be quiet! Shadow Base 800 FX PC Case Review

Complete System

Wow, this case is stunning, and as you can see, there’s a lot of space to play around with here, it’s a little too big for the build I’ve gone for here, but that’s no bad thing. Plenty of room for big hardware while maintaining good airflow throughout the case.

The ATX motherboard fits easily enough, and as you can see, there’s certainly room for a wider E-ATX motherboard instead. If you want to, you can remove the cable routing bar on the right for a little more room.

Graphics card support is excellent, and there isn’t a single GPU on the market right now that wouldn’t fit in here, with ample length and width to accommodate flagship cards, and still have room for stuff like side-mounted water cooling tubing and other add-ons.

I would have liked a vertical GPU pass-through though, as routing the cables under or over the card looks a bit scruffy in my opinion. Still, it’s hardly a deal breaker given the overall package on offer, but it’s something to keep in mind if you’re a cable-management enthusiast.

When it comes to CPU coolers, you’ve already got fantastic airflow here, with four 140mm fans pre-installed, dust filters throughout, etc. When it comes to air cooling, the case is pretty wide, meaning you’ve got excellent clearance here, so the largest air coolers such as the Flagships from be quiet!, Noctua, Thermaltake, DeepCool and any other will all fit with room to spare.

I’ve installed the new be quiet! 360mm AIO in here, and there’s a full review of that coming soon, but as you can see, it’s easily accommodated here, with the case supporting 360mm radiators in the top or front of the case easily. Actually, the front and top of the case can even handle 420mm radiators too.

What’s really cool is that all the fans and the pump were able to be accommodated by the fan and RGB hub that’s built into this case, meaning they and all of the fans that came pre-installed are benefitting from synced-up fan control and ARGB.

Speaking of ARGB lighting, the case looks freaking awesome, with beautiful lighting from the fans and the light bars in the front panel.

It’s also really tastefully done too, and lights up the rings around the fans and the light bar, adding an accent to the case, rather than acting like a disco ball that lights up your room, which I really prefer, as many cases and fans are simply too bright and create a lot of light pollution in your room.

The effects and colours are great, and this is all from the built-in hub, you can simply cycle through colours and effects using the small button on the front I/O panel, no need for software or motherboard support. However, you can sync it to your motherboard with the usual header if you so desire.

With clean cable routing, the PSU shroud, impressive hardware support, tinted tempered glass and all those synced-up fans and lights, the be quite! Shadow Base is a truly stunning PC case.