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Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro CPU Cooler Review

Henry Butt July 18, 2011 Component, Cooling, Featured Announcement

Be Quiet! have used a sandwich design for the Dark Rock Pro which consists of two heatsink stacks and two fans, one on the outside and one in between. The fans are arranged in a push, push/pull arangement like those of the Noctua NH-D14. Even though the heatsink fins are plated in nickel, there is a black anodized aluminum plate that sits on the top of the cooler which gives it quite a striking appearance.

The two fans included with the cooler are Be Quiet's own 120mm SilentWings PWM models which are black in colour. The fans secure to the cooler using two metal clips on either side, similar to those used by Noctua. Unlike the NH-D14, the design of these would make it very difficult to add a third fan setup in a pull configuration on the other side of the cooler.

Be Quiet!'s SilentWings PWM fans spin at a maximum speed of 1700rpm, at which Be Quiet! claim that they push through 57.2 CFM of air each. The two fans connect to the motherboard through a single 4-pin header but they can be easily separated if necessary. At maximum speed, Be Quiet claim that the two fans together will only emit 25.9 dBA of noise.

There are seven heatpipes in total which pass from one heatsink to the other, passing through the CPU block on the way. The CPU block has a perfect mirror finish which should ensure very good contact with the CPU when the TIM has been applied. The aluminum plate on the top of the heatsink includes caps which sit over the top of the heatpipes, making them look a lot neater than they otherwise would. The heatpipes are nickel plated like the heatsink fins which should make them quite hard wearing.

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5 comments

  1. Orion Field
    July 18, 2011 at 9:52 am

    I love the appearance. seems very good. I think the fitting procedure is standard for some makers now. my last cooler was a bastard to fit 🙁

  2. Stephenson
    July 18, 2011 at 9:53 am

    Looks like the cool twin of the D14. I agree, those beige fans from noctua are really ugly as hell.

    This is still quite expensive, but the noise is great. as you would expect from bequiet. quality fans.

    They should start selling their fans to thermaltake who use the cheapest fans ever. my friend has the original frio, and it sounds like a helicopter on takeover at anything over lowest.

  3. overclockthesun
    July 18, 2011 at 9:54 am

    seems quite a good cooler. mounting issues are something you either grow into or dont

  4. Uriel
    July 18, 2011 at 9:57 am

    Quality. I love this company. they make such damn good hardware.

  5. Ten Fold
    July 18, 2011 at 4:57 pm

    Looks good to me. would have liked to get results on a 2500k or 2600k. not sure how hot those AMD processors are.

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