CONCLUSION

   When designing a CPU cooler manufacturers always have two routes to take, either use a large heatsink or a small heatsink. Large heatsinks are usually paired with both mid/high-speed (mid/high-noise) fans since thanks to their total surface they can dissipate heat quite fast. Small heatsinks on the other hand don’t have that privilege so manufacturers almost always pair them with high-speed (and usually loud) fans to make up for that (at least partially). Be quiet! did their best to increase the total surface of the heatsink by adding a secondary smaller heatsink and that paid off since thanks to the rather large total surface for such a cooler they were able to “marry” it with a low-noise 120mm fan from their Silent Wings 2 line. This allowed them to surpass the recently released NH-L9x65 model by Noctua (if only by a very small amount) in performance without having to worry about noise (quite the opposite since it's even less audible).

   You can currently find the Shadow Rock LP CPU Cooler by be quiet! for USD69.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 39Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). Now leaving out the fact that be quiet! should obviously lower the price of the Shadow Rock LP inside the USA the EU pricing is actually right on the spot since you are getting a very good low-profile CPU Cooler for quite a bit less than what the competition asks for their solutions. Of course it’s still not even close to being as compact as the NH-L9x65 so I do believe that these two are not aimed at exactly the same audience but overall if performance and low noise is what you’re after the Shadow Rock LP is a more complete CPU cooler and that’s why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Good Build Quality
- Size (75.4mm height)
- Very Good Performance
- Low Noise Levels
- Socket Compatibility
- EU Pricing (For Some)
 

CONS

- USA Pricing (For Some)
- Not As Compact As Its Immediate Competition