31.8.2019

My review is for the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro TR4, BK023, 250W TDP, for AMD TR4 Only, CPU Cooler. Amazon is lumping a lot of Be quiet! reviews together - so if you are here for the Threadripper, don't be fooled into thinking you will get 32c on a Threadripper.... ever.PERFORMANCE:I am staying under 80C almost always. I have not seen my CPU temperature break approximately 82C as a peak temperature. If you discount the AMD fan policy temperature offset, we can see that I'm actually "supposedly" getting temperatures ranging from 36c to 55c. It is known that AMD forces an offset to create a disparity between the actual die temperature and the reported temperature in order to provide a consistent fan policy between the consumer Ryzen and professional Threadripper CPU's.Unfortunately, this makes figuring out cooling for TR4 CPU's a bit more ambiguous. However, i have noted that even when the CPU is supposedly as high as 80c, i have cold air coming from my computer's fan ports. The airflow has an intake from the front of two 240mm fans, and this cooler also has two fans facing the same direction, exhausting directing to my rear case fan which pulls that air out from the PC. The case is an old Antec Three Hundred Two. Not a very fancy case or a monster of airflow but it does good enough.REVIEW:I don't regret getting this cooler, partly because for $10 more than the Noctua TR4 cooler, you get twice as much heatsink and fans, and it's about $40-50 less than the Cooler Master "official" cooler. Those of us using Threadripper know there are not a lot of options for coolers out there. I had a liquid cooler on my previous PC - a 9900k with a Radeon 5700 which i sold to a kid looking for his first gaming PC - but I was constantly paranoid it would leak or fail when I was in the middle of a big project (I'm not a gamer - I use this PC for audio/video work, aka the one application where Threadripper really pulls ahead). So I went looking for the best air cooler I could get. Unfortunately, I only saw a handful of TR4 options, half of which were available to me via same day shipping, which may be the only reason I chose this over the Thermalright TR4 cooler (A brand I had previous positive experience with on a 2700X setup).I got it same day shipping (thank you Amazon!) which was great, and the install went smoothly, except that i went by the pictures alone and didn't read the text so I forgot to attach the mounting plates before I put the cooler on. Oops! That was not a huge mistake, i was just annoyed i had to re-paste the cpu but that's my own fault for not reading directions. If you actually read them, the directions are nice and succinct. However, I still don't understand what the purpose of the unscrewable caps on the heat plate are. The instructions tell you to loosen them a bit then never mentions them again. When I was finished I just screwed them back on.Installation was a breeze. It was not bad at all. There are not many steps or items to mess with - a nice bonus of getting a cooler that only works with one socket is not having to sort through a dozen baggies of tools. The worst part was putting getting the center fan attached, since you can't pass the fan through with the fan clip on both sides, at least I couldn't figure out how to despite doing many coolers with this style fan clip. I ended up having to take out a top side fan from my case to give my hand enough room to re-attach the fan clip after I slid it though. Aside from that, everything was very simple.The build quality of everything is nice I was tempted to give a three star because my cooler had a couple paint chips on the top of the heat plate. This was a minor disappointment, and may have been a bigger issue to someone else, I was just surprised it passed QC like that. But, it's simply cosmetic and I wanted to get my PC up and running so I was not about to wait to replace it.Having one that is well designed like this is most certainly welcome. I wish it was a bit cheaper, but what can ya do...

20.10.2020

Let me get the negatives covered first, which is also when you hit them since they are during the installation.This cooler is massive. It's going to result in very tight quarters during the install unless you're running it on an open test bench or in a ridiculously large case. While this Dark Rock Pro is not quite as massive as a couple others on the market (Noctua NH-D15) but you're basically guaranteed to get frustrated trying to install it. Either you can install it completely on the motherboard before you install the motherboard in the case, or you can try to install it after the motherboard is already in the case.If you try to install this cooler when the motherboard is already in the case,you'll probably drop at least one of the two screws that you have to put onto the screwdriver after you poke it through the hole in the top of the cooler. Even if you get lucky with those screws, trying to get the little wire clips on the center fan installed and clipped onto the cooler in the perfect place (I suggest between 5th and 6th fins from the top) will likely trigger any anger management issues you may currently have or ever will have.If you try to install the cooler onto the motherboard before the motherboard is installed in the case, getting the screws through the crossbar and into the mounting bracket will be slightly less frustrating since you'll have much more room to work around both sides of the cooler. Unfortunately, when you try to then mount the motherboard into the case with this behemoth on it, you may be challenged to get it positioned correctly and still be able to get a screwdriver down to the screws that attach the motherboard motherboard tray in the case. It's a good thing that Be Quiet! provides a long shaft screwdriver with this cooler, because you're going to need it.Now, once the cooler is installed, hopefully without too much profanity or blood (from your case, no sharp edges on the cooler) or black finish scraped off the cooler fins from multiple tries to get the fan clips perfect, it will redeem itself nicely. It works wonderfully and quietly. For my blacked out case internals with very little, very tasteful lighting, this cooler looks amazing on the MSI X570 Unify motherboard. It's all in a Be Quiet! Pure Base 500DX case with the 140mm Be Quiet! Silent Wings 3 fans that I used to replace the decent but not great non-PWM fans that came in the case.I am using this cooler on an overclocked Ryzen 5 3600 for now until the 5900X is available. I have the fans controlled by PWM, of course. Even with heavy overclocking (and I got lucky with how fast this little CPU can go), I can't push enough heat through it to even get the fans close to full speed. I'm sure that will change with the 5900X, but having this work so well on the 3600 that's being pushed hard makes me more confident of using an air cooler on the 5900X. I can't hear the fans on the cooler with the sides on the case, even when purposefully setting the fans to max speed. That's partially due to the design of the Be Quiet! case, of course.I can't vouch for the thermal paste that was included with the cooler since I used the Kryonaut paste that I know and trust, but I doubt there would be any significant difference in the results between the two.Overall, I'm glad I bought this cooler and I'm happy with it. I'd be even happier with it if I didn't have to uninstall and reinstall it again when I get the 5900X (hopefully) next month.

7.1.2019

Got this for a new desktop build. I wanted 2 main things from my CPU cooler, quiet operation and good cooling performance.I have used AIO water cooling for years including the NZXT Kraken x62, Corsair H80i, Swifttech H320 X2, etc. Each time I was generally disappointed by the noise they make. I would not consider them silent, with pump noise being my biggest peeve. Most of these pumps tend to starting making a ticking type noise that can be very annoying. Smaller AIO's need to use higher rpms on the fans for cooling which generally equates to loud fans.So this time around other than the obvious performance of a new gaming rig, keeping the rig silent and still cool was at the top of my priorities.I dont care about RGB, windows, etc.My build is:* i7-9700k with this cooler* MSI MPG Z390M Gaming Edge mATX motherboard* 32GB (2x 16GB) Corsair LPX DDR4 3200 RAM. CMK32GX4M2B3200C16* 1TB Samsung 970 Evo m.2 NVMe SSD* MSI RTX 2080 Duke GPU* Seasonic 850watt plat PSU SSR-850PX* Fractal Design Mini C (without side window)* 4x Be Quiet SILENTWINGS 3 PWM 120mm fans model BL066* 2x Be Quiet SILENTWINGS 3 PWM 140mm fans model BL067I have the i7-9700k running @ 5.0Ghz with max temps hitting ~80c in prime95 testing over a 4 hour period. Idle temps with ambient room temp at about 72f is ~26-29c. Gaming, it depends on the game and I have not tested many for long enough to be sure yet but I would say ranges from mid 40's to mid 60's.So performance wise, this cooler is amazing. Easily handles keeping the CPU cool.Lets talk sound/noise. At full, 100% rpm I heard a noise, this kind of whistle/whine...I moved in to listen more closely...and realized it was my nose/breathing making the noise. That's how quiet this build is, I heard my breathing/nose whistle over the sound of the cooler!At one point the cooler was so quiet I had to check if the fans where even working...of course they were.As to some concerns people may have:* Yes, this cooler is massive.* No, it wasnt all that hard to install. Easier than dealing with an AIO. Hardest part is getting the middle fan latched on* RAM clearance was fine for me, but I got RAM that didn't have absurdly tall and useless heat spreaders on them.Installation wise, I was able to install it myself with relative ease. The included screw driver is perfect. I used grizzly kryonaut thermal paste and spread it conservatively and thin over the CPU. The hardest part of the install is getting the middle fan latched onto the block. I found a pry tool useful for helping to pull the 2 wirey lathes over the notches of the fins.At the end of the day this cooler provides impressive performance, decent aesthetics, and silent operation. Its big, doesnt have RGB for 14 year olds and could have RAM clearance problems for some. If you can deal with the minor concessions and can make it work in your build you wont regret it.I am overall impressed with the build quality of Be Quiet's products overall and will be considering them more and more going forward especially for cooling products. I would highly recommend this cooler

2.7.2020

This is probably the best air cooler you can get for money!I rebuilt my son's system from an AIO to this cooler because of issues the AIO had. I have the Threadripper version in my workstation and knew what I was getting into. A little anecdote: My son's PC case was starved for fresh air due to stupid design choices. I remedied this with a MashifyC from Fractal Design. When a software issue arose (bloatware from the Mainboard), we felt the glass was hot right about the cooler. Perplexed, I wondered how the chassis could heat up despite the great airflow design. I opened the chassis and it was cool inside. This is when I realized the CPU cooler is so good ( and large)that it even transferred heat to the glass 1/2 in away!Pros:- Best air CPU cooler you can get- no LED shenanigans- Massive fin stacks and many heat pipes- low noise fans- pretty- highly precisely machined copper heat conductor - works well with liquid metal instead of thermal paste- a cool screwdriver is includedCons:- If you never built a PC, you may want to look for a cooler that's easier to install. I build my own rigs since almost 3 decades - I did not mind, but your mileage may vary- Massive - you need a good quality Mainboard to not flex under the weight- no LED for those who look for those looks - and it will block some RAM slots from sight if you have that as LED- Some larger RAM modules will not work with this one- Some PC cases may be too slim to work with this oneHints and recommendations:- Check clearances so that it fits into your chassis and does not interfere with high RAM. The RAM does not need to be low profile, but some really large RAM modules - especially with LED may interfere - and LED would get covered up- Do not transport your tower upright with the cooler hanging like this on the Mainboard's side - lay it down so the Mainboard is on the bottom instead- the frontal cooler is somewhat finicky to install when RAM interferes to some degree - and this will increase the overall height, thus chassis room needed. The Fractal Design MashifyC DOES work with RAM that requires a shifted front fan on this cooler. I had to do this and it works perfectly.Last thoughts:Now, I knew all the Cons of this cooler going into this upgrade. I did choose cooler capacity over RGB loos my son would have chosen and I ordered RGB fans for his PC for the case to make up for it. I know from experience, this cooler will beat many others I've seen and I do understand why it is so hard to install: It's a trade-off for its size. The choice BeQuiet! had was to either use the space they have to work with to put more cooling it or to make it easier to install, but not both. They chose what is important and its primary purpose: Cooling!Would I buy it again? Absolutely! Actually, I am currently running the stock Wraith on my secondary system and will probably replace it with another one of these ones. It looks beefy, is beefy, and has a beefy cooling capacity.

20.1.2021

Bought this for a Christmas present build for a nephew. While putting a system together for him ( his 1st), I was going to use an old AIO that I had laying around from a previous build. Then it hit me. No one in my brothers family is computer hardware savvy! I had to make this system as bulletproof and maintenance free as possible and that meant removing any points of failure that I could.That's where the be quiet Dark Rock Slim come in. The nice thing about air coolers is that you don't have to worry about leaks, pump failure, or liquid permeation. The worst that can happen is fan failure and that's an easy fix.PROS:1) Fits in MOST mid tower cases with decent clearance.2) Comes with a good 1500 RPM fan.( I did swap this out for the 2,200 RPM Silent Wings 3 fan)3) Decent cooling for the price. ( 24 hours of Prime95 max temp 85 degrees Celsius)4) Easy to install fan brackets. ( I had no problems that some other reviewers had)5) Ram clearance ( I was able to populate all 4 dimm slots with Gskill Flare X dimms on an ASUS CH Hero 7 motherboard)CONS:1) Mounting tension is a little touchy. ( See below)2) Max overclock and temps. (Also see below)Final thoughts:The Dark Rock Slim is an all around great cooler for it price. After using 7 Noctua 3000 RPM fans at full blast in my system and being used to the wind tunnel that it sounds like, I had to look to see if the fan was spinning. It was, it's just whisper silent. The written instructions could use some work, so forget them. Go to be quiets website and they have a video that is easy to follow.I had only 2 problems with this cooler. The 1st has to do with mounting pressure. There is a fine line between too little and too much. The first time I installed it, I tightened it down until the threads stopped. This was not good because it was causing a Q-code 8 on the Crosshair Hero 7 motherboard at random times that never had that before. That was 2 days worth of headaches to figure out. Then after remounting it so it didn't randomly Q-code 8 anymore, it was loose enough to wiggle and the temps went into the mid 90's during stress testing. There is a small range where it is tight enough to work properly and keep the temps in an acceptable range. Maybe be quiet could shorten the thread at the head of the screw to tighten the tolerance some.The other issue is max overclock and temps. I know this CPU will do 4.3 GHz all core on a 280 AIO on this motherboard at 1.29 volts with lower temps. On a tower cooler such as this, it is just not possible. It will do 4 GHz all core and passed every stress test that I put to it ( Prime95, OCCT, ADIA64, IBT). I tested stock, PBO, and static overclock. All testing was done in a room at 80 degrees F. I guess this is the trade off for making it as maintenance free as possible.It's a great cooler for the price if you want to stay away from water cooling. I would recommend it others.

12.5.2019

I went with this cooler because Noctua is taking forever to get their all black NHD-15 unit out. So I have this installed to a Asus Maximus Code X board with a i7-9700k running at 5ghz. Idle temps are in the mid 30s (C) and during gaming the temps stayed under 70c. Ambient temps in the room are usually in the low to mid 70s (F). Everything is installed in a Define R6 case. I have two Corsair ML140s on the front for intake, another ML 140 at the rear for exhaust and 3 Corsair LL 140s in the top for exhaust. All case fans are running at 900 rpm as that is the point where they become inaudible to me. The CPU fans are running at max rpm at all times and is the only source of noise coming from the system (which isn't much).

30.7.2019

I was going to buy a Noctua cooler for my new Ryzen 7 3700X, having dealt with them before and been impressed by them, but for reasons that escape me Noctua continues to use that awful brown color on their fans. After looking around for alternatives I arrived at this cooler, and I'm glad I did. It performs every bit as well as any other Noctua cooler I've used including the NH-D15 and it's just as quiet, while also being much more attractive. It isn't any cheaper, unfortunately, but as they say, you get what you pay for.Ryzen 3000 series parts are known to run hot, and this cooler allows my 3700X to boost to its maximum frequency all the time while never passing 75C,

1.10.2020

installation was stress free by simply following along with the installation video on youtube uploaded by be quiet. it's not keeping my cpu too much cooler than the stock amd cooler, only about 5C cooler average but i chock that up to the amd spire cooler being pretty good to begin with and not leaving too much to be desired for an average user, and cpu temps are directly related to the ambient temperature of your room, and my room isn't freezing cold at the moment. maybe i'll check back in january when it is freezing.the main upgrade is the massive decrease of noise and this thing is practically silent compared to the amd spire, i can see why it's called "BE QUIET!". at this time,

23.7.2018

This review is for the Dark Rock 4 installed on a Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 5 with an i5 8600k. The Dark Rock 4 is a very good cooler as far as quality of materials goes but I did have some problems with installation.So first the good. Like I said, the quality is good, the metal for the fins is nice and thick unlike others I've had and there is no worry of bending plus the black just looks great. The fan wires already come sleeved so that's another plus. The distance of the fan from the motherboard is easily adjustable using the wire clips so it makes it easy to clear your RAM because this cooler is huge. They even include a lengthy screwdriver to make the installation a little easier.

26.8.2020

This was an emergency purchased as my closed water cooling system which was installed when my machine was built 8 months ago suddenly failed, causing the heat in my machine to spiral wildly out of control. It didn't help that the system I had previously encloses the CPU, holding all the heat against the delicate processors, so I needed to get rid of that quick smart.I'm still not hugely convinced by the liquid coolers, especially the way they hug the heat against your delicate PC parts when they fail, so decided to move back to air and fan cooling. Especially as my machine has 6 fans already installed, it seemed just sensible to get a huge heatsink and fan combo in there to replace the liquid system that failed.Well,

11.6.2018

This cooler is pretty okay.It looks great, considering it's just solid black with none of the awful RGB LEDs most things seem to have on them these days. It's also massive, hiding a good chunk of my motherboard. I don't mind this, but if you're one of those people with RGB RAM, it's probably not a good fit for you (and probably wouldn't have the clearance for it anyway).My i7-8700K running at 4.7GHz @ 1.28V seems to max out around 73°C with fans on 100%.It's incredibly silent, especially when combined with my Fractal Design Define S which is fantastic, way better than my previous coolers. Because of this, I generally leave it running around 60% to get idle temps of about 35°C.

12.2.2021

I upgraded my AMD FX-8350 (120W) CPU to an FX-9590 (220W). So I also upgraded the CPU cooler to the Dark Rock 4 PRO. It cools the FX-9590 with no problem - even under full load. It is also very quiet. But beware - the cooler is large and there are a lot of things to consider before installing. The biggest is: Will it fit? Will you be able to install the cooler without removing the motherboard from the PC Case? Will it conflict with your RAM (if your RAM has heat spreaders on them? I assure you there are some heat spreaders that will conflict. Do not attempt this if you are not very comfortable working on and around motherboards and CPU's. I have a full size PC case.

5.8.2019

This cooler shocked me as to how good it actually is. I was in the market for a beefy air cooler simply because to me it is visually appealing, and this is by far the most appealing air cooler to the eye. The noise levels are outstanding. As my ambient temperatures are quite high and my case has terrible airflow I have the cooler set to 70% and it is still quieter than my case fans running at much less than that. It is so quite I was concerned it wasn't working. It really lives up to the name and I will be investing in some silent wing fans for my case fans. I have also managed to push another 100mhz to my already generous overclock, and the CPU is running cooler,

13.7.2020

This thing was an ungodly nightmare to install, but fortunately I'll only ever have to do it once or twice per build. It took 5 hours. I cut my hand 3 times trying to clip in the middle fan, and finally had to unscrew the motherboard so I could shift it down enough to get my hand between the cooler and the case. I also had to remove the cooler to put the Y-cable onto the CPU_FAN header, which this cooler covers up (instructions don't mention this, and tell you to install the tower first). This product only comes with enough thermal paste for 1 application, so I had to dig out a decade-old tube of Arctic Silver 5 to apply. Also, because I have a mid-tower case,

20.11.2020

Before buying this cooler, reading the reviews put me off in the beginning. The issues pertaining to the tricky installation of Dark Rock coolers were both truth and urban myth. I bit the bullet regardless and picked up a deal on Amazon warehouse. To say I am pleased with the cooler is understatement. I had liquid AIO coolers before, a few of them. Disbelieving air could be as good as water. As testing shows, in a well planned airflow case, a few degrees difference don't matter and going air was the best thing I did. Just Dark Rock installation was a pain to fit.The only bad point is the fitting, had I been able to do this with the motherboard in situ within the case, it would have been a godsend.

be quiet! Dark Rock 4 - Reviews

Info

Analysis

Detail