A Look Inside
Getting inside the Dark Base Pro 900 is very easy, just remove the 4 thumb-bolts on the tempered glass side panel and carefully lift it off. Once removed we can get a look at the large interior of the Dark Base Pro 900. It has a mostly large design with many modular components. Looking at the motherboard tray we can see that it will support motherboards ranging from Mini-ITX all the way up to E-ATX. There are three larger cable routing holes with rubber inserts installed as well as two up top and two at the bottom. One thing that is very interesting about this case is that the motherboard tray can be adjusted, is completely removed, and can also be setup for reverse ATX. First let’s talk about adjustment, you can actually move the motherboard tray up and down to accommodate thicker radiators in the top of the case. As you move the motherboard tray down you remove the ventilation covers we talked about on the back of the case. Not only is the motherboard tray adjustable, but it is fully removable as well, which makes it easier to install your components etc, although the motherboard tray does have a large CPU cutout on it so you really won’t have to worry about removing it to install an aftermarket CPU cooler. The tray can also be flipped the upside down so your motherboard would be up against the main side of the case with your CPU sitting right above the power supply. You also flip the hard drive cages and more if you plan on doing this. This has to be one of the more modular cases that we’ve seen, lots of possibilities.
At the front of the case you have a large section that will house two 5.25-inch drives. Below that are seven hard drive cages, which are all made of metal. Each cage either supports a single 3.5-inch hard drive, or two 2.5-inch drives. So that really gives you a lot of storage options. Each hard drive cage is fully removable, which will make installation of your drives easier, and you can take out the cages you are not going to make use of.
Moving along to the bottom of the case there is actually room for two 120 / 140 mm fans, although you would have to remove at least one hard drive cage to install the front most fan. You can also fit up to a 280 mm radiator in the bottom of the case. Towards the back of the case you will find the power supply mouting bracket. The bracket is used in conjunction with the power socket and power cable at the back of the case. The bracket allows you to move the power supply closer to either side of the case, so that you can properly flip the motherboard tray and it does not interfere.
Moving up the case you can see the eight expansion slots, which use thumscrews, the 140 mm Silent Wings 3 fan, and at the top we have mounting for more fans or watercooling. The top part of the case will support four 120 mm fans, or three 140 mm fans, as well as watercooling radiators up to 420 mm.
When we take a rear side panel off the case it reveals thick sound dampening material on it, which is a plus. Taking a look at the backside of the case we can see how everything is designed and setup.
One of the first things that I noticed on the backside of the case was the fan / light hub. All three of the included fans are connected already and you actually have room for four more, all of which can be controlled by the slider on the front of the case. There are also two connectors for the included LED strips, with them connected you can control them both at the same time and cycle through colors. Right beside the fan / light hub is a single 2.5-inch hard drive tray, even though you have room for 14 SSDs already, what is 1 more? Another interesting thing about the backside of the case is that you are forced to run your cables through the two large openings. This could work really well, or it could be a pain, we will have to see once we get to installation. There are plenty of tie-down points back here though.
