Today in the test lab I have two Bequiet cases from the PURE BASE 500 series. It’s actually one PC case in two variants, depending on the needs of the user, so at least from that angle, it will be interesting to see some comparisons in practice.
In short, the biggest differences between these two models are, of course, the front panel and much more sound insulation in the cheaper model, besides that almost everything else on these cases is almost identical. What stands out to me the most is their width, I like wide cases because I know there is a lot of space in them for hiding cables and, of course, a lot of space for that gap from the VRM section of the board to the AIO radiators themselves, and of course a lot of space for large air coolers (here it is a record breaking 190mm), so for example the Dark Rock PRO 5 with a height of 168mm fits here without any problems.
Another, slightly smaller difference is that this more expensive case has one additional 140mm Pure Wings 2 fan, so the PURE BASE 500 has two 14s installed, the 500DX has three. These are fans that go up to a maximum of 900 rpm and at that speed offer 55CFM, for comparison, the Arctic P12 offers 53CFM only at 1800 rpm, and I still recommend that fan as a great choice, and that’s how much more capable these are. So there’s no need for any additional investment because you already get excellent fans, all included in that base price. And that’s quite important because it’s very easy to overlook in reviews, and fans are always an additional expense.
The interior of the case is so well-designed that it’s truly incredible how much space can be found in such a compact product. I’ve already mentioned CPU coolers, and as for graphics cards, their maximum length can be 369mm. All-in-One radiators are supported with a 240mm on top and either a 360mm or 280mm in front, which is commendable.
If we turn the case to the other side, the space for the power supply is also generous at 258mm. The upper part of this background is very “busy” as it offers three modular sections for expansion or other purposes, in addition to some standard cable management options. Behind the motherboard tray, we have a mount for two SSDs, to the left of it is a multifunctional compartment that, in addition to hiding cables, can also accommodate two more SSDs and, of course, at the bottom, next to the power supply section, we have this HDD cage for two 3.5” disks, with rubber mounts against vibrations.
I really like that the base Pure Base 500 case also comes with this additional filter for the top of the case, so you can replace the sound-insulated cover and allow the components to breathe more.
Now let’s take a slightly different approach to reviewing these models, by building two independent computers in each of them. In this slightly more enclosed case, I will install slightly weaker hardware with a Ryzen 5 processor and Radeon RX 7800XT graphics and of course, I will use only the built-in fans, and in the open 500DX case, I am transferring hardware from the previous PC build done in the Aqirys XO-1 case, so Ryzen 7 and RTX 4080 graphics. Both configurations are somehow in line with the type of cases, and I think this should be good practical advice on how to assemble your configuration in relation to the capabilities of the case itself.
When it comes to results, I’ll start with the 500DX, i.e. the white case, where, as you saw, I moved one 140mm fan forward from its top position, to install the Liquid Freezer III cooler - and testing in practice, with the side panel closed, showed that the Ryzen 7700X goes up to 85.5 degrees Celsius maximum in the thermal throttling test, holds at about 54 degrees during gaming, and drops to about 33 degrees at idle.
The RTX 4080 graphics card in the same case idles at about 25 (24.7) degrees, and under full load of Ray Traced 4K gaming scenarios goes up to just 64.4 degrees, and I must mention that the case fans were audible in operation because they are 3-pin and were running at a maximum of 900 rpm all the time. It wasn’t noisy, but you can hear that the PC is running on the desk.
The black case, i.e. the Pure Base 500 without DX, is almost a totally different story due to its sound insulation which does the job perfectly. Here, as you saw, the setup itself was different - those two standard fans, but also two more on the Arctic Freezer 36 cooler - the cooler is actually amazing, I hope there will be a review soon, waiting for the start of sales in Serbia for that. But otherwise, the Ryzen 7500F with it goes up to a maximum of 58.5 degrees, during gaming up to just 47 degrees, and at idle, it holds at about 39.6 degrees but it should be emphasized that according to the specifications, at idle, the PWM signal can be lowered to just 5%. If the cooler had been turned to a fixed value, it would have been different. The graphics card even surprised me because I expected a slightly higher temperature due to the less ventilated case, but 67 degrees Celsius at maximum load is too good a result for this type of case. In some better-ventilated cases, it would be about 4 degrees less, so there is definitely a difference here.
I honestly think that when it comes to these cases customers will be most attracted by the quality of construction and finish, which is a problem with reviews of this type because you who watch or read this cannot touch the case and feel how well everything is built. I even think that I was more impressed with the black model, maybe because I don’t like white cases, so to me in the black one even these weaker components looked much more elegant.
But besides the looks, the combination of complete silence and good temperatures made a stronger impression on me. Of course, you can choose what you want, and it’s important that everything is available in several versions through the links down below.
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Pure Base 500 (Rockors Serbia): https://rockors.com/products/be-quiet-pure-base-500-window-black?_pos=1&_sid=87a51db52&_ss=r
Pure Base 500DX (Rockors Serbia): https://rockors.com/products/be-quiet-pure-base-500dx-window-white?_pos=3&_sid=87a51db52&_ss=r
Arctic products (Novicomp Serbia): https://www.novicomp.rs/catalog?q=arctic%20&s=price_desc