INTRODUCTION

   Much like PC Cases in the market one can find countless CPU Coolers of every size, type and design aimed towards pretty much every user out there from casual users, gamers and enthusiasts to overclockers, professionals and even enterprise users. However although the sky is really the limit in this section of the industry there aren't that many low profile CPU Coolers for HTPC use with serious cooling efficiency available currently something which is perhaps the most important reason as to why most HTPC owners are not very eager when it comes to overclocking their systems. Well be quiet! aims to change that with their latest Shadow Rock TopFlow SR1 low profile CPU Cooler and once again we are here to see exactly just what it is they have put on the table.

   be quiet! is a premium brand manufacturer of power supplies and cooling solutions for your desktop PC. be quiet! products are convincing which is proved by reaching and defending the market leadership in PSU business in Germany for five consecutive years *. This is validated and accompanied by numerous awards for both power supplies and cooling solutions. be quiet! is awarded for five times in a row as manufacturer of the year in the power supply category by the readers of the well-known German hardware magazine PC Games Hardware. Another first and second rank in the categories “fans” and “cooler” underline the high acceptance of our products. be quiet! sticks to its name: Ten years’ experience in the field of noise reduction and silence make be quiet! products probably the most silent one on the market. Undoubted fans have a large impact of the noise levels of be quiet! products. Due we are using our specially developed Silent Wings fans in nearly all of our range. They are equipped with various noise reducing features. Thanks to these we ensure a really silent operation - our products reach the best balance between cooling performance and a virtually inaudible operation. If you choose be quiet! you can be sure to get premium quality and second to none silent operation from the quietness experts.

   Just like most low-profile CPU Coolers out there the Shadow Rock TopFlow SR1 by be quiet! is based on the typical C-type (top fan/flow) design. However unlike most low-profile CPU Coolers it's not only quite larger but also sports a rather massive 135mm SilentWings fan resulting in a very high TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 160W (very high for low profile CPU coolers). So because of both its size and that TDP we decided to pit it against some of the top CPU Coolers in the market currently and thus we performed all tests on our primary Intel Core i7-3930k Rev.2 system instead of the Intel Core i7-3770k system we use when testing low-profile coolers and as you will all see later on it seems we did the right thing since the Shadow Rock TopFlow SR1 failed to disappoint.