good chance to clean out the PC as well as create some better airflow since I'm just running with the stock fan solution. Since the case is inverted, this is what it looks like. https://imgur.com/a/tNRbbQO The airflow isn't too different than a regular case I would assume but I have no idea. Either way, currently we have 2 fans installed in the front as intake and then 1 fan installed in the back as exhaust. I have the same air cooler used in the picture (The Dark Rock Pro 4), and a 1080ti installed. Anyways, I was wondering where you guys would recommend I install more fans to get the best possible temps?

This month I teamed up with Germany’s leading PSU, cooling and case manufacturer Be Quiet! To check out the new Dark Base Pro 900 case range. This new feature packed case joins the product line of high end chassis. The dark base pro 900 features a steel frame encased by black anodized brushed aluminium with trimming in 3 different colours silver, orange and black that runs between the bevelled edges. They carry this colour contrast from the trim on the outside to the all the rubber grommets featured inside the case. This new innovative case design from Be Quiet! has really impressed me. Whether its E-ATX to Mini-ITX this case can do it all. The case has a fully modular design allowing you to tear it right down to its bare steel frame allowing the versatility to create your own masterpiece. The Dark Base Pro 900 features three silent wings 3 PWM fans, extensive water cooling support, an intelligent full circuit airflow system with unrivalled flexibility and impeccable silence and cooling features. This is an engineering work of art. Features: The Top/Front panel features two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, headphone/microphone jacks are available alongside the power and reset buttons and a QI charging pad. The lights HDD and Power button on the Pro Orange version I received glow the same orange that is featured on the trim and inside. The Front panel features and press and lock/release style door which allows access to the 5.25 Drive bays and the base/front fan filters. This also features a thick sound dampener on the inner side. The Be Quiet Logo is featured on the brushed aluminium door which is a nice sleek modern touch. The rear of the pc features the standard hexagon-pattern air holes with a 120mm or 140mm fan mount capability. The case features eight expansion slots catering for all your needs. However, here is the twist; the rear of the case is also a part of the removable modular motherboard tray. This allows you to flip and rotate for normal or reverse ATX capabilities as well as allowing the user to raise or lower the height of the motherboard tray but I will cover that in more detail later. The top of features a range of cooling options with radiator support from 120/140mm up to 420/480mm. This allows from 1-4 120/140mm fans to cool your system from above. These are hidden by a well designed brushed aluminium top with sleek air intake/exhaust slots. The base features no ventilation however allows enough room between the frame and base to mount fans or radiator if desired. The base features high quality rubber grommets which raise it off of the ground around 2”. The quality of the grommets is fantastic; although they have a small surface area they have a strong firm grip. The side panels; The motherboard side panel features a concealable fan mount that hosts two 120mm fan slots however I noticed that this does tend to take up some valuable cable management space which could be an issue. However, with the cooling options available I would consider this option a last resort but it’s a nice feature. Another feature of this panel is that it features sound dampening across the entire panel which helps reduce the noise immensely. Side Panel two, the star attraction of this case is a huge picturesque, tinted, tempered glass panel that covers the entire feature side of the enclosure. It is secured by four thumb screws, one in each corner. The glass panel is quite secure however I did notice that I had to be very careful when removing it as there was not really any support besides the thin ledge it leant against. I would advice placing the pc on its side and removing the panel that way to reduce the risk of damaging the glass panel. The outside edges feature a ventilation system which features L shaped passages that are designed to prevent internal component and fan noise from travelling in a straight line out of the case. This feature allows the company to maintain its trademark quiet quality. The motherboard tray is completely removable, allowing the user to switch from the traditional PC layout or move towards the upside down, or reverse layout. The motherboard tray has three height levels in which you can mount it. This is to allow for extra room to fit any motherboard or cooling design that best suits you. On the rear of the motherboard tray it features an inbuilt PCB fan controller board. This allows you to power 4 PWM fans and 4 regular fans. It also powers the QI charging pad, two LED strips (provided with Pro version) and the fan controller / LED colour changer (located inside front panel). There is also an SSD bracket located on the rear of the motherboard tray which allows fast and easy install and removal. This modular design feature is made possible by adding two removable brackets to close the gaps when raising or lowering the motherboard tray, as well as a fully rotatable PSU extension bracket that allows the user to swap which side the user places PSU if they desire to swap from regular to reverse ATX. *picture credit to KitGuru.net The case supports water cooling, with radiator mounts in the front, back, top and bottom. The top supports radiator sizes of 120mm to 420mm and 180mm. The bottom supports 120/140/280mm. The front supports 120mm to 420mm. The rear supports 120/140mm. The water cooling support that is offered by this case is phenomenal. I did however run into some issues when mounting more than one radiator, with the design I chose, you will find trying to mount two 420’s is almost impossible so you’ll have to either make some home mods or go for some smaller radiators. Conclusion: The Dark Base Pro 900 comes in at a high $369.00 AUD, with unique key features like the tempered glass side panel, a PCB fan controller board and a built in QI charger. With prices this high you’re going to expect that the case have an excellent overall design and performance. With tempered glass cases starting to stream into the market it really do make you wonder if paying the extra $50-$100 AUD is worth it when cases like the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ATX chassis have similar design aspects at a lower price. But it really depends on what features you desire or need. If you're like me and enjoy your quiet gaming and unique features this is definitely the better buy over other brand cases. I was really impressed with how quiet the Dark Base Pro 900 is with a full system running inside. With the thick noise cancelling foam found in the front and side panels, and the L shaped ventilation system which prevents direct noise escape makes this case as quiet as a mouse. The case is an engineering masterpiece and looks absolutely stunning. The modular aspect of the case makes it so customisable you could literally recreate your build a hundred different ways to suit almost any desire or needs. If you’re looking for a large case with loads of features, a sleek modern design that has tonnes of water cooling support, noise cancellation with unique looks and one of a kind features like an inbuilt QI charger pad than this case is definitely worth a look especially if you’re planning to water cool your system. **Pictures of custom build coming soon** written by: Shane Rayson (Ninja Mods Owner/Operator)