be quiet! Dark Rock TF 2 CPU Cooler Review

1. be quiet! Dark Rock TF 22. Installation3. Testing Methodology4. Testing - Noise5. Testing - PBO Temperatures6. Testing - Overclocked Temperatures7. Testing - VRM Temperatures8. Closing Thoughts9. View All Pages

Moving on to our new 4.1GHz fixed frequency overclocked test, as we have only recently added the new 4.1GHz mid-range cooler test to our suite, we have very limited comparison data at the moment. Do check back on future reviews, as we have quite a few mid-range CPU coolers for test over the coming weeks, so the charts will start to show significantly more comparison data.

As we are locking the voltage and clock speed, the temperature figures are directly comparable between competing coolers. We see package powers in the order of 180-190W for the CPU and wall power levels that exceed 260W for the system.

Note the use of delta temperature data in our charts and factor in your own ambient conditions for reference.

Manual OC temperature results continue to paint a tough picture for the Dark Rock TF 2. Falling quite a few degrees behind the £45-class tower-style air coolers, it is clear that the Dark Rock TF 2's down-draft format is struggling on our test system when the Ryzen 9 5950X puts out such a demanding heat load.

This result is made worse by the fact that be quiet! down-draft unit struggled with keeping the Ryzen 9 5950X around the 90C mark. This, in turn, results in the processor requiring more power than with the cooler running CPU coolers. As such, the Dark Rock TF 2 was tasked with cooling 190W of CPU package power, as opposed to around 180W for the other coolers in this chart.

But this also highlights a legitimate consideration for use of the £79.99 down-draft cooler. Many mini-ITX or alternative SFF chassis in today's market can take full-sized air coolers or – better yet – dual-fan AIO liquid coolers.

This puts the be quiet! Dark Rock TF 2 in a further compromised position. As clearly, the performance is not up to the standards of a considerably cheaper tower-style air cooler when used inside a moderately-sized chassis that is well optimised for front-to-back cooling.

But when we pit the cooler against other logical SFF competitors – which would be the 240mm-class AIO liquid coolers on the previous page – it is also difficult to compare their performance metrics as the be quiet! down-draft cooler is far behind the performance curve.

Perhaps the VRM temperature results on the next page will be a trump card for be quiet! with the Dark Rock TF 2.

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