be quiet! Light Base 500 LX Case Review

System installation is what you would expect.  I have used the Aorus X870 Elite WiFi 7 motherboard to illustrate the various clearances and what to expect when it comes to assembling your build. 

At the top there is plenty of space for a fan and radiator combo.  Due to the location of the top fans, there is plenty of clearance around the angled front fan location with only part of the top fan being obscured.

For users with traditional motherboards there are two extremely large access holes for running cables.  These openings are vertical to the motherboard, and thus obscured from view and come with no rubber grommet due to them being combined with reverse connector access on the motherboard tray.

Strangely enough there are no rubber grommets in this case which is nice and also rather disappointing.

At the bottom of the case there is about an expansion slot worth of extra space which will be nice for multi GPU setups though I believe was done to provide ample room for cable access and routing.  We all know how difficult it can be to hook up audio and USB connections when there is limited space.

I don’t review to many cases that support reverse connector motherboards and I think the final photo captures everything quite well.  To the left you’ll see solder points for the 24pin main power connector while the dual 8-pin plugs are viewable from the top.  Every motherboard mounting point has been accounted for and despite the reduction in structural metal the entire installation is quite sturdy.

Over the past several years there have been a great number of new and creative case designs coming to the market.  Some of them are quite innovative while others might be best called an experiment to see if anything sticks.  For me some of the most successful chassis designs don’t stray to far from what works.  For instance, I was a huge fan of vertical GPU mounting though never really liked that external drive bays had gone away.  Both of these were trend setting innovations and we have seen both good and bad implementations of each.

The be quiet Light Base 500 LX is a pretty good example of a nice try.  On the positive it features an innovative approach to how cooling should be done in a dual chamber “Corner Office” chassis and comes with plenty of additional cooling options with fan locations and the top, bottom, front and back. 

Thing is, I feel the fully mesh back panel was an afterthought and they really should have spent more time designing a proper intake and left the panel solid.  By proper intake, the angled section just needs to continue to the back panel and that panel attaches to the edge of the opening while leaving the pillar section solid.  There is absolutely no reason why anyone would need to gain access to the pillar section so it’s a win win.  Better cooling, proper separation of space between the chambers and the full realization of what could have been.

I’m also not a fan of the “cheap” way the expansion slots were handled.  For me, expansion slots need to be inside the case, it not only cleans up the back panel but also makes it considerably stronger.  Using the simplified design might save on machine tooling but does nothing but look unfinished. 

Now, I will admit the ability to remove this entire section and replace it with a vertical option from be quiet is quite nice but, suffers from the same design flaw, mostly due to reduced access to the screws in the vertical orientation.

Overall, the Light Base 500 LX is a nice case but, could have been a great case with just a few minor tweaks.  There are plenty of modding opportunities available both as factory options or by the hands of the Dremel wielding creative.

Better Primary Air Intake
Dual Chamber Design
Includes Reverse Flow Fans
Included ARGB / Fan Hub
Full Height Tempered Glass
Reverse Connector Motherboard Support

Full mess back panel
External screw expansion slots
Dual PSU mounting options
Limited storage options