be quiet! has announced its smallest fish-tank style case yet, offering a space-efficient home for your premium components to be displayed. The Light Base 500 LX and Light Base 500 carry all the features you would expect, from vertical GPU mounting to project-zero motherboard support. The series follows the same philosophy as the Light Base 600 and 900 series, just in a more compact ATX size.
In detail, Light Base 500 series offer a flexible foundation for any type of build, be it for gamers or professionals. The 432mm (L) x 305mm (W) x 410mm (H) dimensions strike a balance between presentation and performance, putting your important hardware on centre stage without neglecting cooling. To this effect, be quiet! leaves no room for error, and ships all variants with four pre-installed 120mm fans: Light Wings LX 120mm on the LX models and Pure Wings 3 120mm on the regular one. Three with reversed blades are installed on the side as intakes, and one normal on the rear for exhaust.
Inside you will find room for up to ATX motherboards, 400mm-long graphics cards, 185mm-tall CPU coolers, and 200mm-long PSUs. The latter can even be installed in two locations, allowing you to adapt the cable routing to your liking. Speaking of which, the Light Base 500 series support back-side connect motherboards such as Asus BTF, MSI Project Zero, and Gigabyte Project Stealth, providing a clean and cable-free hardware presentation by relocating the messy cables into the rear compartment. As for storage, you get space for one HDD plus two SSDs.
To cool all of this, you can call for the help of up to ten fans: two 140mm or three 120mm up top, three 120mm on the side, one 120mm in the rear, and three 120 mm on the bottom. To help with GPU cooling, be quiet! opts for an angled slide fan frame, meant to guide air directly to the graphics card. This should help even when installing the card in vertical orientation. For those who like liquid cooling, note that the top and side can accommodate 360mm and 240mm radiators, respectively.
The case includes an ARGB control button in the IO panel, working in tandem with an ARGB/fan hub supporting up to six blowers. The rest of the IO comprises one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, two USB 3.2 Type-A, plus a 3.5mm combo jack. Lastly, removable dust filters are present on the side and bottom intakes to keep the system clean.
The Light Base 500 LX and Light Base 500 are identical chassis, mainly differing in their fan bundle. Where the Light Base 500 LX stands out with its sophisticated ARGB illumination plus black and white colours, Light Base 500 counters with a cheaper stealthy black-only option.
The Light Base 500 series will be available starting October 21, backed by a three-year warranty. The Light Base 500 LX White will be offered at $154.90 / €154.90, Light Base 500 LX Black at $144.90 / €144.90, and Light Base 500 (black only) at $119.90 / €119.90.
