INTRODUCTION

   I don't know about you all but where i live things are pretty hot right now and when i say hot i mean around 28 degrees inside the house so it didn't take much time for me to decide that another CPU Cooler review would be appropriate today (actually yesterday). Now as many of you know there aren't many CPU Coolers that i haven't tested both here and in my previous engagement but there's is a single manufacturer with which i never had the chance to cooperate with in the past. Of course as stated at the title that manufacturer is be quiet! and today we will be taking a look at their latest Dark Rock Pro 2 high end CPU Cooler.

   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.

   Since I’ve never had the chance to actually test products from be quiet! in the past (seen quite a few but couldn't test them) i was quite curious to see if the company name has anything to do with their products and as you will also see later on it really seems that it does. Noise levels however although important are just one side of CPU Coolers so i didn't know what to expect when it came to performance especially since the market is already filled with high end CPU Air Coolers. Well the Dark Rock Pro 2 didn't fail us in that either since it managed to go head to head with the latest NH-D14 LGA2011 by Noctua. What was the end result? Read on for more on that.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

be quiet! packs the Dark Rock Pro 2 inside a large box with a large product image at the front, the be quiet! and LGA2011 compatibility logos and the main product features at the lower end.

A few words about the Dark Rock Pro 2 are present on both sides in 5 different languages.

At the rear you will find a table with the specifications of the unit and a wireframe showcasing its size and features.

The Dark Rock Pro 2 is placed between to Styrofoam spacers while the rest of the bundle sits ontop inside a cardboard box.

Inside the secondary cardboard box you will find the user's manual, an small Allen key, a tube with thermal conductive material and mounting hardware for Intel LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011 and AMD 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/FM1 mainboards.

THE DARK ROCK PRO 2

The Dark Rock Pro 2 is quite massive and measures 147mm in length, 138mm in width and 166mm in height while weighing a total of 1250g.

Much like the NH-D14 and the Silver Arrow the Dark Rock Pro 2 is a dual tower solution (sandwich type).

Each tower has a total of 44 aluminum fins each spaced around 0.3mm from each other.

be quiet! ships the Dark Pro Rock 2 with two preinstalled fans.

The front 120mm fan can produce up to 57.2CFM of airflow at 1700RPM while the second 135mm fan can achieve speeds of up to 1500RPM with a maximum airflow of 67.8CFM. Both fans can output a maximum noise level of 26.40dBA according to be quiet!.

What i liked a lot with the be quiet! SilentWing fans is the carbon like coating of their blades.

The steel plate with the be quiet! logo placed at the top of the Dark Rock Pro 2 is not just for looks but also to keep the air from leaving the heatsinks.

As usual with sandwich type CPU Coolers you can add a 3rd fan on the Dark Rock Pro 2 to achieve the maximum possible performance.

A total of seven 6mm dark nickel plated copper heatpipes run from the base and up to both heatsinks.

The copper nickel plated base is almost even from side to side (slight center curve) and features a nice mirror like finish.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

     I always take things quite seriously when it comes to work so just like with the previous LGA1366 database we will not be testing each CPU Cooler on its own and with different ambient temperature levels so we can actually have yet another valid CPU Cooler database. Testing a CPU Cooler automatically means that you need to know where it stands against the immediate competition and to accomplish that we have spent both money and time through the years, something that i plan to continue to do so in order to get the most accurate results for the end users who read these lines. Every CPU cooler in this database will be tested with its bundled 140mm/120mm/92mm/80mm fans while working at 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 we will not be measuring their dBA levels. For the dBA test 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 or 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 Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste is used with every CPU Cooler in our latest LGA2011 database (although initially this was not the plan we had to change things to get the most accurate results). Finally it's very important to point out that just because a CPU Cooler is better than another when tested with our test rig CPU, the Intel Core i7-3930k 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 takes a lot more time than the usual peltier/thermometer tests but this way not only can we deliver real world results to our readers based on real CPUs but we can also triple check the results using a variety of programs. Last but not least the temperatures were recorded using both the latest versions of AIDA64 and RealTemp 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).

TEST RESULTS

CONCLUSION

   be quiet! may not be amongst the leading manufacturers worldwide but they've made a name for themselves inside the EU (Germany especially) and finally after all this time i now know why. You see it's not just the performance and noise levels of their Dark Rock Pro 2 CPU Cooler that really make it a great product but also the build quality which is right on par with what we've seen from Noctua and that alone is quite impressive. Of course the latest NH-D14 LGA2011 performed marginally better but on the other hand the Dark Rock Pro 2 was slightly less noisy (almost inaudible) so I’d really call it a tie. The only downside i can think with be quiet! products is their availability which is limited to say the least outside of the EU so i really hope that this can be resolved in the coming months.

   As we speak the Dark Rock Pro 2 CPU Cooler by be quiet! currently retails for 68.90Euros inside the EU (Caseking) a price tag which lands it right next to the NH-D14 LGA2011 edition so with both CPU Coolers performing roughly the same the end decision for most people will most likely be based on brand preference and availability (and perhaps product color). However our conclusion is always based on both the recorded performance levels and the price tag of a product so since the Dark Rock Pro 2 CPU Cooler by be quiet! comes with top notch performance and the lowest noise levels between all the dual-tower CPU Coolers we've ever tested to date it grabs hold of our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Cooling Performance
- Build Quality
- Almost Inaudible
- Easy Installation
- Ability To Add An 3rd Fan 

CONS

- Size
- Price (For Some)
- Availability