be quiet! Pure Base 500 Case Review

There are two major version of the Pure Base as a 600 and 500.  The 600 is slightly larger with high installation flexibility and effective cooling performance while the 500 (featured in this review) combines customizable and silence features with a sophisticated design. It is the ideal case for all who value compactness and highly functional features.

Both case designs come with a tempered glass side window option.  The 600 comes in black with an option for an orange accent while the 500 is available in 3 different colors, Black, White and Gray with no accent colors.

The case featured in this review is the Pure Base 500 Window Metallic Gray.  I’m not sure Metallic Gray describes the color.  Sure, it has a metal flake but looks to have some copper added giving it a bronze silver appearance.    Either way it stands out in photos and is a nice change from the standard black we see today.

Tempered glass occupies only a single side of the Pure Base 500 with the back panel being a solid panel with no embossing.  Fitment of the panels is extremely good with no panel sticking and very consistent gaps and seams all around.

The case features seven expansion slots with the covers featuring a mesh of small holes.  These slot covers match the rest of the case in color and fitment is quiter good. 

I have several pet-peeves when it comes to case designs and none sit higher on my list than when a case has the expansion slot screws on the outside.  From an economic standpoint doing this saves material, machine time and the case can be assembled faster however, it looks tacky and makes system assembly more difficult than it should be.

Front controls are as simple as they come.  You will get two USB 3.0 ports, a power button and two analog audio connections for headphones and mic.  While it would be nice to have a USB Type-C and maybe some more activity lights I actually like the clean minimalistic approach as this gives you what you “need” over what you might want.

The bottom of the case features a removable dust filter and is the only accessible dust specific filter in the entire case.  You do get three smaller filters in the front panel however getting to them requires pulling the front bezel and nobody likes doing that. 

Speaking of front bezel you will find acoustic material placed on the back to prevent sounds from exiting directly out the front.  There is a metal mesh along both sides and the filter material is placed on the inside.