be quiet! Dark Base 701 Case Review

A Closer Look – Exterior

be quiet! has pretty much kept their aesthetics somewhat uniform over the years, from their cases, coolers, and power supplies, everything is quite dark and slick looking. Even this case still has some of the design DNA of their first-ever PC case, which I like, and it’s great to see them slowly evolve over the years.

There’s a tempered glass window flush mounted onto the left side, with a nice rounded edge on the front panel.

I love those feet too, a nice contrasting silver finish against that brushed aluminium look on the bottom edge and front of the case.

The front panel looks great, and keeps a similar shape to some of be quiet!’s previous case designs, but flips out the hard panels of the older models for a modern modern-gamer friendly mesh design.

The classic two vertical light bars of ARGB are still here though, pretty much a staple for be quiet! cases now, and I love them.

They’re angles away from the front too, so they’ll be more of an accent light, rather than a room light, which again, I love.

The front panel is packed with features too, offering up audio, USB 3, and USB Type-C on the top row, while the bottom row offers a controller for the fan speed, power, and ARGB lighting thanks to the built-in controller hub.

If you’re eager for even more airflow, the top of the case is completely flat, so you can add more fans and radiators up on the top. Plus, when you dump your wallet, keys, headphones, controllers and a coffee mug on top like I likely would, the flat surface means they won’t slide off.

Down the right, you’ve got a flush metal panel, it looks tidy.

The rear panel is also easy to remove thanks to a pair of thumbscrews at the rear.

There’s quite a bit going on back here too.

There are some screws at the top for removing the top cover, handy if you want to put any fans or coolers up there.

There’s a pre-installed 140mm fan at the back, but it supports a 120mm fan if you want to swap it out, and it’s height adjustable too.

There are seven expansion slots, standard for ATX, and there are three more vertically should you wish to use a riser cable (sold separately) to mount your GPU there. Bonus, all the covers are reusable metal covers and ventilated too.

Then at the bottom of the case, there is a removable bracket for mounting your power supply, which will need to be slotted in from the rear of the case.

The top and front cover of the case both feature a microfine mesh design, so the panels double as their dust filter. You can use a compressor, hoover, or damp cloth to clean these easily enough.

There’s a lot going on under here, with a bar running across the middle to add rigidity to the case. However, there is a tray for 120/140mm spacing fans and radiators, and this tray can slide out too, allowing for easy installations.