Be Quiet! Silent Base 802 review

Posted on: 11/18/2020 04:41 PM

---

Question: Hilbert, did you use the mesh or solid panel when testing acoustic/thermal performance? How about the top panel?

If your measured cooling temps are with the solid panels, those are excellent numbers. Conversely, if those acoustics are with either mesh panel, very impressive, and would still be very good even with the solid panels.

Just found out about this case from the review and I'm very excited after seeing the white version. The 802 is like a modern, shrunk-down version of my lian-li pc-x2000f, which has been fantastic; cooling performance equivalent to the ole Silverstone ft02/rv02, but with a smaller (and taller) footprint on my desk.

That old Lian Li from 2010 was intended to be my last ATX rig as I moved on to ITX/mini-ATX/etc, but so far, most SFF style chassis are either too loud, lack the thermal performance, or have a desktop footprint that isn't really any smaller than my old Lian Li or even my laptop. Over the past decade, the closest choice that fit my ideal (see below) has been the nzxt h1. Kudos to Be Quiet for bringing another contender to market!

Ideal case for my gaming/media rig:
- good dust filters
- sub-~37dB under load
- full-size gpu
- at least 2x 3.5 hdd (thank goodness we can stick 2x ssd on the mobo nowadays)
- tall dimensions instead of long/wide, and looks good in the living room or ON the desk. Stuff like the Silverstone ft03, nzxt h1, Phanteks Evolv Shift.
- good thermals
- no obnoxious rgb aesthetic, unless it is simple, classy, and can be turned off most of the time

Posted on: 11/18/2020 05:40 PM

---

Good question. I should have listed that in the review; we tested with the closed panel setup. I doubt the mesh panels make much difference as we test based on fan acoustics solely. With all kinds of components installed like CPU coolers, graphics cards, obviously, the closed setup will always be a notch more silent.

But I assume that people on the lookout for a sound dampened chassis like this will have purchased it for the closed configuration. Only if absolutely needed (e.g., you run into airflow issues due to hot components) would swap out a panel to mesh.

Posted on: 11/18/2020 06:41 PM

---

Damm nice case i'll have to rem this one for next year. The Haf is a dust magnet.

Posted on: 11/21/2020 10:50 AM

---

I wonder how this case compares to Phanteks 600s in terms of acoustics, fans quality / performance

Posted on: 11/21/2020 01:36 PM

---

Nice case, the dimensions of the case itself are 24.5 cms wide, 507 cms tall. The attractive stand creates the additional width & height. I'm waiting for delivery of a new gaming computer (after 7 years of a SLI 780 system) and went for a CoolerMaster H500 SE as I like the 200mm x 2 front fans and the RGB bling after 7 years of austere Corsair 650D. Great that both the Be Quiet & CoolerMaster case give you mesh panel options.
I think the glass side panel version with some RGB fans front & with a roof mounted AIO would be a lovely looking compromise. As Hilbert says, the all black version on review is very bland but that's what some like.