be quiet! Pure Base 500DX Review
External and Internal Overview
Externally, the be quiet Pure Base 500DX is a clean looking enclosure which offers its users a clear look at its internal components thanks to its clear tempered glass window. Unlike be quiet’s older Pure Base 500, the 500DX features a meshed front panel which allows the case’s front-mounted fan to intake air directly from the outside of the chassis. This intake is dust filtered can support up to two 140mm fans or three 120mm fans.
Radiator-wise, this section of the chassis can support up to a 360mm radiator or a 280mm radiator, though it’s worth noting that this case’s 360mm radiator support will come at the cost of the DX500’s dual 3.5-inch drive bays.
On the Pure Base 500DX, we see the usual power/reset buttons and audio input/output jacks that we see on most modern cases, but when it comes to USB, be quiet! has gone a little higher-end than normal. With the 500DX, we have a single USB 3 (Type A) header and a higher-end USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C connection, which can support transfer rates of up to 10Gbps.
Instead of an optional top cover plate, be quiet’s Pure base 500DX features a magnetic dust filter on the top of the chassis, which is designed to give the 500DX a dual-tone coloured scheme, at least for the case’s black/white variant.
Beneath this dust filter is mounting holes for two 140mm fans or dual 120mm fans. Radiator-wise, this case only supports a 120mm radiator, as while this case supports 140mm fan mounts, large 140mm radiators may interfere with the motherboard heatsinks of users.
The rear of the case has the usual I/O cut out and has a position for either a 120 or 140mm fan, with a 140mm fan pre-installed. This fan mount can support a smaller 120mm fan, but there is little reason to switch out be quiet’s stock 140mm fan.
Below this, we have seven vented PCI slot covers, and a PSU cut out with a PSU mounting panel to make life a little easier. This case doesn’t natively support vertically mounted graphics cards.
Being as there’s not a lot going on at the front, we’re expecting the rear of Motherboard area to be quite busy. However, when we first look at it, it all looks pretty plain. Looks though, can be deceiving.
To begin with there’s a whopping 25mm of cable management space back here. Now that might seem like a great deal if you’re talking about a full-size case such as the Fractals we’ve recently looked at, but it’s huge for a Midi Tower such as this.
Here we can see two twin 2.5-inch HDD/SSD brackets, two of which are behind the cases CPU mounting location and two of which are sat towards the front of the Pure Base 500DX.
With the 500DX we have not grommeted cable routing holes, but see do have a large number of velcro cable ties which are pre-attached to the enclosure.
Below the Pure Base 500DX, is space for two 3.5-inch drives, beside which there is 225mm of space for a power supply. This HDD mounting bracket can be removed to add more space for liquid cooling or cable management. With most PSUs being 150mm to 170mm long, this case has more than enough room for most modern power supply units.
Above and below the be quiet logo inside the 500DX are two mounting locations for 2.5-inch SSDs, which can be displayed inside your system and viewed from outside the case’s tempered glass window.
The Pure Base 500DX supports full-sized ATX motherboards and supports power supplies in both a fan-facing-up and a fan-facing down configuration. All cables can also be neatly managed behind the 500DX’s motherboard tray, which is great news for fans of tidy builds.
Even at the base of the 500DX, cable management is a breeze. This case has plenty of cut-outs in all the right places.
RGB lighting in the Pure Base 500DX is both inside and outside of the enclosure, giving users a subtle glow inside the enclosure, and a strip of illumination on the exterior of the chassis. This lighting works extremely well with this case’s white variant, as the case’s white painted/powder-coated sections reflect the light of these RGB LEDs perfectly.
