be quiet! Silent Base 600 Review
Category : Cases
Published by Luca Rocchi on 08.06.16
A few months after be quiet! launched their Silent Base 800, they're now introducing a new mid-tower, which goes by the name called Silent Base 600. Although the manufacturer is rather new to the case business, the Silent Base 600 appears to be very interesting silent case, which has been equipped with thick and effective soundproofing material and comes at an attractive price.
Rating |
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Cooling |
Features |
Layout |
Build Quality |
Value for Money |
| Pros |
+ Good
compatibility for watercooling |
+ Water cooling
+ Dust filters
+ Fan controller |
+ Interior
space
+ Good space for cable routing |
+ High quality materials
+ Rubber groomets
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+ Good price |
| Cons |
- ore space in the top would be useful |
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- Top panel hard to remove |
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Preview
Specifications
| Model: |
Silent Base 600 |
| Case Type: |
Mid tower |
| Dimensions: |
230 mm (W) x 493 mm (H) x 495 mm (D) |
| Material: |
Steel |
| Color: |
Black |
| Drive Bay: |
5.25": |
3 |
| 3.5": |
3 |
| 2.5": |
3 |
| Expansion
slots: |
7 |
| Form factors: |
ATX, mATX, mini-ITX |
| Cooling: |
Front: |
1x 140mm (included) |
| Rear: |
1x 120mm (included) |
| Top: |
2x 120/140mm |
| Bottom: |
1x 120/140mm |
| Side: |
/ |
| Watercooling |
Front: |
1x 120/140mm |
| Rear: |
1x 120mm |
| Top: |
1x 240/280mm (slim) |
| Link to the product: |
Silentbase 600 |
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Features
Dust filters
In total there are five spots for 120 millimeter fans in this case. All the air inlets are covered using dust filters. These can be removed easily in order to clean them under tap water. |
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Fan controller
Integrated into the front of the case, there is a fan controller which supports a maximum of three fans. It requires a single SATA power connector and can set fans to spin at different speeds. |
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Cable management
On the Silent Base 600, be quiet! used rubber grommets through which cables can be routed from one side to the other. The grommets fit very tight and they don't come off easily, unlike it's the case with so many other enclosures. Also in the delivery there are velcro straps right behind the motherboard tray. |
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Support for custom watercooling
The Silent Base 600 is also ready for watercooling gear. If you wish to install a custom loop, there is the possibility to equip this case with up to three radiators. Two of them can measure 280mm or 240mm in lenght and the third one could be a 120mm model. |
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Product overview
Overview |
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| The Silent Base 600 features a simple and neat design. be quiet! manufactures this case from high quality metal and plastic. The front door comes with a black panel which covers three 5.25" slots located at the top of the case as well as two front fans. There are also removable and washable dust filters, which have been placed on a plastic frame. In these frames be quiet! hides one 140 millimeter fan each. The door and both side panels, are equipped with thick sound-absorbing material, which has become a trademark for every silent cases. The I/O panel features two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 ports, the power and reset buttons as well as the standard audio jacks. On both sides of the front panel there are a few small openings, which allow the front fans to pull fresh air into the case. The side panels, even if they look quite simple, are actually the most important piece of the soundproofing system as they've both been equipped with soundproofing material, which is actually pretty heavy and does a good job at absorbing noise.
The back panel is simple and you get seven PCI expansion slots, the opening for the motherboard I/O panel, a 120mm fan slot and the opening for a standard ATX power supply. Underneath the case there are four plastic supports which ensure that the PSU can suck in enough fresh air to never run hot. |
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Installation
Overview |
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The interior of the Silent Base 600 is clean and simple, and it features a classic design and layout. There is space for up to three 5.25" devices, three 3.5" and also three 2.5" drives. All of them can be put on sledges which feature a tool-less mounting system. Unlike many other manufacturers, be quiet! didn't make any mistakes related to positioning of the HDD cages. In fact, they are completely removable and you will be able to reconfigure the internal layout to suite your needs. The motherboard tray is made of solid steel, and it features a big cut out behind the socket, allowing the user to install aftermarket CPU coolers without having to remove the motherboard beforehand. The tray features few openings with rubber grommets to create a neat cable management. Between the motherboard tray and the right side panel there is enough space to hide plenty of cables. The whole interior, except for the top and bottom panels, has been equipped with soundproofing material to reduce system noise.
In order to check compatibility, we've used an ATX motherboard and an AiO cooler with 240mm radiator. As you can see from the pictures there is more than enough space to install even high-end components. A closer look at the specs regarding the height of coolers reveals that models that measure up to 167 millimeter in height can be installed. In the case of graphics cards, they can measure up to 413 millimeter in length without HDD cage. |
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Ventilation options
Overview |
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| The Silent Base 600 offers plenty of spots for fans and inside the delivery you will find two 140mm models as well as a 120mm one. You can install up to two 140mm fans in the front, one 120mm in the rear and up to another two 120/140mm fans in the top. Despite the fact, that the side panels have been equipped with a thick layer of soundproofing material, you also have the option to install fans at this place. A well though retention system allows you to do so. If you are a fan of water cooling you will be happy to know that the Silent Base 600 is also perfect for this. Thanks to the fact, that there is plenty of space and there are modular hard drive cages, you will be able to mount a 280mm radiator at the front and a 240mm at the top. |
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Temperatures
Overview |
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For testing purposes we're using an MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC motherboard, an Intel Core i5-6600K CPU, which receives cooling through a SilentiumPC Fortis 3 HE1425 MCE cooler as well as a MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G graphics card. To put the CPU under full load, we're running prime95 for 10 min and in the case of the GPU we use Furmark also for 10 minutes. After these ten minutes, we're going to write down the temperatures. The ambient temperature is close to 24°C. |
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All noise dampening panels installed |
Idle (°C) |
Full (°C) |
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Intel Core i5-6600K |
28 / 28 / 28 / 29 |
52 / 52 / 54 / 53 |
| MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G |
46 |
71 |
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Less is better |
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Conclusion
The be quiet! Silent Base 600 is a well thought, mid-tower PC case where a lot of attention has been paid to noise insulation. At this point the engineers have really been working hard on effectively reducing the overall noise level. Furthermore, we also liked the space for air and water cooling. Overall, the build quality is on a very good level. be quiet! didn't make the mistake to go for thin side panels in order to save weight and production cost. They used solid sheet metal which has been paired with rather thick noise insulation material. This combination guarantees for very high stability and stiff side panels. Furthermore installing hardware is simple and straightforward. We also appreciated the fact that there are several holes in the motherboard tray to route cables to the backside of the board. As far as the design is concerned, we think that nobody could ever say something negative about the Silent Base 600, mainly because it features a simple look, and has neither strange details nor aesthetic flaws. It is a simple case, with elegant looks, that could fit in any kind of environment. Apart from the classy and elegant design, the Silent Base 600 offers good internal cooling and there is plenty of flexibility for building high-end liquid cooling systems.
Unfortunately, the case is not entirely flawless; despite the good size and space available, we believe it would have been great if the case was a little bit higher, while for example two more centimeters at the top would really help for installing all-in-one water coolers easier. If you are going to install an all-in-one cooler in the top of this case, we recommend you to do so before putting the motherboard in place. Apart from that the locking mechanism for the side panel is not as simple to reach as it could be.
Silent Base 600 is available in all black (like in this review), with silver or with orange details. In addition there is a version with window. On Geizhals the version reviewed today is available for 95 Euro excluding shipping costs. Since this case comes with a good bundle including a fan controller and since the overall build/material quality is good we believe that the price is more than fair. The Silent Base 600 receives 4 out of 5 stars.
