Be Quiet! Pure Base 500 Window White

Be Quiet! doesn’t need any more introduction considering their track record with premium and performing products. Today we are looking into a more budget friendly option when it comes to computer chassis with the new “Pure Base 500” line-up. Just because the main idea is budget, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will lack important features or the quality will go down. The Pure Base 500 is about a compact solution where you can also fit multiple AIOs (up to 360 in the front) and full ATX boards and hardware. As you will see this is one impressive case given its size.

BeQuiet! is a premium brand manufacturer of power supplies and cooling solutions for your desktop PC. With numerous awards under their belt they are considered the best German power supply manufacturer from Germany since 2006 – proved by being awarded with, no less than nine times in a row, the “Manufacturer of the Year” in the power supply category by the readers of the well-known German hardware magazine PC Games Hardware. In the category “fans”, be quiet! earned the first rank five consecutive times and belongs to the Top 3 CPU cooler brands for more than three years in a row. The community of Hardwareluxx also voted be quiet! as “Manufacturer of the Year” in the PSU category for four consecutive years.

Prices and Availability

The standard non-window models are priced at $69.99 (Black), $79.99 (Black Window), $74.99 (Metallic Gray and White), $84.99 (Metallic Gray Window and White Window). They maybe a bit higher than what we would expect but we mustn’t forget that they come with two 140 mm Pure Wings 2 fans.

Presentation and Specification

* Courtesy of their website

Features

OUTSTANDING PRICE-PERFORMANCE RATIO – Be quiet! Pure Base 500 Window White combines customizable and silence features with a compact and sophisticated design.

* Exchangeable top cover for silent or high-performance systems
* Two preinstalled Pure Wings 2 140mm fans
* Insulation mats on the front, sides and the regular top cover
* Water cooling ready for radiators of up to 360mm
* Generous space for high-end graphics cards and large coolers
* Various options to install up to five SSDs in total
* PSU shroud and smart cable routing options provide a neat interior
* Easy PSU installation from the back of the case
* Side panel made of tempered glass

Technical Specifications

* Dimensions (L x W x H in mm) – 450 x 231 x 463
* Weight (kg) – 6.95 (net) / 7.92 (gross) 7.53 (net) / 8.49 (gross)
* Case Type – Midi Tower
* Material – steel (SGCC), ABS plastic, tempered glass
* Motherboard support – ATX, M-ATX, Mini-ITX
* Front I/O – 2x USB 3.0, HD Audio (microphone + audio)
* Max. cooler height (mm) – 190
* Max. graphics card length (mm) – 369
* Max. PSU length (mm) – 258 / 225 (depending on position of the HDD cage)
* PCI slots – 7
* 3.5” bays – Up to 2 (2 included)
* 2.5” bays – Up to 5 (5 included)
* Preinstalled cooling fans (mm) / (rpm) – Front: 1x Pure Wings 2 140mm / 900 Rear: 1x Pure Wings 2 140mm / 900
* Optional, additional cooling fans (mm) – Front: 1x 140 / 3x 120 Top: 2x 140/120
* Radiator support (mm) – Front: 120, 140, 240, 280, 360 Top: 120, 240 Rear: 120, 140

The case really has a lot of potential given its big list of specs and features.

Visual Inspection

It comes in a standard brown box with a drawing of the case on the side and the usual branding.

Internal packaging consists of polystyrene which protects the top and bottom of the case. Then the whole chassis is wrapped in a plastic bag.

In white, the case looks stunning ! The contrast is very appealing from the all black 140 mm Pure Wings 2 fans and the side front grills. The side glass is tempered so it is proper stuff. We will explore the specs later on.

On the rear side we have the standard ATX specs of 7 expansion PCI-E slots with a securing bracket, the option for a 120 or 140 mm fan (or AIO) to be installed, the regular motherboard I/O cut-out and a removable bracket to access the power supply chamber.

The bottom part of the case is fully covered by a removable dust filter. This is needed to prevent dust from entering the PSU through that massive grill.

As for the front panel, we have this ABS plastic cover with a minimalist approach, only having the company logo on it and with an interesting design approach for the corners which are chamfered.

When you get close to the case, you realize that the front has this brushed finish, which is hard to capture on camera.

The front I/O has again the basics, but important connectivity like 2x USB 3.0 but in black to match the color scheme, the dual jack combo of headphones and microphone and in the middle a big illuminated power button.

Be Quiet! provides you with the option for a top solid magnetic cover (which is for extra sound insulation) or a full dust filter but in black.

Here you have the option of mounting up to a 280 mm radiator with plenty of headroom, thus without interfering with a motherboard’s large VRM heatsink, because as you can see, the assembly is off-centered away from the board.

You will find the accessory box in one of the 3.5″ HDD enclosures and the extra top dust filter is secured here, behind the back panel.

The sound deadening material almost covers the full surface of the back panel which is awesome and it also comes with pre-installed thumb screws.

I think the mesh is perfect from that contrast point of view and of course for that extra airflow. But if maximum silence is the name of the game, use the stock white cover.

All of the different types of screws and bolts are nicely separated in zip lock bags and you get some cable zip ties as well.

Beside the regular PSU, motherboard and HDD screws, you get a handy Philips-to-motherboard-tray-standoff adapter.

Now let’s explore the inside of the chassis. From the bottom side, we have this big PSU chamber (that you can’t see nor access from the front) which can accommodate units up to 225 mm in length or up to 258 if you remove the HDD cage. The power supply will sit on these pre-installed rubber pads which will eliminate any vibration and extra noises. The motherboard tray has plenty of eyelets to help you secure all of the cables for that OCD wire management and Be Quiet! has kindly included these Velcro cable straps which will further help in that regard. As for storage options, the modular tray across the motherboard’s CPU cut-out houses two more 2.5″ drives.

Then you can mount two full size 3.5″ drives in the dedicated removable cage, which has rubber grommets. Also if you desire you can mount an extra 2.5″ in here instead. This cage being removable is very helpful since this is how you can mount a 360 radiator, on the front.

Finally, you can further mount two more 2.5″ drives in the front via this removable panel which also serves as an innovative passthrough for cables from the back of the case to the motherboard.

There is plenty of space at around 22-23 mm to play with.

Even the I/O cables are all blacked out to not deviate from the matching black and white theme.

Now moving onto the main chamber. To remove the tempered glass, just unscrew the 4x thumbscrews which have rubber grommets for protection. Rubber is also present on the mounting ports as well.

You can install up to a full standard ATX motherboard but as we will show you, this case can unofficially take even bigger formats, a testimony of how well designed the chassis is. CPU cooler support is at an amazing value of 190 mm in height and it can accommodate graphics cards up to 369 mm in length. So let’s say if you install a 290 mm long GPU that will leave you with enough space to install a push pull front AIO configuration with 25 mm thick fans. On the exhaust port in the back we have one of the two 140 mm Pure Wings 2 fans. The PSU chamber has a fixed shroud and has on the top a triangular grill design. Three large cut-outs complement the access to the motherboard for any required cables. Finally, three more, even larger holes are present and distributed equally on the top side for cables like the CPU power cable and fan cables.

To remove the front cover just pull from underneath which it has a cut-out to place your fingers. This will expose the other included 140 mm Pure Wings 2 fan and this is where you can mount up to a 280 mm radiator or even a 360 one if you remove the HDD cage.

Also the front panel has sound deadening installed and get this, even the cut out for where you would place your fingers to remove the panel, has a dust filter. This is attention to details !

The Pure Wings 2 fans are both 3-pin powered, spinning at 900 rpm and they represent Be Quiet!’s budget option of fans.

Next chapter please.

Testing Methodology and Component Installation

We will:

* Cram as many regular components as we can and point out if any problems arise and to test the wire management capabilities
* Measure the noise output from the case’s fans and overall system noise with our Pyle PSPL01 noise meter placed at 30 cm from the fully built case.
* Sound levels will be measured in dBA after 5 minutes at idle; CPU & GPU load noise levels will be measured by running AIDA64 stressing CPU, FPU and cache for 3 minutes.
* The ambient noise level in our test room is measured at 30.5 dBA.
* Stress test the CPU & GPU in AIDA64 so we can fully test the case’s airflow and the included fans capability.
* Ambient room temperature was at a recorded 19 degrees C.
* CPU and case fan profiles will be set to their silent operating mode in the motherboard’s bios and GPU fans set to their default fan curve.

Specific to this case:

* Test with the stock insulated top plate and then with the extra mesh dust filter in both temperature and acoustics benchmarks, while the tempered glass will be always installed.

Hardware used:

– CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 AM4 – 8c/16t
– CPU Cooler: Be Quiet! Dark Rock SLIM 120 mm
– Extra Fans: Be Quiet! Silent Wings 3 140 mm
– Motherboard: ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Extreme X370 E-ATX
– RAM: Team Group T-Force Vulcan Z DDR4 3200 MHz
– Boot M.2 SSD: Samsung 970 EVO 2TB TLC NVMe
– PSU: Be Quiet! Power Zone 750W Modular
– GPU(s): ASUS STRIX GTX 1060 6G / ASUS GTX 580 Direct CU II 1536MB / ASUS 8800 ULTRA 758MB DDR3 / DELL 8800 GTX 758MB DDR3

Software:

– Windows 10 Pro x64 Version 1903
– NVIDIA GeForce WHQL 391.55
– AIDA64 Extreme v5.99 – Total system stability test
– MSI Afterburner v4.50 – To OC the video cards and monitor the GPU temperatures
– CPU-Z v1.89 – To verify the CPU’s and RAM’s statistics
– CoreTemp v1.15 – To see in real time temperatures of all the CPU’s cores and threads
– UNIGINE Superposition – Full 3D system benchmark – set at 1080p with the High preset – only with the GTX 1060 GPU

First up is the power supply. It’s really easy since it has this removable outer bracket.

Attach this one to the PSU, then slide the unit right in.

Despite the fact that this is a a compact case, we decided to prove how well designed and how modular the case is, and installed an E-ATX beast of a board.

Just remove the SSD panel on the right to accommodate unofficially even an E-ATX motherboard. That is a 160 mm tall CPU heatsink, which is no problem for this case considering it can take up to 190 mm ! Also notice we install two additional 140 mm Silent Wings 3 fans on the top acting as an exhaust.

Even a triple-slot wide graphics card feels right at home in this case !

As for wire-management, things are easy with so many eyelets to tie cables to and very generous cut-outs in every direction.

Here is a quick tip for a tidier look when it comes to the PCI-E cables – you can sqeeze them through that gap between the HDD cage and the PSU shroud.

Also if you want to go the multi GPU route, no problem, they will get plenty of airflow.

So here it is, the fully build rig, without and with the tempered glass. I must say this is one stunning and sexy build !

Testing, Results and Analysis

So let’s dive right in. Here we have the temperature results. We notice that the top solid insulated panel only snatches 1 degree extra in overall cooling potential, so nothing to worry about. This is a very well ventilated case even with just two stock 140 mm fans.

As for acoustic performance, even in full GPU and CPU load, the case does a really good job on insulating the noise. All that noise reduction implementation is paying off.

Right let’s get the mild bad stuff out of the way. Construction wise the case is solid and well built. We only notice a small issue with out motherboard since it was a tight fit on the I/O side. Maybe because of that big backplate from the board. We only had to remove the pre-installed exhaust fan to be sure that wasn’t in the way and eventually it went in and aligned with the standoff to be secured into place. The other thing is the lack of rubber grommets around the main cut-outs but this is just being very picky.

As for looks, the case has an amazing contrast being white, which will make anything you put inside to stand out, especially if you throw some RGB into the mix.

I love the versatility of the case, because, given its relative small size for an ATX chassis, you get a lot of options cooling wise. I mean, to mount dual rad setups and such tall CPU heatsink, is just amazing in this price range.

Performance wise, on both fronts, airflow and noise reduction, we got solid results. So nothing to complain here. The stock included 140 mm fans do the trick.

Cable management again is a breeze plus the included Velcro straps are very welcomed. Need more space for the cables from a longer PSU? Nothing to fret, just remove the HDD cage. Speaking of the power supply, which again is very easy to install via the rear, given the semi-modular nature of the case.

Overall, this is a complete package case and we would have given it the best mark if it wouldn’t have been for our best case we ever reviewed here – the BeQuiet! Dark Base 700 RGB.

Conclusion

They have done it again, delivering a great and compact case which you can define by high versatility, smart modular design and minimalist look. The Pure Base 500 is great addition to the series with great features, while doing what it has promised, operating in quietness. That tempered glass surely brings out your components to shine and if you get the white version, the contrast will be even clearer. The fact that we managed to install an E-ATX motherboard just by removing the modular SSD tray, again reinforces the idea of how well designed the chassis is. So to conclude, if you are an enthusiast but on a budget, who’s looking for something to fit a lot of components, to look great and be quiet, then, the Pure Base 500 should be on your radar.

The good:

+ Superb cooling options
+ Clever semi-modular design
+ 3 colors to choose from
+ Excellent noise reduction technologies
+ Tempered glass
+ Great thermal results and acoustics
+ Good wire-management
+ Highly versatile
+ Competitive price

The bad:

– Some motherboards with big backplates may interfere and make it a very tight fit
– Lack of rubber grommets – but this is being very picky

Glob3trotters “Highly Versatile” Award – 4.5 out of 5

Many thanks to Be Quiet! for supplying us with this great case !