1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. The Be Quiet! Shadow Rock TopFlow4. Installing the Be Quiet! Shadow Rock TopFlow5. Testing Methodology and Performance6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

Be Quiet! are now one of the major brands in the high-end air cooling market since their release of the Dark Rock series of CPU coolers. Their products offer a winning combination of style and performance which make them very attractive to a wide range of enthusiast user.

We recently look at Be Quiet!'s latest top-of-the range twin tower Dark Rock Pro 2 which impressed us with its new mounting system, great performance and attractive aesthetics.

Today we are going to look at another product in their range, the Shadow Rock TopFlow CPU cooler which is designed for users who have space restrictions inside their system.

It features a low profile design with C-shaped heatpipes, making it ideal for use in HTPC's or powerful small form factor PCs. The Shadow Rock series differs slightly from the Dark Rock series as it's designed to be as quiet as possible. As a result it features a Be Quiet Shadow Wings PWM fan which varies its speed according to the temperature of the CPU.

In our tests we will be comparing the Shadow Rock TopFlow against the Phanteks PH-TC14CS.

Specification

• Compatibility: Intel: LGA 775/1155/1156/1366/2011, AMD: AM2(+)/AM3(+)/754/939/940/FM1
• Fan: Be Quiet! Shadow Wings PWM 135 mm
• Max. Fan Speed: 1500 RPM
• Max. Airflow: 66.8 CFM
• Max. Noise Level: 24.4 dBA
• TDP: 160W
• Dimensions: 171 x 137 x 126 mm
• Weight: 650g

Be Quiet! supply the Shadow Rock TopFlow in a medium sized cardboard box which is decorated in their usual black and white livery. The front of the box features a large image of the cooler against a black background. The box itself is very good quality and should provide a decent level of protection for the cooler inside during transit.

Turning the box around reveals details of the features and specification of the cooler. There are also two blue-print style diagrams of the cooler which are used to illustrate some of the key features of the cooler.

Inside the box we find a full compliment of mounting accessories for the cooler which allows you to install it on pretty much any motherboard you please. Be Quiet also include an installation guide and a small tube of thermal paste with the cooler to facilitate installation.

Be Quiet! have given the Shadow Rock TopFlow a slightly different appearance to the Dark Rock series that we looked at previously. We're a little sad to say that Be Quiet! has chosen not to decorate the end of the cooler with an attractive anodised aluminium plate like they do with the Dark Rock series of coolers. In this case it isn't as important, though, as it is a top flow cooler rather than a tower so you don't see the ends.

The heatsink itself comprises of no fewer than 53 nickel-plated aluminium fins arranged around four 8mm nickel-plated copper heatpipes. There is a Be Quiet! logo on the end of the heatsink surrounded by four heatpipe end caps. The heatpipes pass through the CPU block at the bottom which is also made of nickel-plated copper.

As the products name suggests, the single 135mm fan sits atop the heastink, blowing down towards the CPU socket. The fan itself is a PWM model that spins at a maximum of 1500 RPM and generates a maximum of 66.8 CFM of airflow. It has a rubber pad attached to the back to prevent vibrations being transferred to the heatsink. The fans fix to the cooler using a wire clip on either side.

The TopFlow design of the cooler has allowed Be Quiet! to make the cooler substantially lower profile than their equivalent tower coolers. We would have liked to see fan mounts on the underside of the heatsink as well, though, as this would allow us to install the cooler in even more space restricted environments.

We can't say that the installation guide that Be Quiet! include with the Shadow Rock Pro is the easiest to follow as every instruction is repeated in four other languages and the diagrams are quite small.

While it's far from the worst we've seen, the installation process itself isn't exactly simple so it further complicates the situation. We will be installing the cooler on an Intel Socket LGA 1155 motherboard.

First of all we have to push the four screws through the four appropriate holes on the backplate and then temporarily secure this to the back of the motherboard using the four provided rubber bands.

Then we are instructed to attach the retention brackets to each side of the CPU block using the screws provided. We can then apply the thermal paste to the CPU and place the cooler on top. Securing the cooler to the motherboard is quite difficult as we have to screw it into place from the back of the motherboard while holding the cooler in place. This process would be easier if the motherboard was already installed into a case as you wouldn't have to hold the motherboard in place.

As you can see from the photo above there is quite a lot of clearance for RAM with tall heatspreaders although you may have to install some taller sticks before securing down the cooler as it might prevent installation. One benefit of the TopFlow design is that the fan blows air over the RAM which will help cooling.

We decided to use an Intel Core i7-3770K combined with a Biostar TZ77XE4 motherboard to test the Be Quiet! Shadow Rock TopFlow. We overclocked the CPU to 4.7 GHz with a core voltage of 1.25V.

Test System

• Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K
• Motherboard: Biostar TZ77XE4
• Memory: 4 GB (2x 2GB) G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3 1600MHz
• Thermal Paste: Arctic Cooling MX-3
• Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6950
• Graphics Card (noise tests): HIS Radeon HD 5550 Silence
• Chassis: Fractal Design Define XL

For our temperature tests we set of the both fans to maximum and loaded the system for 15 minutes using Prime 95. We then restarted the system and left it idling at the desktop for 15 minutes before recording temperatures. Room temperature was maintained at 19 degrees Celsius for the duration of the tests.

The Be Quiet! Shadow Rock TopFlow held its own against the Phanteks PH-TC14PE with the system at stock settings but the overclocked temperatures were 5c higher under load. The temperatures achieved by the Shadow Rock TopFlow should still be fine for a permanent overclock, though.

In our noise level tests we switched off all the case fans so we are just taking into account the noise generated by the fans themselves.

We observed the noise level of our test system with the Be Quiet! Shadow Rock TopFlow cooling the CPU and it was below the minimum 30 dBA sensitivity of our sound level meter. We do have to consider that the sound isolation of the Fractal Design Define XL is extremely good but, even with the side panel of the case removed, the cooler was inaudible.

Our overall impressions of the Be Quiet! Shadow Rock TopFlow are very positive. The build quality of the cooler is up to the excellent standard that we've come to expect from Be Quiet! and the entirely nickel-plated finish should complement other components aesthetically.

The most impressive feature of the Shadow Rock TopFlow has to be the near silent fan which makes the cooler perfect for use in an HTPC. The low profile design also makes it perfect for this application.

We were very impressed by the performance of the Shadow Rock TopFlow as we were able to achieve an impressive 4.7 GHz overclock with the i7-3770K without reaching temperatures that we'd considering unacceptable for 24/7 operation.

While the temperatures were slightly higher that those we recorded with the Phanteks PH-TC14CS, we didn't manage to achieve a better overclock with the Phanteks cooler and we don't feel that they would affect the longevity of our CPU by much at all in the long run.

The only disappointing aspect of the Shadow Rock TopFlow for us is the mounting mechanism. Compared to the mechanism used by Noctua for the NH-C12P SE14, it's noticeably more complicated and we feel that Be Quiet! should be looking at alternatives for future products.

We were pleasantly surprised when we discovered that the Be Quiet Shadow Rock TopFlow can be yours for a price of £33.59 inc vat from ARIA. This is significantly cheaper than other low profile alternatives and the performance is good enough for a moderate overclock.

Pros

• Low profile design
• Inaudible fan
• High RAM clearance
• Great value

Cons

• Complicated mounting mechanism

KitGuru says: Look no further than the Be Quiet! Shadow Rock TopFlow if you need an extremely quiet, compact cooler.

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