We always appreciate a good stealth build here at Club386, but I’m a firm believer that a touch of RGB lighting can make even the best PC case even better. No, it’s not because I want to taste the rainbow with my setup, but more the idea that customisation and personalisation rule above all else. Fortunately, be quiet! agrees, and has given its Pure Base 501 chassis a splash of colour.
Splitting it into two models, Pure Base 501 DX and LX, each use the original Airflow Window chassis as its foundations but with an added glowy twist. That design in itself has been around for half a decade, spanning back to Pure Base 500 in 2020. Naturally, more LEDs mean a higher price tag, starting at $114.90 and topping out at $139.90 for almost all the bells and whistles. Not bad for a $10-35 premium.
be quiet! Pure Base 501 DX
$115 / €115
Pros
- Gorgeous aesthetic with bright RGB
- Ample storage drive space
- Copious cable management options
- Vertical GPU mount
- Decent price
Cons
- Top holds room for just 240mm AIO
- Riser cable sold separately
- No ARGB hub
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How we test and review products.
Specification
Keeping things simple, Pure Base 501 LX is the exact same as its predecessor down to the tempered glass window and mesh front panel. The only real difference is that it swaps out the standard blowers for three 120mm Light Wings LX fans preinstalled at the front, and a single 140mm model at the rear.
| Pure Base 501 | |
|---|---|
| Motherboard support | Mini ITX, mATX, ATX |
| Radiator support | 360mm |
| Included fans | 3x Pure Wings 3 140mm (DX) 3x Light Wings LX 120mm and 1x 140mm (LX) |
| MSRP | $114.90 / €114.90 (DX Black) $119.90 / €119.90 (DX White) $134.90 / €134.90 (LX Black) $139.90 / €139.90 (LX White) |
| Warranty | 3 years |
Pure Base 501 DX, which we have to hand here, sticks with three unlit 140mm Pure Wings 3 fans (up from two), instead trading out the front panel for one with an intricately-woven ARGB strip. Inside lies two LED strips, one along the front and another across the top, each shining a spotlight on your components.
It’s curious that be quiet! doesn’t offer a combined solution for those who want nothing but RGB. Some might consider that a hat on a hat, especially with how each fan shines through the mesh front panel, but there will definitely be people out there wanting everything you can throw at it regardless of cost. Of course, nothing’s stopping you from padding out those fan slots with a trio of Light Wings LX but you’ll need to source your own ARGB hub to boot, mounting costs.
Radiance aside, these two mid-towers share everything else in common. Tempered glass windows are mandatory, but you do get the choice of black or white, so long as you don’t mind paying a little extra for the latter. I’m a big fan of bleached builds, and be quiet! has nailed the uphill battle of uniformity once again, making it worth every penny.
Each stands 450mm x 231mm x 463mm tall and puts the space to good use with room for anything up to an ATX motherboard. You can squeeze a 360mm AIO radiator at the front, but nothing larger than 240mm will fit at the top. Meanwhile, air coolers get a clearance of up to 178mm, which accounts for most off-the-shelf solutions.
Most power supply units will fit underneath the shroud with ease owing to its 200mm of legroom, although cables are a touch tighter with larger 175mm models like Dark Power 13. Nothing unweildy or that a bit of preparation can’t ready you for, but in the very rare event you find yourself stuck, you have the option to remove the hard drive cage for an extra 110mm.
Speaking of which, be quiet! leaves ample space for drives here with up to two 3.5in HDDs at the bottom and up to five 2.5in SSDs dotted around the rear. Considering most chassis these days trim down to just a handful, this feels like something of a return to form.
All consumer graphics cards on the market today will fit in no problem with up to 368mm of room to stretch, including the absolute behemoth that is the four-slot Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Master. Better yet, all Pure Base 501 cases come with the same vertical GPU support with most of the necessary accessories provided sans the riser cable, which is sold separately.
Finally, you’ll spot a familiar assortment of ports along the top I/O. Accompanying the power, reset, and LED buttons are a 3.5mm audio in/out jack for your headphones, two standard USB Type-A slots, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C option for the best conectivity.
Building
Your first mission, should you choose to accept, is to whip the side panels off. I could probably spend 300 words on how much I’d rather see quick-release buttons in place of thumbscrews, but why fix what’s not broken? The slide mechanism works just fine, even if it’s fiddlier to line everything up without smudging fingerprints, and avoids overcomplicating the mechanism which would inadvertently introduce extra points of failure.
Around the back, you’ll find an accessories box snug within the HDD cage. This is decidedly easier to reach than previous iterations, as you don’t need any tools to free it from its confines. Inside lies an assortment of extra cable ties and screws, alongside a vertical GPU mount to help you keep your system sparkling. I didn’t need any of these to keep a neat setup as the pre-installed velcro straps worked their magic, but it’s nice to have more just in case.
Piecing together our usual Intel Core i9-13900K test bench was a cinch. Our ASRock Taichi Z690 sits atop integrated standoffs with zero flex while all cables flock behind the motherboard via a large guarded hole to the right. I was initially conflicted about this design, as it isn’t the neatest when looking head-on at the tempered glass panel and makes plugging in cables more awkward, but you’ll usually peer at your PC from a front angle where it’s actually quite fetching. Besides, anything that means I don’t have to deal with fiddly rubber grommets is a win in my book.
Popping in a graphics card requires an extra step than usual, as you’ll first need to remove the guard held down by two thumbscrews. You might get away with simply sliding it up when inserting smaller GPUs, but it’s otherwise a bit harder to align the PCIe connector. At most, this is a minor inconvenience when using this as a test platform, but otherwise something you’ll only need to brave once or twice.
Your first question is probably why you need such a guard in the first place if it’s such a faff. In order to give you the ability to swap to vertical orientation, be quiet! first needed to make the cut-out wider, which would otherwise leave a gaping hole like you see in Fractal Design Era 2. This plugs the gap without anything looking amiss.
Switching to vertical is a fiddlier process than I’d have liked, but I’m happy to at least have the option no matter the hurdles. After all, it is a one-and-done kind of deal. Sadly you won’t see a riser cable or a GPU support bracket in the box, so it’s worth planning out your preference ahead of time.
You’ll need to make sure you put the power supply facing downwards, as the lack of perforations in the shroud will otherwise starve it of oxygen. Once it’s in, I found it incredibly easy to route cables up and down the back of the chassis. be quiet! has plenty of anchors for straps, with some already fitted. Simply following established cable routing was plenty for me to get everything spick and span, ready to fit the back panel without any unnecessary bulges.
Light of my life
The finished product is nothing short of beautiful, sporting gorgeous lighting that puts most other builds to shame. The front ARGB strip is gloriously bright without being too overbearing thanks to superb diffusing. Overall, it takes everything the brand learned with Light Base 600 and applies it to a traditional mid tower, cementing be quiet! as a master of both form and function.
Looking towards the interior ARGB strips, it’s worth noting that these aren’t diffused. It’s somewhat of a non-issue as be quiet! tucks them deep enough behind the lip of the case that they’re hidden in any normal setup, but they could bother a colleague sitting on the desk in front of you. It’s a minor price to pay for definitively better brightness throughout the case, in my eyes.
You can control illumination using the dedicated ARGB button on the front I/O panel, which cycles through predefined animations and colours. Hold it for three seconds and it’ll greet you with a flash before synchronising with your motherboard, keeping everything uniform. Hold it for five seconds and you can switch lighting off entirely for something more stealthy – handy for movie nights without anything distracting your peripheral vision.
Unlike its LX alternative, Pure Base 501 DX sadly doesn’t come with an ARGB hub. Its controller is hidden, designed solely to work with the preinstalled internal LEDs, making additions a bit more difficult without sourcing your own splitter. Alternatively, LX doesn’t have the 5V pin on the front panel like DX does. This begs the question of whether be quiet! should provide a more premium hybrid model that offers the best of both worlds.
Picking sides, however, DX has convinced me lighting strips are a far better solution than cramming LEDs into each fan. Although the chassis has a Light Wings LX-shaped void, its approach keeps costs lower and allows be quiet! to focus on what matters most: keeping airflow high and noise levels low, all while looking the part.
Conclusion
Pure Base 501 DX is a fantastic way to add some flair to your setup, as be quiet! packs it with some of the best-looking RGB I’ve seen to date. It’s easy to control, bright, and responsive when synchronising with your overall system.
Including an ARGB hub would help dull the sting of its $25 premium compared to Pure Base 500 DX, but there’s still a lot of value here. Contrast it with the wider market starting at $115 / €115, and it still skews towards the cheaper end, yet feels anything but. The only exception is a 240mm limit for top-mounted radiators, which isn’t an ideal limitation but you still have ample support up front.
If you can swallow those constraints, what you’re left with is a chassis that can elevate your setup, complete with vertical GPU mounting and more room for storage devices than most. These days, housing up to five 2.5in SSDs alone is worth its weight in gold.
