be quiet! Light Base 500 LX
2. Retail Package
The Light Base 500 LX Black arrived in our labs for testing. The product has many interesting features, like:
- Angled slide-out fan frame on the side routes air directly to the GPU
- Fans can be installed in the lowered fan bay to line up perfectly with the case floor
- 4 preinstalled Light Wings LX 120mm PWM fans
- ARGB controller button and ARGB fan hub
- Design for radiators up to 360mm, and ATX motherboards
- 2 possible PSU positions enable backside connector motherboards
- Dust filters in the side and the bottom
The angled fan frame on the side is not only a design choice, but also directs more air towards the GPU – a part that traditionally requires a lot of it. It provides a neat triangular cutout that works as an efficient air intake. For an easy installation of fans, it slides out to the top. Cable management is easy with a channel that hides your equipment. If you install additional fans at the bottom, they line up perfectly with the case floor due to a lowered fan bay.
4 PREINSTALLED LIGHT WINGS LX
Light Base 500 LX Black features 4 preinstalled Light Wings LX fans. The rear fan is a Light Wings LX 120mm, the fans on the side are Light Wings LX 120mm PWM fans with reversed fan blades. All fans feature 16 LEDs inside their hub of the impeller, making for an ARGB illumination. The reversed fan blades make sure that their pretty side is visible at all times.
SPACIOUS DESIGN
The Light Base 500 LX Black while being a compact ATX case, it comes with space for a 360mm radiator, an ATX motherboard and graphics cards support with up to 400mm length. The smart design of the drive bracket features slots for 1 HDD and 2 SSDs at the same time, without impeding the room for cable management behind the motherboard tray.
BUSINESS IN THE FRONT...
This is the first be quiet! PC case with support for the newly introduced backside connector designs from Asus BTF (Back to Future), MSI Project Zero, and Gigabyte Project Stealth, To enable backside connector support without giving up a drive slot, the position of the PSU and drive bracket are simply swapped!
YES TO ARGB
For those who appreciate subtle illumination without compromising on performance, the Light Base 500 LX Black adds a touch of sophistication to the core design thanks to the included Light Wings LX fans. An ARGB controller button with predefined lighting effects and colors is integrated into the I/O panel. The preinstalled rear fan and daisy-chained side fans are connected to a 6-way ARGB and PWM hub, leaving 4 free connectors for additional devices.
Looking at the PC, we can see a small PC Case with ATX / Mini-ATX support and dimensions of 432 x 305 x 436 incl. stands (L x W x H), (mm). The overall volume is 49.6L, and the weight of the case is around 10.95kg.
All necessary parts are included in the Accessory Box. The BGA12 VGA Riser Cable is fully supported but sold separately.
The exploded product picture gives us information about all the parts of the PC case. You will also find inside Anti-vibration pads decoupled at the HDDs, Anti-vibration pads for all fans, and Anti-vibration pads for the PSU area.
All necessary parts are included in the Accessory Box. You will find a screw set (drivers, motherboard), an additional standoff (x1), cable ties (x5), and a VGA holder for inverted layout.
The included fans come from the Light Wings LX series with 120mm size and normal/reverse layout. The fan speed tops at 1600rpm, while the airflow at 100% PWm is around 51.5 CFM. Air pressure is good at 1.34 mm H2O, and noise levels are kept low with 25.5 dB(A). There is a 4-pin PWM connection, and the rated lifespan is around 60.000 h / 25°C. As we said earlier, there are 4 pre-installed 120mm fans, and users can install up to 10 fans, either at 140mm or 120mm.
You can install 2x140 / 3x120 at the top, 3x120 at the side, 1x120 / 1x140 at the rear, and 3x120 at the bottom tray.
The be quiet! Light Base 500 LX also supports AIO water coolers with 120 / 240 / 280 / 360mm at the top, 120 / 240mm at the side panel, and 120mm at the rear.
Power supplies are not a problem here, with support up to 200mm of big PSUs. Now the interesting part is that despite the small footprint, long graphics cards up to 400mm are being supported. Imagine even big 4090/5090 graphics cards can be installed in this case, no problem here. Support for storage is always welcomed with 1x for 3.5"HDD and x2 for 2.5" HDD/SSDs. Big CPU coolers also are not a problem with up to 185mm construction height (from the motherboard). The front I/O panel has x1 USB 3.2 Gen. 2 Type C port, x2 USB 3.2 Type A ports, Mic + Audio HD Audio I/O, and buttons for Power/ARGB functions to operate.
At the back of the motherboard tray, there is an included controller for fans/ARGB with 6 ports, and due to fan chaining, there is space for an additional 4 fans to be controlled. This controller takes power from a SATA cable.
Lighting is also impressive with 4 fans and LEDs can be synced with the motherboard by pressing the I/O button for 3 secs, while pressing for 5 secs, all ARGB is turned off. The product comes with 3 years of warranty, as happens with all be quiet! products. PC cases and an International hotline / free of charge for DE/FR languages.