be quiet! Light Base 600 LX Case Review

be quiet!’s new Light Base dual-chamber cases come in 600 and larger 900 versions with black and white colour options and a choice of fan configurations. We’re saving the bigger Light Base 900 FX for a featured build later, but today we take a close look at the Light Base 600 LX that supports ATX motherboards, 400mm long graphics cards, dual 360mm radiators and comes with four pre-installed Light Wings LX fans. Let's not waste any more time and dive into this review…

Timestamps:

00:00 Start
00:45 Info
02:00 Front I/O
02:15 Core Chassis / Panels
04:21 A look inside / cooling support
07:04 Hardware support
08:17 Back and right side
10:15 Fan hubs / floor
12:17 Accessories / brackets
13:24 Test system build
14:10 Test methodology
14:45 Thermal and Acoustics Performance
15:38 James thoughts on the case

be quiet! Light Base 600 LX Features:

• Fully windowed front and side glass panels for a panoramic view of all your PC components, with RGB illumination coming from every angle via the huge ARGB LED strip.
• The case orientation can be switched to inverted or horizontal in seconds thanks to an intuitive quick-release foot design, swap the feet to the top or the side for alternate orientations.
• A spacious interior design allows for the installation of up to two 360mm radiators simultaneously, ATX motherboards including back connect, graphics cards up to 400mm long and CPU coolers up to 170mm tall.
• The case comes equipped with four be quiet! Light Wings LX 120mm fans, one forward blade and three reverse blades, plus two 6 port ARGB and PWM fan hubs.

Specifications:

• Case Type: ATX Dual Chamber
• Dimensions (WxHxD): 305mm x 455mm x 450mm
• Net Weight: 12.1Kg
• Material: Steel, Glass, ABS Plastic
• Motherboard Support: ATX / M-ATX / Mini-ATX
• Expansion Slots: 7 + 4 Vertical
• Storage Bays: 2 x 2.5” (4 x Max) 1 x 3.5” (2 x Max)
• Max GPU Length: 400mm
• MAX GPU Height: N/A
• MAX GPU Thickness: N/A
• Max CPU Cooler Height: 170mm
• Max PSU Size: 200mm
• Pre-installed fans: 3 x Light Wings LX Reversed 120mm (Side) 1 x Light Wings LX 120mm (Rear)
• Fan Support: 2 x 140 / 3 x 120 (Top) 3 x 120 (Side) 2 x 140 / 3 x 120 (Bottom) 1 x 120 (Rear)
• Radiator Support: 120 / 240 / 360 (Top) 120 / 140 (Side) 120 / 240 / 360 (Bottom) 120 (Rear)
• Dust Filters:
• Font I/O: 2 x USB 3.2 Type-A, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, Combined 3.5mm MIC+Audio jack, Power, reset RGB Button.
• LCD Screen: N/A

Thermal Performance Testing

To simulate thermal demand we run the Cinebench R23 multi-thread benchmark and 3DMark Speed Way stress test simultaneously in a loop for 30 minutes to load the system fully. This gives the CPU and GPU enough time to reach constant steady-state temperature. With this data, we can compare how the system handles the thermal demand and measure peak noise levels.

Thermal performance is measured with the case in various configurations, such as the default, with the tempered glass left-hand side panel removed and with the front panel removed to see how these configurations affect the CPU and GPU temperature. During testing, only stock case fans are used unless otherwise specified. All water pumps are set to maximum RPM and fans are set to a custom RPM curve by the Motherboard software/BIOS.

All temperature measurements are presented as Deltas – meaning the ambient temperature has been deducted from the CPU temperature giving us a Delta. Data shown in the charts represent the average component temperature over the length of the test as measured by HWiNFO and then the last 15 minutes of the data are calculated to get the average. The ambient temperature during thermal tests is between 19-20⁰C.

Test System Specification:

• CPU – Intel Core i7-14700K – 250W Power Limit
• Motherboard – MSI Z790 Project Zero
• Graphics Card – Gigabyte RTX 4080 Aero
• Memory – 48GB (2 x 24GB Modules) Corsair Dominator Titanium DDR5-7000
• Storage – 1TB Corsair MP700 PCIE Gen5 NVMe M.2 SSD
• CPU Cooler – be quiet Light Loop 360mm White AIO
• Power Supply – Seasonic Vertex GX-1200 80+ Gold 1200W ATX 3/PCIE5 White
• Case fans – Stock
• Chassis – be quiet! light Base 600 LX
• Operating System – Windows 11

Thermal Performance Overview

We tested the case thermals with a 360mm AIO CPU cooler installed in the roof and with the case in several different configurations.

In its default configuration with just the stock side and rear fans installed the thermal performance of the CPU and GPU are what we would expect from a good airflow case at 74°C and 45°C over ambient respectively.

Removing the glass side panel and top panel gives a 3 -4°C drop in both CPU and GPU temperature, but adding bottom fans to the system doesn't have as significant effect on GPU temperature as we were expecting but it has a similar effect as removing case panels.

However, adding the 120mm fans to the floor produced the lowest internal system temperature so it’s worthwhile doing this if you have some cash left over in your budget to buy additional fans.

Closing Thoughts

be quiet! has packed in some pretty cool features with the Light Base 600 LX such as the quick-release feet that can be relocated to the top and side panels in seconds, transforming the orientation of the case to inverted or horizontal and the RGB lighting that spans three sides of the case for complete RGB illumination in any layout. However, there are a few things that can still be improved on such as the cable management features and the lack of removable fan/radiator trays.

Most cases in this price range and in similar styles to the Light Base 600 will have at least a removable floor tray for the fan/radiator mounting because it’s a pain having to flip the whole case over to install and remove fans or radiators. Many of these cases also have side and top removable trays too as it just makes the build process less awkward. Because of the floor design and alternate case orientations, it means that you need to flip the case to clean the bottom dust filter too which isn’t the best solution.

The quick-release feet that make changing orientation a simple job are quite loose fitting to the floor, so when you are moving the case around on your worktop during installation, the feet can become dislodged unintentionally so you must ensure that the feet are still attached when the build is finished and you stand the case upright again. But other than this, the overall build quality of the chassis and outer panels is good.

Hardware support is good too with long GPUs, tall CPU coolers and the installation of multiple 360mm radiators all being supported. Only ATX motherboards are officially supported but EATX should physically fit the case, they may overhang the motherboard tray a little which might look unsightly. There is also plenty of space for fans (up to ten 120mm) and custom cooling and thermal performance in the default configuration with the stock fans is fine.

So overall it’s a solid first dual-chamber effort from be quiet! at £170 – £180 it seems to be priced competitively versus the competition considering it includes four 120mm fans and two ARGB PWM fan hubs. However, the lack of removable radiator brackets and other features does drop it down on my list of favourite dual chamber cases. So while I can think of one or two other similar cases that I would spend my money on before this, but if you like the be quiet! style and want a case with included fans and easily changeable orientations, it might be a good option for you.

The be quiet! Light Base 600 LX is available to purchase now from Overclockers UK priced at £179.99 HERE.

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Pros:

• Good build quality of the core chassis and outer panels
• The included fans and fan hubs are great.
• Good hardware support.
• Solid thermal performance.

Cons:

• Minimal cable management features.
• Unwanted loosening of the feet.
• No removable fan/rad brackets.

KitGuru says: The Light Base 600 LX is a solid first effort from be quiet! at dual chamber case design, there are a few areas that could be improved but overall it's a not a bad case.

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