be quiet! Pure Base 501 LX
- Alexandros Boukanov
- 6 days ago
- 12 min read
In the land of PC Cases, be quiet! has become quite a big player in the past few years. be quiet! brings RGB to its value-oriented Pure Base 501 case series, adding more style to an already nice frame. Whether you are looking for a compact or a well-ventilated chassis, the 501 lineup has you covered. These new additions to the Pure Base 501 series come in two slightly different variants – DX and LX, each available in black or white to suit your build. Pure Base 501 DX focuses on subtle built-in case lighting using RGB strips in the front and inside, whereas Pure Base 501 LX blasts your hardware with colour thanks to four Light Wings RGB fans. If you are wondering why be quiet! didn’t go with separate lit and stealthy versions instead, well because it already offers the latter with Pure Base 501 Airflow. These new RGB models are targeting those who liked the price and design of the 501 series but want some lighting to go with their RGB RAM and liquid coolers. I prefer the black Pure Base 501 DX due to its fine lighting and performance fans. Price is also a factor, after all this is a value series. Looks aside, Pure Base 501 DX and LX both share a similar internal layout offering support for ATX motherboards, 368mm graphics cards, 178mm CPU coolers, and 200mm PSUs. Despite their compact 450mm (L) x 231mm (W) x 449mm (H) dimensions, these chassis carry five 2.5in drive bays – two of which can accommodate 3.5 HDDs, an ARGB hub in the case of the LX version, plus enough room behind the motherboard tray to hide your cables. You can even install your graphics card in a vertical orientation using the optional PCIe riser cable, giving more flair to your machine. Cooling-wise, you get space for up to six fans, two 140mm or three 120mm on the front, one 140/120mm on the rear, and two 140/120mm up top. If you are into liquid cooling, you can instead install up to a 360mm radiator in the front, 140mm in the rear, or 240mm up top. And to protect your hardware from dust, you will find removable filters in the front, top, and bottom.
Out of the box, you get three Pure Wings 3 140mm fans on Pure Base 501 DX and four Light Wings LX 120mm RGB fans on Pure Base 501 LX. The latter trades some performance for the RGB looks, but not much all things considered. If you like some figures, be quiet! rates the 140mm Pure Wings 3 for 57.4cfm of airflow and 0.96mmH2O of pressure at 21.9dBA of noise, against 51.5cfm and 1.34mmH2O at 25.5dBA on the 120mm Light Wings LX. Lastly, two USB 3.2 Type-A, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, plus one combo audio jack make up front connectivity. Take a look at the Specifications of the LX chassis version that we will have a detailed review. The model we're analyzing is black, which is very elegant and adds a distinctive touch to our setup.
Packaging & Contents
As always, we begin with the packaging. It's a simple yet informative thing to show when you purchase a chassis. The Pure Base 501 LX comes in a typical base box that shows the case on the front.
On the back there is an exploded view of the case showing off the various parts. The sides have the chassis Specifications and features. Stickers on the end will allow you to identify which variant you get. The sidewalls have recesses-handles, in order to carry almost 9 kg of weight.
Once you take the unit out of the cardboard box, you'll notice two layers of polystyrene protecting the unit, which on its end, is covered in a plastic bag.
The accessories are in a small box and have been placed in the HDD cage. In terms of accessories supplied with the case, we have:
1x assembly instructions
6x nylon collars
1x Vertical GPU Mount Bracket
1x rear cover for vertical GPU mounting
1x bracket for vertical mounting of the graphics card
2x hand screws and a spacer
4x Velcro strips for cable management
1x string of bags for screws
A Closer Look - Outside
When we take the case out of the cardboard box, we see a sleekly designed case. The case itself is nicely finished, feels very solid and the black paint is sprayed on tightly so it is a pretty sleek appearance. The side curves of the case replace the rounded edges of the 500 series, providing an interesting visual depth. It is a standard mid-tower case, with a length of 450mm, a width of 231mm, and a height of 463mm.
The left side of the tower has a tempered glass panel, allowing us to see the interior of the tower at all times. The glass is crystal clear too, giving you a very easy view of the case interior, so that should light up really well when we power up the build. The front of the tower has a mesh effect, which allows air to pass through. If you carefully pull from the bottom, you can remove the front panel. Unlike the DX variants, it does not feature central ARGB strips, contributing to a cleaner and more discreet look. There is a filter that covers the front fans, which can be opened like a door to access the fans. There are three 120mm Light Wings LX PWM fans behind it.
A small be quiet! logo is found in the lower part, which is standard for what they do with their badging.
The right side panel is just a solid steel panel. The backside has sound-deadening material on the inside for reduced noise output.
On the back we find the space for the rear panel of the motherboard, the bays for the PCI-E components, the space for the power supply, and also the fan grill. We have a total of seven expansion slots. There are protected by reusable covers, secured by thumbscrews. These covers can be rotated 90° for vertical configuration, providing greater flexibility for custom builds. A side plate further secures the expansion slots with two additional thumbscrews.
The 501’s I/O is on top of the front panel. It includes an illuminated power button, two USB Type-A ports, one Type-C, a combo audio jack, a reset button, and an extra button that controls the light on models with ARGB.
On the top of the case, the Pure Base 501 LX case is unsurprisingly prepared with a dust filter, which is also magnetically designed for easy disassembly and cleaning. When we move this filter a little to the side, we see that be quiet! has made larger openings than normal, so that you can easily reach the top of the motherboard to connect the necessary power cables, for example.
The bottom of the case is equipped with a dust filter as well as the top. Unlike the magnetic suction on the top, it uses a pull-out structure at the bottom to facilitate the removal of the dust filter, and it is also easy to clean the dust. Pulling the filter from the chassis and we see the slots that the HDD cage can be placed into for positioning.
A Closer Look - Inside
Here we find a classic opening of the case since each panel is held by captive thumbscrews. Simply unscrew the panels and pull them back to remove them. The interior of the Pure Base 501 LX has a modern, dual-chamber design with most of the areas following a mesh design for better airflow. The be quiet logo is visible again on the ssd mount. We see that for be quiet! standards, some savings have been made here and there on rubber finishes around the cable openings, but given the sales price and the amount of damping that has been applied, we find this logical.
There is space for mounting two SSDs on the right next to the front fans. The be quiet logo is visible again on the ssd mount. A large opening in the front allows for easy installation of a 360 mm radiator by moving the hard drive cage slightly to the back.
The Pure Base 501 LX comes with three 120mm Light Wings LX PWM fans, with the option to install 140mm units. It also supports up to 360mm liquid cooling radiators in the front.
There are several cable routings. At the top, there are two openings. The same is true at the bottom of the motherboard tray. On the right side, there's also a long vertical opening with a shroud hiding the 24-pin ATX connector. One Light Wings LX PWM 140 mm fan is mounted on the back.
Let's now turn to the back of the motherboard tray. There is a total of 240 millimeters of space for cables and numerous eyelets for attaching cable ties. The Pure Base 501 LX comes with an ARGB controller including an ARGB and PWM hub with six ports each. The bare circuit board is located behind the tray and takes up the space for a 2.5" drive. The fans are already wired to it, and you need a SATA power connector as well as a PWM and ARGB connector. The fans can then be controlled together. The speeds of the rear fan and the fan connected to Port 1 are read. The lighting can also be controlled via a button on the front panel, with several effects available.
The second chamber offers better cable management, and helps with hiding the PSU, cables, and drives for a cleaner look. There is enough space to organize the cables and in the lower area.
Here we find a total of six storage slots. Two of them are already present under the power supply cover in the form of a removable cage with two 3.5″ slots.
For 2.5″ drives, there is a removable two-slot plate located at the opening of the motherboard backplate. Otherwise, two other slots are present on the side of the motherboard.
Installation & Finished Looks
The first step is the motherboard. We find a motherboard tray that will accommodate ATX, micro-ATX and mini-ITX motherboards. As you can see, the chassis is well streamlined and there will be no room for installing an E-ATX motherboard. The motherboard plate has markings so that you know which spacers your motherboard should be screwed to. The power supply has a minimum depth of 180 mm, 200 mm with the hard drive cage pushed back as far as possible. Thanks to the cable channels the build also looks extremely clean at the back and even behind the motherboard tray.
The mounting plate for SSDs is already partially occupied and pre-wired by the ARGB/Fan PCB. We removed it in order to install 2 x 2.5" drives on the mounting plate. We installed our SSD onto the bar and resecured the bar into position. When it comes to attaching the cables for your SSD, it’s best to lay the case down on its side to get easier access -- and vision -- to the SSD ports.
The main chamber supports heatsinks of up to 178 mm in height.
The hard drive cage itself can also house an additional 2.5-inch drive in the top, and a further 2x 3.5-inch drives -- although not at the same time.
To install the drives, you slide them in, align with the pre-drilled holes, and secure using the included screws. Pleasingly, the holes are surrounded by rubber on either side to reduce vibrations.
The cage can also be removed in its entirety, if you prefer better airflow or a thicker front radiator.
You can install your video card in the normal way and it can be 368mm long. This means you have no real restrictions on which card you install. To mount the graphics card vertically, you'll first need to remove all PCIe covers before installing the upper and lower brackets. Next, insert the card vertically before screwing it into place using its bracket at the back of the case. Finally, a small screw cover will need to be installed at the back.
Our view through the tempered glass once the system is up and running shows the clear picture we wanted. All of our parts in full view, everything down to the SSD, the motherboard, the GPU, and those Light Wings fans are all there to be admired. Overall, the Pure Base 501 LX has a solid build quality and comes all the benefits of its predecessor. It's very easy for anyone to built a extremely clean PC with this case, with well hidden-cables and hardware thanks to the double chamber design, and the excellent use of space. Fan's ARGB LEDs offer multiple colors and modes to individualize the look of the case from the inside as well as from the outside. You can optionally synchronize lighting with your motherboard or ARGB controller.
The advantages of the ventilated front panel design can be reflected after installation. Not only does it enhance heat dissipation, but the fan lights behind the ventilated panel can also be directly exposed in addition to the two ARGB light strips.
Performance
Our test platform is based around an all-AMD combination of Ryzen 7 1800X and Radeon RX 580. AMD's eight-core, 16-thread processor is stock clocked and installed beneath a be quiet! Silent Loop 2 240mm liquid cooler. The CPU is joined by 16GB of G.Skill Flare X DDR4, while the Radeon RX 580 GPU is provided by Sapphire in Nitro+ Limited Edition guise. Power for the entire system comes courtesy of a 750W be quiet! Pure Power 11 FM supply. To find out how well the chassis can cool the AMD-flavoured build, we log CPU temperature while encoding a large 4K video clip using the popular HandBrake software utility. This task puts heavy load on all available CPU cores and we extend the stress test by queueing multiple passes. In order to provide a stabilised reading we then calculate an average temperature from the last few minutes of encoding. To get an idea of graphics-card cooling performance, we log GPU temperature while looping the F1 2017 benchmark at a 4K resolution with ultra quality settings. Last but not least, we also measure chassis noise by using a PCE-318 noise meter to take readings both when idle and while gaming. The meter is positioned 35cm from the front of the chassis in a direct line of sight 30cm from the ground.
be quiet! Pure Base 501 LX keeps our eight-core AMD Ryzen processor cool enough. We see similar results in GPU cooling performance.
Like any high airflow case the downside is noise. While the noise levels we measured were not really all that loud, this case is going to be louder than say a case with a front tempered glass panel. Of course this case is going to perform far better thermally. The three Light Wings LX fans in the front are, as expected, louder at maximum speed.
Final Thoughts
Now let's come to the conclusion of this review. With the introduction of the Pure Base 501, be quiet has released a great successor to its popular 500 case. It is still a good choice for a case that is not too expensive, yet solidly built and offers the features you need. Let's wrap it up. From the moment I got it out of the box, the be quiet! Pure Base 501 LX just screamed quality with its all-steel construction, well thought out case design, and features. There is a tempered glass panel which will show off your gear if you want to. The build quality is robust, with a well-constructed frame that ensures stability. The side panels are designed for easy removal, facilitating straightforward component installation and maintenance. The insulated foam side panel works great. By default, the case features four Pure Wings 3 fans. These are located at the rear for extraction and at the front for intake. By including more fans, the Pure Base 501 LX also performs much better in terms of processor and graphics card temperatures. The full mesh design is a good choice, because it allows good airflow, with the noise still well under control. The noise levels are normal for a full mesh design. The Light Wings LX fans offer a wide range and can also operate very quietly. Up top, you'll be limited to two 120/140mm fans, compared to one 120/140mm fan at the rear. All this makes the case compatible with watercooling radiators up to 360 mm at the front of the case. Otherwise, at the top, compatibility with 120/240 mm is guaranteed. The front mesh is actually a door that can easily be opened and removed from the case to access the nylon filter cartridge. There are three filters on this case that are easily accessible. It is also compatible with most motherboards that allows control of RGB lighting of your PC. Inside, you encounter a popular and now proven layout with two chambers. Thus, the division is made into a large main chamber and a smaller power supply chamber in the lower area. We see that for be quiet! standards, some savings have been made here and there on rubber finishes around the cable openings, but given the sales price and the amount of damping that has been applied, we find this logical. We find a total of six storage slots. Two of them are already present under the power supply cover in the form of a removable cage with two 3.5″ slots. For 2.5″ drives, there is a removable two-slot plate located at the opening of the motherboard backplate. Otherwise, two other slots are present on the side of the motherboard. The new Pure Base 501 LX also is controlled by integrated ARGB controller. It is also compatible with most motherboards that allows control of RGB lighting of your PC. The installation process is rather straightforward, and you shouldn't have any major issues here. There's plenty of cable management space and a full-size PSU shroud to help keep things looking neat and tidy. The maximum motherboard form factor that you can use is standard ATX, and you can install a 178 mm in height cpu cooler and graphics of up to 368 mm in length. Well, if there is anything to add at all, I'd say that a front fan controller would have come in handy. Additionally, there are not rubber grommets on the mainboard tray.
As for prices, the LX cost €139.90 and €144.90, in black and white. ARGB lighting, tempered glass, a properly ventilated case with filtering, cable management, a PSU shroud, room for radiators or more fans, and more. It really is ticking all the right boxes, and any cost-saving measures that they've used don't impact the finished build.
