Be Quiet! Pure Base 600 Review

Interior

Thumbscrews, notches, and rails hold the side panels in place, and although these are a little wobbly when removed they're strong when actually attached to the case. You're then able to pull off the front panel, and accessing the case is as easy as that really. Noise dampening material is fitted to the side, front, and roof panels as well.


Inside, the layout is by the books as far as mid-towers go, but that's not to say there are no features worthy of discussion. There's no PSU cover, which is something we've become used to, but without a window there's less pressure on making the inside as neat as possible. All the finishing touches we expect are present: thumbscrews on the PCI brackets, pre-installed motherboard standoffs, and foam padding for the PSU to sit on. That said, there's no padding where the PSU meets the back of the case.


The design is also rather modular, which we also like to see. There are three HDD bays, each capable of housing one 3.5in hard drive or two 2.5in SSDs. With the former, rubber grommets are used on the mounting holes to decouple them from the case. Meanwhile, each drive bay is individually removable and can be installed in one of five positions, although the process is fiddly as each sled is held in with three thumbscrews. Similarly, the two-bay optical drive cage is completely removable as well. Lastly, a pair of dedicated, removable 2.5in drive trays are secured to the rear of the motherboard tray. In short, whatever drives you're using, you shouldn't have difficulty getting them inside the Pure Base 600.


The modular drive system is particularly beneficial when it comes to water-cooling, for which the Pure Base 600 is surprisingly well equipped for its size. In the top, the maximum size radiator supported is 360mm, with offset mounts allowing for thick setups provided your motherboard and RAM heatsinks aren't too high. Also, while using a 360mm radiator here prevents the top 5.25in bay from being used, you can continue to use the lower one provided you stick to a slimline radiator and one row of fans.


In the front, on the other hand, 280mm and 360mm radiators are supported, with the ability to remove the HDD cages being key here. Also, a 280mm radiator will fit without having to remove the ODD cage (though you'll be limited to the top 5.25in bay only); only when using a 360mm radiator in the front would you need to actually remove the ODD cage completely. It's a nifty little setup, although it's definitely more suited to all-in-one setups than custom ones, as there's no sign of pump or reservoir mounts, sadly. Still, given the £75 price tag, custom loops are probably not in the minds of most of the target audience.


The all-black internal cable set comes neatly routed, and both fans come connected to the fan controller – there's a single spare header for a third fan as well. The cable routing could be improved, but isn't terrible. ATX motherboards block out some of the routing holes, and the ones that they don't block are on the small side and not shielded by grommets – Be Quiet! says it has rounded the edges to prevent damage to cables, but grommets still look better. A small set of Velcro cable ties are supplied as well.