Review: be quiet! Silent Base 600

Conclusion

As is so often the case, the first launch turned out to be easy and it's the follow-up that's proving to be a challenge. be quiet!'s second PC enclosure, the Silent Base 600, attempts to deliver the best bits of the original Silent Base 800 in a smaller profile and at a more agreeable price.

The end result is a chassis that is cheaper and not quite so tall, but there are unenviable trade-offs. While the central structure and internal layout is practically identical, there are fewer storage mounts, just the one front intake and a noticeable lack of airflow. In its default configuration, Silent Base 600 was unable to prevent our dual GeForce GTX 970 graphics cards from throttling, and that's a problem in a congested marketplace chock-full of similarly-priced competitors.

Out-the-box performance leaves something to be desired but the chassis is flexible enough to get around such problems through multiple radiator mounting points, and we suspect the non-windowed model may fare better courtesy of a side vent where it's needed most. A built-in fan controller, accessible filters and multiple vibration-dampening elements add to the chassis' appeal, yet given the close proximity in price, we still favour the bigger and better Silent Base 800.

HEXUS.where2buy*

The be quiet! Silent Base 600 chassis will be available to purchase from Scan Computers.

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