The Be Quiet! Silent Base 600 ATX Case Review
by E. Fylladitakis on November 17, 2016 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
- be quiet!
- ATX
- Case
- Silent Base 600
Be Quiet! might not be a widely known brand name in North America, but the German company is highly popular as a manufacturer of low-noise PC components in Europe. The company has been shyly making its way into the North American market and several of their products can now be found via North American e-tailers and retailers.
Introduction
As a company focused on providing low-noise solutions, Be Quiet! primarily became popular from producing and marketing fans, coolers and power supply units. Not so long ago however the company also diversified into one more segment of the market, that of PC cases. They currently have two different cases, the Silent Base 600 and the Silent Base 800, with each of them available in six variants.
It is their more popular and cost effective Silent Base 600 that we are going to have a closer look at this review. The Silent Base 600 is an ATX case of typical proportions, designed to provide good overall performance and flexibility combined with sound-dampening features. It is available in six different versions but they are all practically identical, with the end user having to choose between three faceplate trim colors (black, orange or silver) and a windowed or solid left side panel. The sample that we received for the means of this review is the orange color variant with the windowed side panel.
| Be Quiet! Silent Base 600 | ||
| Motherboard Size | ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX | |
| Drive Bays | External | 3 × 5.25" |
| Internal | 3 × 3.5" (Front drives cage) 2 × 2.5" (Behind the motherboard tray) 1 × 2.5" (Front drives cage) |
|
| Cooling | Front | 2 x 140 mm (one included) |
| Rear | 1 × 120 mm (included) | |
| Top | 2 × 120 mm / 140 mm (optional) | |
| Side | 1 × 120 mm (optional, solid panel version only) | |
| Bottom | 1 × 120 mm / 140 mm (optional) | |
| Radiator Support | Front | Up to 120 mm or 240 mm |
| Rear | Up to 120 mm | |
| Top | Up to 240 mm | |
| Side | - | |
| Bottom | - | |
| I/O Port | 2× USB 3.0, 2× USB 2.0, 1× Headphone, 1× Mic | |
| Power Supply Size | ATX | |
| Clearances | HSF | 167 mm |
| PSU | 160/290 mm (with/without a bottom fan) | |
| GPU | 295/410 mm (with/without a drive's cage) | |
| Dimensions | 495 mm × 230 mm × 493 mm 19.49 in × 9.06 in × 19.41 in |
|
| Prominent Features | · Simple mounting and tool-free fitting of drives · Air intake filters that are easily accessed for cleaning · Space for water cooling radiators · Two pre-installed Pure Wings 2 fans feature nine airflow-optimized fan blades and are decoupled from the case to circulate air with a minimum of vibration · Side panel with adjustable vent that can be closed for silent operation, partially open for increased air intake or open with an additional fan for higher cooling performance · Cable management is supported with space for organizing cables, silicone rubber grommets, and pass-throughs |
|
| Price | $127 | |
Packaging & Bundle
Be Quiet! Supplies the Silent Base 600 in a simple brown cardboard box. The artwork is monochromic and based on a simple schematic of the case itself. The box however is sturdy and the case inside it is well protected between thick Styrofoam slabs, providing excellent shipping protection.
The company kept the bundled items down to a minimum. Along with the case we received only the necessary mounting hardware and screws, the required silicone rails for the installation of 3.5" devices, just four cable ties and a very undetailed manual that could have been more detailed.
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tarqsharq - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
Interesting case, but are those Radeon 5850's in there?!RaichuPls - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
Should be reference R9 290Xs if I'm not mistaken.QinX - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
It says ATI Radeon on the side so those are likely HD5850's the 290X is AMD Radeon branded and the reference cooler design is different for those.NiteshD - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
Well if you need two GPUs to test the noise insulation, you could do far worse than those 5850s - a pair of those under load would be like a propeller aircraft!tarqsharq - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
True that. I saw the sides of them and had a flashback to when I used to have one... yeeeaaars ago.colinstu - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
they need those old cards so they can actually test how well the case can keep those cool ;)DanNeely - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
The thermal testing is done with fanless space heaters standing in for the CPU, GPU, etc. It's not clear what what the fans used in the advanced noise test are, I wouldn't be surprised if they're both standalone fans not fans attached to heatsinks/cards.BrokenCrayons - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
Since the build photos are more about helping readers put the case internal design into perspective, the use of older hardware probably isn't a big problem. Why use the latest GPU, motherboard, etc which puts it at risk of being damaged from frequent rebuilds when you can use older hardware that might already be dead or is at least expendable when putting together something that's only for photography?Ryan Smith - Thursday, November 17, 2016 - link
Correct. The 5850s are solely for photography reasons. We aren't using them for testing.marc1000 - Sunday, November 20, 2016 - link
plus they are red, and match the power cables. I do not like these loose cables, but for photography and a "worst cabling case" comparison, they are great. I imagine sleeved independent cables would be much nicer to organize, but there is no point in complaining about it. the photo works, and that's it.