INTRODUCTION

    A few days ago, a friend of mine called to say that his CPU was going all the way up to 90 degrees Celsius on idle, clearly meaning that his AIO pump had failed after roughly 3 years of use. Well, after discussing the pros and cons of AIO and air CPU coolers he decided to go with the latter (peace of mind) and well, I can't say I blame him. AIO liquid coolers look nice, are usually easier to install and for the most part produce better cooling efficiency, but pumps do fail (not to mention cost) and so if you happen to own a case with good airflow levels going with an CPU air cooler instead might be the best choice. Recently be quiet! released their latest Pure Rock 3 line of CPU coolers and today I'll be testing the Pure Rock Pro 3.

    We are the German premium brand manufacturer of quiet hardware components for gaming, workstations and desktop PCs. Since our foundation in 2001, we are proud to have more than 20 years of experience in the industry. Our goal from the very beginning has been to develop products of the highest quality that are not only quiet, but also extremely powerful. With a wide range of power supplies, PC cases, water and air coolers and fans, we have established ourselves as a leading manufacturer in this field.

    The latest Pure Rock Pro 3 CPU cooler is one of five new models (all black and RGB single and dual fan models also available) and delivers a TDP (thermal design power) of 250W by following the dual-heatsink (sandwich), dual-tower design. This means the Pure Rock Pro 3 consists by two heatsinks each of which has a total of 50 aluminum fins, six 6mm thick all-copper nickel plated heatpipes, all-copper nickel plated base and two Pure Wings 3 120mm high-speed fans (2000RPM / 59.6CFM / 2.41mmH2O / 34.8dBA / 80.000 hours lifespan). According to be quiet! the new Pure Rock Pro 3 CPU cooler is a zero-interference model thanks to its offset design and as for warranty it's covered by a 3-year limited one.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

be quiet! has been using the same black box for as far back as I can remember so once again a large product picture and their logo are at the front.

The product specifications table is printed on the left side while on the right side we have the company about in 3 languages.

Two product pictures showcasing the main product features in 2 languages are placed at the rear.

As expected, the cooler is placed between two pieces of foam.

Along with the Pure Rock Pro 3 (front fan is pre-installed, middle fan is just placed between the heatsinks) you're also getting a pair of fan mounts (for use with the middle fan), warranty information paper, user manual (at the front be quiet! has placed all models of the new line), backplate and all the necessary pieces to mount the cooler onto Intel LGA 1150/1151/1155/1156/1200/1700/1851 and AMD AM4/AM5 motherboards.

THE PURE ROCK PRO 3

The Pure Rock Pro 3 is a large CPU cooler that weighs just over 1Kg (1.07Kg) and measures 155mm in height, 139mm in length and 124mm in width (775g and 155x124x114mm without the fans installed).

As mentioned earlier the Pure Rock Pro 3 features two heatsinks with 50 aluminum fins each and two Pure Wings 3 fans in push and pull configuration.

Thanks to its offset design the Pure Rock Pro 3 doesn't interfere with the VRM or RAM of your system.

Both 120mm fans are identical Pure Wings 3 PWM models.

A total of six 6mm thick all-copper nickel plated heatpipes pass through both heatsinks.

The CNC machined nickel plated copper base features a thin layer of thermal conductive material from the factory.

Removing it reveals that the base is even although it does have some machine marks on it.

INSTALLATION

Typically, we start by mounting the backplate and the plastic standoffs.

Then come the brackets which should be placed at the top and bottom as seen above.

To properly mount the Pure Rock Pro 3 you will need to remove the two fans.

With the fans mounted and the system turned on the Pure Rock Pro 3 is ready to be tested.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

    I always take things quite seriously when it comes to work so just like with the previous LGA1366 and LGA2011 databases every single CPU Cooler in the charts will be tested under the same exact conditions. Testing a CPU Cooler automatically means that you need to know where it stands against the immediate competition and to accomplish that I’ve spent both money and time through the years, something that i honestly plan to continue to do so in order to get the most accurate results for the end consumers who read these lines. Every CPU cooler in this database is tested with the bundled 140mm/120mm/92mm/80mm fans while working at both idle speed and 100% of their speeds for all the temperature tests. CPU Coolers that do not come bundled with a fan/s are measured using a Noctua fan (size dependent on the model) to test for the temperature tests but due to the lack of a stock fan dBA level tests are obviously skipped. Single (120/140mm) watercooling solutions are tested with the radiator mounted at the rear of our test rig while dual/triple/quad (240/260/280/360/420/480/560mm) solutions with the radiator mounted at the top. For the dBA tests every cooler in the database was measured both while on idle mode or with the fan controller in the minimum setting and while on extreme load or with the fan controller all the way to the highest possible setting (PWM fans do that on their own without our intervention). Every single test takes place in a temperature controlled room of 23 degrees Celsius Ambient Temp with the help of two AC units placed diagonally inside the room. The Noctua NT-H2 thermal paste is used with every CPU Cooler. Finally, it's very important to point out that just because a CPU Cooler is better than another when tested with a specific system that does not necessarily mean that the same performance differences will apply 100% for other CPU models and in other situations (such as different ambient temps and system configurations).

    To successfully record the load temperatures, we use the latest OCCT application for around 6-10 minutes to push the processor to its limits and after that is done and the temperatures are recorded, we wait for about 10-20 minutes for the CPU to cool down and record the idle temperatures. This is done to allow time for the thermal conductive material to achieve the optimal performance level. Same procedure is then repeated with the Passmark BurnIn Test as a failsafe just in case the OCCT results are wrong. This procedure is more time consuming than the usual peltier/thermometer tests but this way not only can readers get results based on real CPUs but those results can also be triple checked by using a variety of programs. Last but not least the temperatures were recorded using the latest versions of AIDA64, HWiNFO and HWMonitor while the noise level tests are performed using a high precision ExTech HD600 Decibel Meter placed about 10-15cm above the CPU Cooler. Still although the same testing procedure applies to all units do take into consideration that unlike the official numbers which are measured in special noise isolated labs with just the fans here, we also have both the rest of the cooler and the rest of the system (although all system fans are turned off when recording noise levels).

* As of November 2024, the Core Ultra 9 285K is used for CPU cooler tests.

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

    be quiet! has released quite a few capable CPU air coolers over the years and even though the Pure Rock Pro 3 didn’t deliver impressive cooling efficiency like its Dark Rock Pro cousins it still managed to keep the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K at under 90 degrees Celsius during stress load and with noise levels just surpassing 50dBA. Mounting is also easy and the claim by be quiet! that this is a zero-interference model stands true. Again, there are clearly higher performance models in the market today by be quiet! and others but if the price is right the Pure Rock Pro 3 could become a best-seller among gamers, enthusiasts and professionals.

    Right now, the Pure Rock Pro 3 (Silver) CPU cooler by be quiet! retails for USD55.79 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 56.16Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag which is quite good. Overall, I don’t think there’s something bad one can say about the Pure Rock Pro 3. Yes, it’s not the highest performance CPU cooler out there but its goal is a very good price/performance ratio, and it does a very good job about that which is why it gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Price / Performance Ratio
- Noise Levels
- Dual Fan Solution
- Zero Interference

CONS

- Size (For Some)