be quiet! Pure Base 600 Case Review

A Closer Look at the be quiet! Pure Base 600 Window

The Pure Base 600 is a mid-tower chassis, distilling several features inherited from its higher end siblings into an affordable mainstream offering. It inherits many of the Pure Base and Dark Base’s stylistic cues as well, so the entire family line has an unmistakable uniformity despite the price gaps.

External Dimensions

The case measures 492mm long by 220mm wide. It stands 470mm tall with the feet included. The feet add 25mm to the body’s 445mm height.

Side Panels

The left side is a full-view tempered glass side panel, dampened with rubber washers on the side mounting points. The right side is a standard SECC steel side panel with rear mounting thumbscrews. These thumbscrews stay in place on the panel so users cannot lose them when removed. This right side panel also has a convenient handle in the middle for pulling the panel off. This right side panel also has fully lined with noise dampening material.

Front Panel

Since the Pure Base 600 is designed for silence, the ventilation areas are restricted by design. On the front, only the area inside the orange accent allows air intake. There is no opening at the bottom and the entire front panel has a simulated brushed metal look. The color blends well with the rest of the case however and it is very difficult to tell apart that it is two different materials unless really close. Behind the front panel is lined with noise dampening material and the 5.25-inch drive bay covers are removed from the backside.

Top Panel

The top panel is fully ventilated with an optional cover for minimizing sound. Users can choose to have it fully covered, partially or fully removed. Since the plastic top cover is high quality, it is not easy to pinch the latches to move into place. Which is good and bad, since it is hard to damage it but at the same time it is also hard to set it in partial position or to remove it.

This top cover only has four slits in towards the rear when fully closed, so it is recommended to use it as partially or completely open when a fan or a radiator is installed there. The interesting thing is that the mounting holes are offset to account for the motherboard, compensating for a lack of headroom inside. Which means users can still install their 240mm radiator fans in push pull configuration.

Front IO

The front IO is decoupled from the front panel so users or modders can remove the panel without contending with wires. This IO is at an angle facing slightly upwards and has the power button right on the center. This power button also doubles as the power LED and it has an orange color to match the orange accent. Otherwise, the other color versions of the Pure Base 600 use a white LED.  On the left side is the HDD activity LED with a similar orange color and a recessed reset button.

There is a built-in fan controller which accepts 3x 3-pin fans and has three voltage control presets.

On the right side, there are two USB 3.0 ports which are oriented vertically with a 19-pin cable header. The front microphone and headphone jack is right beside it as well with silver jacks.

Rear and Bottom View

The rear shows a standard layout mid-tower ATX case. There is a 120mm be quiet! PureWings fan preinstalled for ventilation and the power supply is mounted at the bottom. There are seven expansion slots available with reusable mesh IO covers, held in place by thumbscrews.

The lone dust filter covers the PSU area and can be removed by sliding it out from the rear. This filter actually has a plastic housing and not just a simple mesh film. The feet provide substantial elevation (25mm) that even on a carpeted surface, there is enough gap for the PSU to draw air in. On hardwood surfaces, these feet have rubberized soles so it helps the be quiet Pure Base 600 stay in place.

Ventilation

The front area has a be quiet! Pure Wings 140mm fan pre-installed and accepts 2x 120mm or 2x 140mm fans. If the 5.25-inch drive bay is removed, an additional 120mm fan can be installed. For liquid cooling enthusiasts that means up to 360mm radiator is possible.

The rear has a single 120mm fan pre-installed and only accepts 120mm fan size mounting.

The top has a similar 120mm or 140mm mounting option with up to three fans. The mounting holes are offset for the 120mm fans to provide motherboard clearance. The mounting holes also provide variable forward or back to allow for a more versatile clearance.

Drive Bays

Although not quite as large as the Silent Base and the Dark Base cases, the Pure Base 600 is still able to offer some semblance of flexibility in terms of component support. This is due to its use of the same modular drive cages inside.

Each drive cage can hold a single 3.5-inch drive or two 2.5-inch drives (one mounts at the roof and one at the floor). Two additional 2.5-inch drive bay mounts are available behind the motherboard tray

There are also two external 5.25-inch drive bays available.

All the drive cages are removable if necessary, such as installation of water-cooling radiators.

Default Internal Layout View