Positive and Negative Airflow Testing / be quiet! Pure Base 500DX (w/ timelapse build)

we will be here at 2pm UK time to chat with anyone who has any questions they need help with !

Hey thanks for the effort. I just got the Pure Base 500DX case after hours of research. Three 140mm fans included non arbg from Amazon. Subscribed. Just transferring my old comp to a new case. Bought it used for $300 US bucks but it came with a Sapphire Tri-X R9 290X OC and by the way it does play games like BF3/Bf4, Cod,Fortnight just fine. I do appreciate your innovative tests. Next time just start with the stock stuff then test. Helped me much and I am not a "Gamer". Thanks and good luck.

In the negative setup, where was the intake fan placed ? Ideally should be below so the hot GPU air can easily travel to the top

Removing the dust filter is not a realistic test. Better luck next time. Also wtf is this GPU and how did you load it? I use a TUF RTX 3070 in my case and it's keeping 80deg C all the time during gaming.

Hello, I have a pure base 500 dx case, I planned to put LIGHT WINGS fans, the question is where and what to put, I mean 120-140mm with what speed, since I don’t understand well, put 3 on the front panel 1 on the back and 2 on top or 1 on top please advise

Beautiful build! I have one question, since I have Be Quiet Dark Rock 4 - how did you manage to mount the cooler and all 4 ram sticks? 😀

You need to point the front lower under teh GPU! Any air hitting end of gpu will cause air vortex and heat build up.

one of the best cases for the money

thank you so much for this video!!!

Too much wasted speech

Thanks, I think its a little bit of a shame to not use the included fans - they are part of making this case such a good deal.

Also (imho) you should have used a Dark Rock Pro 4 (like me) and non-rgb-ram for more blackness/batman 🤘

The actual difference in pressure is very negligible doesn’t really matter.

Great video but the music is horrible

Hello, I have purchased recently a pc with a be quiet 500dx case, and I have 1 fan at the back, 2 at the top, and 2 at the front. but the ones at the front, do not spin, i never seen them spin so far, are they suposed to be like that, and only start when pc overheats? or maybe is it something that has to do with the fans configuration? I am clearly not a pc expert, thats why I am asking if anybody knows to answer. Cheers !

I have the same case with a Ryzen 3900X and the monstrous BeQuiet cooler with the two fans. Even though I don't have issues I decided to improve thermals if applicable, thanks for the very informative video and your overall effort, helps a lot.

would it possible to mount a sensor display inside the case

Hey, this is kinda the vid i was looking for, as i'm having a bit of a problem with my 500DX. So yeah, i got it, and i am using the three stock coolers provided with it (Pure Wings 2 140mm), and when i am playing something a bit more new (Sniper Elite 4, Expeditions Viking lately), basically when it is under the load i can totally feel the hot air bouncing off the wall behind my pc table and reflecting back into my legs and generally creating quite a temperature beneath my pc table. It's not much of an issue now, but i am dreading the thought of it happening when the summer comes, my balls are gonna sweat off. I am not using the case in the default configuration, the one on the top cover i have had moved as a second front intake cooler, so i am having a 2 140mm set to intake on the front panel, and the third 140mm set on the back panel of the case. The case is sitting in the bottom right side beneath the table, and the table doesn't have the typical 4 legs, but it's more like two plank sides protruding from the top plank, and there is like a plank in the middle reinforcing the left to right side (legs as it may).The case is moved to about 25 cm from the wall behind, with the reinforcing plank of the table being somewhat obstructive halfway there narrowing the distance partially to about 20 cm maybe. It would be really easier to just be able to show the picture of the setup but that's basically it. The exhaust fan on the back panel is totally killing the temp beneath the table, so if you cguys would have an advice, it would te appreciated.

What a fantastic video this is exactly what I was looking for all about negative and positive pressure. Thank you 👍

cant see all 140mm fans

Hello @KitGuruTech, Thank you for this video, I have only just discovered it.
I am loyal to be quiet! brand.
I have the same 850W power supply and 4 Silent Wings 3 140 mm fans: 2x High Speed for the front and potentially 1x rear and 1x at the top.
If I understand correctly (I'm French frog ^^), the best configuration is with 3 fans in positive pressure: 2x front, 1x rear?
The 4th fan at the top, does not do better in the end? And the whole thing would make more noise in the end?
On the other hand, to cool a Ryzen 7 5800X processor, do you recommend a Dark Rock 4 or Dark Rock 4 Pro cooler?
Depending on the cooler, do you recommend adding or removing the top cooler?
And last stupid question, which rubber wedge mount (2 positions, S and L) do you use depending on the location of the Silent Wings 3 fans? S for intake fans (0 spacing) and L for exhaust fans (a small space)?
The instructions are not clear...
Thank you, have a nice day!

Which case is better Pure Base 500 or Pure Base 500DX in terms of airflow/noise reduction?
Or maybe you recommend other Pc cases at a similar price?

Just because you used a certain amount of fans for either the exhaust or the intake doesn’t mean the chassis is positive or negative, there are numerous other factors such as RPM that have to be taken into play. Also, you sort of neglect showing the actual performance of the case by not having the tempered glass on or the filters. I understand that’s a factor that will vary by case to case, but that’s far more realistic than having a completely open case. Regardless, this was a solid video mate, hope to see more.

hello, i am using the same case, with a asus maximus impact VIII mobo
i realise the mobo does not have a rgb header, can i still get the case lightning to work?

I'm not sure why everyone is praising this video. The information that we were looking for comes at the last 20% of the video, with the rest of this (arguably too long) video being excruciatingly monotone explanations of the testing. And the results? Not even what most of us were looking to find out. I never cared about positive or negative pressure on CPU temperatures, because all the CPU needs is air flow (and this is reflected in the results considering all three temperatures were within margin of error). I wanted to see you demonstrate how much positive or negative pressure affects air intake from parts of the chassis that aren't meant to receive air. I also wanted to see ways to change pressure depending on fan configuration / RPMs.

How do you think this case would go with 2 140ml the front, 1 120 ml in the back and some sound deadening material on the inside of the roof for quietning and no air going up through the top?

I would love to see the Acoustics added into this video and see what the dba was with each configuration.

Waffling on with too much bullshit at the start, lost interest after 4 minutes

What do you think of 3x120mm front intake(silent wings pwm) and 3x140mm(stock fans) exhaust? This should create positive airflow.

Sleek

I have BALANCED, 3 INTAKE AND 3 EXAUST

a lot of yap yap not a lot of useful information

Did the Dark Rock 4 not block the 1st Ram?

Would being nice with testing with the HDD case in the box since many people would use 2x hdd for storage. Since the third fan infont would blow directly into the psu instead of the hdd case then is not "valid" test for those who use hdd. but great effort.

Thank you very much for this! I have this case and was just wondering what the best fan config is, now I know... you made my heart lighter :-]

does it have it's own fan controller and led controller (if yes can it support lian li fans?

Front fans was 140mm or 120mm?

I have the same setup now, also non-pro Dark 4. But... it's all supposed to cool a Ryzen 5800x (it was only 60 Dollars more than the 5600x here in Costa Rica, so, no-brainer). Gonna see if I need to BIOS it into an quasi-5700x, it's not exactly cold down here (and that's probably the "why" of the price difference).

I’m glad that you did this video but it was not a fair comparison. One setup had four fans used while the others had only three fans. You bet that’s going to affect the temperature. I’m surprised that this was not noticed prior to filming.

What happens if you keep the normal airflow and put the fan, that’s on top of the case in the direction, so the airflow goes down?
I’ve testet it with mine. 2 fans in the front, take air in, one in the back, takes air out and 2 on the top that take air in. CPU stays at 40 degrees, even on 4,6 GHz. (Got an I5 10600k)
Does that make sense? I mean, it works but it does not fit into negative or positive pressure, can someone help me out?

great Video, thanks !
I just ordered that Case. Conclusion of your Video: I will leave it all stock.

2 on the front as intake
2 on the top as out
1 on the back as out
Is it ok?

I don't know why people are so concerned about dust build up when they can simply clean it every once in a while with a pressure air cannister.... People without pets in their home could opt for negative pressure and get lower temps.

Can anyone tell me how the airflow and temperature would be, with a water cooling radiator in the front panel, on this case.
Hope to get some answers, been looking around and been unable to find any.

When I plug in a external hard drive to the front 3.0 usb connector, the hard drive don't get enough power. So a bad cable has been used. If I plug in a usb stick, it works. I have to plug in the hdd on the back of the motherboard. Shame Be Quiet!

This answered every question I had about airflow before I upgrade my PC. Thanks a million.

Subscribed. Love your content and reviews. Keep up the good work.

All fans intake/all fans exhaust... you monster! 😅

Excellent video, the build looks terrific and the information was clear and concise. Thank you very much for posting this and sharing your thoughts.

Hi James, I want to build in this case and want to use the stock fans and a freezer 34 esports duo cpu cooler. Where should I put the 1X 140mm intake fan? At the top of the front? Or should I leave it in the middle? Thanks in advance.

When I first got this case, I had 1 140 up front, 1 140 in the rear and 1 140 up top and everything thing seemed fine. Then I added another 140 in front and something seems off. Is this a case of "less is more," do I not need a 4th fan and should I move the top one to the front to have just 2 in front and 1 in back?