CONCLUSION

   The Shadow Rock TopFlow SR1 might not have been able to outperform all of its competition back when it was released roughly 4 years ago but noone can deny that it offered very good cooling performance for a top down model. The Shadow Rock TF 2 is an obvious upgrade to the SR1 not only because of its secondary heatsink and the higher number of fins but also because of the extra heatpipe (smaller ones but one extra should offer better heat transfer) and the somewhat improved 135mm SilentWings fan (higher airflow numbers). Of course the new Shadow Rock TF 2 still can’t compete with AIO liquid CPU coolers (at least not in terms of raw performance) but it can actually go up against some of the best air coolers available in the market such as the Mugen 5 by Scythe and the Assassin 2 by DeepCool. Performance however is not the only thing good about the Shadow Rock TF 2 since just like the SR1 its noise levels are also very low so chances are you will not hear the 135mm SilentWings fan operate not even at load.

   Since the Shadow Rock TF 2 CPU Cooler was just announced by be quiet! it’s not very widely available so right now you can find it for 55.81Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag which is actually set a bit higher compared to the SR1 when it was released. Still you are getting better cooling efficiency from an overall smaller package (alas not that smaller) without having to worry about noise levels and at the end of the day these are the things that really matter which is also why the Shadow Rock TF 2 by be quiet! gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Excellent Build Quality
- Very Good Performance
- Low Noise Levels
- Low Profile

CONS

- Current Availability