be quiet! Shadow Base 800 FX Review: Thermal & Noise Damping/Output Evaluation

Epilogue

The be quiet! Shadow Base 800 FX goes for 210€ in the white version, and this variation is the most expensive of the Shadow Base 800 series. You get four quality 140mm fans ( Light Wings 140mm) and an 8-port PWM/ARGB hub at this price point. Given that each of these fans costs around 30 euros/dollars, and if we also assume that the hub costs around the same amount, then you can easily see why this product is priced at this point. Yes, at this price, you can look at other options from Fractal Design and Lian-Li, but it all depends on what you want to do with the system parts you have in hand. After so many years of building systems, either for me or for others, I firmly believe that the chassis choice has mainly to do with the looks and compatibility with the parts that you want to use. Usually, thermal performance is not the first priority, for most users at least, since adding more fans to increase airflow and remove heat more effectively is easy.

The Shadow Base 800 FX looks impressive in white, with its fans’ nice RGB lighting effects and the LED strips at the chassis front. This is a large case, allowing you to build a high-end system with a strong cooling solution, either a colossal air cooler or a large water cooler, with up to 420mm radiator(s). Thanks to the four pre-installed fans, the airflow is pretty good, and the provided PWM/ARGB hub is a highly welcome feature, allowing you to install many fans without worrying that you will left out of available headers.

Although it uses noise-damping material on one of its two sides, the tempered glass and the front mesh panel don’t allow for increased noise-damping performance. To keep the noise inside the case, you have to tightly insulate it, which will lead to increased operating temperatures since, besides noise, you will also trap heat inside it. The best way to keep noise output low is to use quality low-speed fans and make a suitable fan-speed profile to control them all.

The Shadow Base 800 FX is a chassis for high-end systems with large coolers and graphics cards. If you plan to use it for a mid-level system, you should look for a smaller chassis else your system will look small inside the large interior of the Shadow Base 800 FX.