be quiet! Silent Base 802

Taking modular customization to the extreme

- ZAK STOREY

LOOK AT THAT CASE THERE, crisp, standing pristine in the light, the soft-lit gradient running down the front panel, glinting off the top left of that tempered glass. It’s modest, refined, and simple, at least at first glance. Our photographer’s skill is nothing to be sniffed at, and yet even with his brilliance, the Silent Base 802 still gives nothing away. It’s clearly just another black box from be quiet! complete with a tempered-glass side panel, and a few other basic features chucked in for good measure, right? Not worth the time of day to review, surely?

Well that’s the brilliance of this case. It is almost akin to a sleeper chassis: It’s so good, and yet from first appearances, there’s absolutely nothing really that gives that brilliance away. The key lies in the modularity of this thing, or more importantly the customization on offer. In fact almost every part of this case can be removed, or swapped, or flipped, or reconfigured in such a way that you can do something entirely different with it each and every time.