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Taking a look at the cooler's box, it uses the exact same aesthetic as other be quiet! coolers from the Dark Rock lineup, and the front of the packaging shows off a large picture of the new Slim cooler. The rear of the box provides a little more detail, along with some core cooler features like the included Silent Wings 3 120mm fan.
In the box, we find a set of installation instructions and an accessory box filled with mounting hardware for current Intel and AMD sockets. Thermal compound is also included along with a couple of sets of fan mounts – that's great to see as it allows a second fan to be installed down the road for a push-pull configuration.
The included fan is a be quiet! Silent Wings 3 120mm PWM fan. This is the exact same 120mm fan you will find included with the Dark Rock Pro, and be quiet! suggests that its inclusion should offer almost completely silent operation, with total noise output of the fan rated for only 23.6 dBA, even when running at 100%. The fan cable is braided too which is great to see for an overall cleaner aesthetic.
With the cooler out of the box, we can get a better look at its construction. Firstly, the all blacked out aesthetic looks really clean, and certainly very premium. This coating also has ceramic particles mixed in so the fact that the cooler is painted shouldn’t hinder heat transfer. In terms of dimensions, the Dark Rock Slim comes in at 50 x 127 x 159.4 mm, and when compared to similar coolers like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 at 54.6 x 120 x 158.8 mm, they are basically the same size, with the Dark Rock Slim just a little taller and wider.
The Dark Rock Slim also features a four heat pipe configuration and is rated for CPUs up to a 180W TDP. The top of the cooler also looks really good with its brushed aluminium top cover. When installed this is going to be the most visible part of the cooler, so just as with the Dark Rock Pro it’s nice to see be quiet!’s attention to detail here.
