be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review

be quiet! came out swinging with its Silent Base 800, and today we look closely at the Silent Base 600 mid-tower chassis to see if it can also impress.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: be quiet!
14 minutes & 27 seconds read time
TweakTown's Rating: 96%
TweakTown award

The Bottom Line

be quiet!'s Silent Base 600 may be the little brother, but it delivers in every way! It is affordable, it is sleek and nice to look at, and offers plenty of features to keep a mid-tower users more than happy.

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 99

The last time we saw a chassis from be quiet!, we were sent the Silent Base 800, and we could not say enough to express how well they did, entering the case market. With no previous cases to build from, be quiet! had a completely blank slate to start with, and from what we could see then, only great ideas stuck. A smooth and slick looking exterior, an interior with every feature covered, and of course as the company name would allude to, measures had been taken to be sure the noise level coming from it was only seen but never heard. It usually takes a company many years of trial and error to finally devise a stellar chassis design, and here, be quiet! snuck onto the scene, but man did they put on a clinic in case design.

So why are we together again discussing be quiet! and chassis design, it is because along with the Silent Base 800 they released, they also offer its kid brother in that lineup. This means, for those out there with no need for a full-tower chassis, be quiet! is offering a mid-tower counterpart with almost the same feature set. While they did have to make a couple of reductions based on size parameters, they decided to send us one of the color options this time, rather than the black on black we got with the Silent Base 800. These choices are pretty simple; you can opt for black accents, silver accents, or like the one we have, black with orange accents. At the same time, we are still offered options of a solid left side panel or a large window instead, just like the 800 offered.

We are sure to have a ton to discuss as we cover this mid-tower chassis. If the Silent Base 600 we have today is anywhere near as nice as the 800, we are pretty sure it will not take long at all to find yourself looking to buy one. That said, we may as well get right to the meat and potatoes of what this chassis offers, and what it will cost you, so we can move on to all the pretty photos of what the Silent Base 600 is all about.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 01
be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 88

The Silent Base 600 is an ATX mid-tower chassis that can also house Micro-ATX and Mini-ITX motherboard options. This chassis is made of 0.7mm thick SECC steel and ABS plastic, mostly black with a flat texture, but there are splashes of bright orange to be found as well. We are offered its 7.84 kg weight, and we see the dimension above that. This chassis stands 495mm tall, it is 230mm wide and is then 493mm from front to back. It then moves to the front I/O, showing the pair of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, and it also has connections for HD Audio. We are then shown that there are seven expansion slots, and to match, they also offer seven fan mounting locations in this design.

Inside of the chassis, we are given quite a few bays to fill. Hidden behind a door in the front bezel, the Silent Base 600 offers three 5.25" drive slots. This bit you will want to pay attention to - there is a rack on the floor of the chassis for 3.5" drives only. be quiet! ships rubber rails that screw onto the sides of the drives, and these rails then support the drives in silence. On the top of the case, there is also one location to screw in a 2.5" drive. Also, keep in mind that this rack can be removed entirely, or even strapped to the bottom of the 5.25" bays, possibly eliminating that 2.5" drive location. However, be quiet! still offers another pair of locations for 2.5" drives via trays that are mounted on the motherboard tray.

As far as cooling in concerned, there are a few ways to get air flowing through this chassis. The front of the chassis can house a 140mm fan, not including the one that is placed there for you from the factory. The top of the chassis can accommodate either a pair of 120mm fans, or you can opt for a pair of 140mm fans, but there are no fans found here out of the box. The floor of the chassis offers a location just behind the HDD rack, and here you can opt to install a 140mm or 120mm fan. The back of the chassis provides the last position, but this 120mm hole does get a fan installed by be quiet!.

This chassis also bodes well with water cooling options. The front will allow only a single 120mm or 140mm radiator, as the floor and bottom of the ODD rack will cause conflicts with larger ones. This is also why the top is so open. There you can install a 240mm or a 140mm radiator, and the roof is raised to allow more room over the top of the motherboard. Then, of course, you can also install a 120mm radiator in the back. If you plan to air cool inside of the chassis, there is a 167mm height restriction for CPU coolers.

There are a few more things to note. There is a 290mm restriction on power supply length, but if you want to use a fan on the floor, you cut that space down to 160mm. We mentioned the HDD cage can be moved, but it has an effect on the video cards. If it is at the top, there is only 293mm of room, but if it stays at the bottom, or is removed, you are then open to 413mm of space. We also like how they show where the insulation and dampening are placed. Here they check off the front panel, side panels, and even that they add anti-vibration measures for the HDD rack, fans, and the PSU. The last bits cover the fact that there are dust filters in the front, under the chassis, and even one in the ride side panel.

Locating the Silent Base 600 in any of its forms is relatively easy. We found them at Amazon, but cannot find ones with windows, but they will sell you the side panel with a window. The thing is, pricing is all over the place, and with be quiet! always listed as the seller, we cannot figure out why some are listed at $148.40, and others are listed at $159.99 for the same model. Oh and if you still care, Amazon wants another $43.90 for that optional panel too. If you drop in on Newegg, things are easy to figure out. No matter the color option, without a window they all list at $109.90, and if you opt in for the window, pricing across the board is set to $119.90. We know where to find it at the best deal now, and with what we know, and you are about to see, the pricing is spot on.

Chad's Chassis Test System Specifications

Packaging

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 02

Since hardly anyone uses the box for more than to carry the chassis to the table before the build, be quiet! keeps it simple with plain cardboard for the packaging. They do screen print the front panel with their name, a rendering of the chassis, and the product name just below that. It also plainly states that this version has a window while below that is listed six key features.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 03

The name of the chassis is printed at the top, while below the handle, those features we saw on the front are repeated here in three more languages.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 04

The back panel offers a statement from be quiet! about themselves and then moves into the design concept and cooling and silence aspects of the chassis. In the middle, there is an exploded diagram of the chassis with numbers pointing to features. To the right of that image is a chart explain what all of those features are.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 05

The last panel offers the chassis name at the top again, but below the handle we see most of a specifications chart to the left. To the right, we find that the orange box has been checked in orange to drive home the fact visually as well.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 06

Protecting this chassis was job one for be quiet!, and they do well here. There is plastic on both sides of the window, and then the entire chassis is wrapped in a cloth bag. Thick Styrofoam is used to cap the top and the bottom while dense foam is used to make a spacer for the back side of the chassis. All the effort paid off, as there isn't the slightest scratch or dimple in our sample.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 07

The SB 600 offers a two-part front bezel that offers a brushed metal look to it, in which the top section opens for 5.25" bay access. On either side, the bezel angles towards the sides, and with mesh running down these sections, we see the first indications of the orange trim as it rings that mesh.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 08

Behind the magnetically latched door, we find sound deadening material attached to it. On the face of the chassis, we see a tiny switch to control the fans, as well as three bay covers that can be removed for drives.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 09

The front I/O panel is angles much like the sides of the bezel are, just this time at the top. In it, we find the USB 2.0 ports on the left, HD Audio jacks in the middle, and USB 3.0 ports on the right. Into the top panel, we run into the HDD activity LED, and the backlit power button a bit further back.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 10

The top of the chassis is chunky at the front and the back as it rises above the rest of the panel. Near the back there are slots which allow the fans below to blow air through it.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 11

Viewing it from the left, we can still see the orange trim at the front, and it is carried into a ring around the huge window offered in this version. As for the panel, it is steel and is held in place with thumbscrews.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 12

There is venting in the top panel, and an offset before you run into the rear I/O and 120mm exhaust fan. Below these are three grommets followed by seven expansion slots with passive ventilation next to them. At the bottom, we find the PSU location and can see a tab to help remove the dust filter there.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 13

The right side of the chassis offers an option for a fan, like the solid side panel would do if there were no window on the left side. The plastic panel will pop out, offered a dust filter, and can have a fan placed there.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 14

Under the chassis, we see large chunky feet with rubber pads on them. The front feet are solid while the back ones have grooves in them to allow the dust filter to slide right through them.

Inside the Silent Base 600

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 15

Removing the panels, we also found sound deadening material used here. This is the right side panel, but even around the window, be quiet! adds some of this to silence as much interior noise as possible.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 16

The front bezel pulls off the front of the chassis, but all of the wiring stays with the case. There is a removable dust filter in the lower half of it, and if you look at the chassis, you can see one of potentially two 140mm fans has been placed there.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 17

Inside of the chassis, we can see that there is a hardware box tied to the front wall. be quiet! was also sure to tie up the wiring and even run it through a wire management hole to be certain it cannot touch the window in transit.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 18

On this side of the 5.25" bays, be quiet! offers the option to use screws or the tool-free clips to secure the drives. On the other side, the only option is screw mounting of you are worried about devices enough to need more than the tool-free clips.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 19

In the lower section, there is a single HDD rack that is capable of housing three 3.5" drives. Also via holes at the top, a single 2.5" drive can be installed inside of the cage. This cage can be removed entirely, or connected to the rail under the ODD bays.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 20

The top of the chassis offers slots for 120mm fan mounting, so they can be moved away from the motherboard if needed. For 140mm fans, there are holes drilled, but only one location for them; they cannot be adjusted like the 120mm fans.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 21

The motherboard tray offers five holes in it, two across the top, and three down the right side, with orange grommets in them. The standoff locations are marked above and below the large access hole, and we also found nine wire ties points punched out of the tray.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 22

The floor of the chassis is nearly all hexagonal mesh. To the right, we see options for a 120mm or 140mm fan to go in next to the HDD rack. At the left, we find four rubber pads on the floor, and anti-vibration measures taken where the PSU screws into the back as well.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 23

The 120mm fan hanging in the back is isolated, has a round frame, and nine blades to exhaust a lot of the chassis heat, and uses a 3-pin to be powered. The ventilated expansion slot covers use thumbscrews to secure them or video cards.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 24

The front I/O wiring is mostly tended to with a couple of zip ties holding them to the motherboard tray. As the dive through the grommet, to the right of that, we find the pair of 2.5" drive trays. There is also 15mm of space across the majority of this tray, except where the rolled edge stops to the left, by the drive bays.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 25

All of the wiring is black and is long enough to get where it needs to go with a fair bit of slack left. There is a USB 3.0 connection, two fan leads and a SATA power plug for the fan controller. We then find the USB 2.0, HD Audio, and the thin wires for the LEDs and power switch.

Hardware & Documentation

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 26

The hardware is all broken down for you, to make installation easy. There are HDD thumbscrews, short fan screws, long fan screws, and PSU screws across the top. At the bottom, we are given 2.5" drive screws, ODD screws, motherboard screws, and a couple of standoffs.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 27

When it comes to installing the hard drives, you will need these. The thumbscrews from the last image go through the round holes at the ends, and you screw these onto the sides of your drives. They then allow the drive to slide into the grooves in the rack, and keep vibrations from carrying any further than this bright orange rubber.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 28

We also found a pair of short zip ties, and a longer pair to help with the wiring. If the punched out tie points are no sufficient, there is a wire lock send along too that can be stuck anywhere.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 29

The manual helps you with text and images, to get through every stage of the build with ease. We also see a warranty insert that goes over what is and is not covered for the term of three years.

Case Build & Finished Product

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 30

While we do wish the door opened to the right, we do like that even if we did have drives installed, that it covers them and would silence any noise they make. It looks just as good as it does fresh out of the box.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 31

Inside we had not a single issue fitting our ATX motherboard, video card, AIO, or the PSU. We also took advantage of the 2.5" drive location in the HDD rack and tested the fit for the 3.5" drives as well. So far so good, everything just goes right in as one would expect.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 32

When it comes to the back of the chassis, we had no issue getting the dust shield to pop into place, and the card slid right in and aligned well with the slots. The PSU lines right up, but it does take a couple of passes on the screws to get the gasket compressed evenly.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 33

Our wiring is pretty basic behind the motherboard tray, but even here, we got through it without any clearance issues. Even fat bundles like we ran up the middle clear the door, and getting power where it is needed is no issue at all.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 34

When we finished the build and closed up shop, we found ourselves liking what we have. The chassis is curved enough not to be boring, the colors all match, and the view through the windows is clear to see all of your investments.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 35

From this angle, once we powered it on, we cannot see much of an indication that it is on, nor did we hear anything coming from the chassis where noise is concerned. It just sits there calmly, waiting to be seen, but not heard.

be quiet! Silent Base 600 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 36

We did miss the white flicker of the HDD activity light, but when you look at the power button, you do get a sense that there is an orange LED behind it. It isn't bright at all, and unless you are right on top of it, it shouldn't bother you by blasting a wall with light, like a lot of other cases do.

Final Thoughts

Where the Silent Base 800 was a great step into the chassis market for be quiet!, the Silent Base 600 follows right along with it. It may be the little brother of the two, but still packs quite a punch, both visually and in its feature set.

The brushed look down the front is pleasing, and all of the attempts to deaden sound from escaping the chassis worked flawlessly. We like the matte appearance on the outside, and the body lines are straight, and whether plastic or steel, all of the colors are the same. The large window is perfect for those who like to see their gear, but we also like that there is an option to have it or not for those looking for the utmost in noise reduction. We also like that this chassis comes with silver accents, black on black, or this visually stunning orange trim, popping against the black. Here you just have to choose what suits you the best.

Inside, we dug the layout. A couple of hidden drive bays, the movable and removable HDD rack, the pops of orange in the grommets, and plenty of room for great wire management, they all lend themselves to a great looking finished product. We also like that there are some decent water cooling and additional air cooling options in this design. So while the cooling is not superb out of the box, as your heat levels grow with upgrades along the way, you still have more cooling potential. You are not just locked into the basics. We did get the sound meter out for this chassis, and at a foot away from the front and sides, we never saw more than 23 dB. If we moved around to the back, with the stock fan in place, we read it at 27 dB, but our AIO of choice raised that quite a bit out of the back. Even so, there are no oddities where panels squeak, and not a single rattle was heard from it.

If you opt for a solid left side panel, expect to pay $109.90 to get any of the three colors. If you do like the look of the window, it will only set you back an addition $10, again for any of the three versions. This chassis is solid as a rock, it is quiet as can be, and it won't break the bank when it comes to purchasing one. For it being the slightly lesser version of its big brother, this Silent base 600 mid-tower chassis packs in quite a bit, and really should make other case makers wonder what they have been doing all these years.

If a company can come out of the gate, and offer a case such as this with competitive pricing, it seems that everyone had better up their game a bit. be quiet! is coming out swinging, fully intending to get a piece of the pie. With cases like their Silent Base offerings, we see no issues with them becoming a huge name in cases as they are in fans, cooling, and PSUs.

Chad's Chassis Test System Specifications

TweakTown award
Performance 92%
Quality including Design and Build 98%
General Features 94%
Bundle and Packaging 96%
Value for Money 98%
Overall 96%

The Bottom Line: be quiet!'s Silent Base 600 may be the little brother, but it delivers in every way! It is affordable, it is sleek and nice to look at, and offers plenty of features to keep a mid-tower users more than happy.

PRICING: You can find products similar to this one for sale below.

USUnited States: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.com

UKUnited Kingdom: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.co.uk

AUAustralia: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.com.au

CACanada: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon.ca

DEDeutschland: Finde andere Technik- und Computerprodukte wie dieses auf Amazon.de

Chad joined the TweakTown team in 2009 and has since reviewed 100s of new techy items. After a year of gaming, Chad caught the OC bug. With overclocking comes the need for better cooling, and Chad has had many air and water setups. With a few years of abusing computer parts, he decided to take his chances and try to get a review job. As an avid overclocker, Chad is always looking for the next leg up in RAM and coolers.

Newsletter Subscription
We openly invite the companies who provide us with review samples / who are mentioned or discussed to express their opinion. If any company representative wishes to respond, we will publish the response here. Please contact us if you wish to respond.