[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
The Dark Rock 2 is a CPU cooler from be quiet! with a tower heatsink, one 135 mm fan, and six heatpipes. Let’s test it and see if the company’s name truly reflects this product’s operation.
The black box of the Dark Rock 2 is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 2 shows the contents of the box: the cooler itself, a small syringe of thermal compound, manual, and installation hardware.
Figure 3 displays the Dark Rock 2.
This cooler is discussed in detail in the following pages.
[nextpage title=”The be quiet! Dark Rock 2″]
Figure 4 illustrates the front of the cooler, which is covered by the 135 mm fan. Notice that the blades of the fan are not plain; they have ripples that help minimize the turbulence and, thus, the noise.
Figure 5 reveals the side of the cooler.
Figure 6 shows the rear of the cooler. The edges of the fins are straight, creating a flat surface.
In Figure 7, you can see the top of the cooler.
[nextpage title=”The be quiet! Dark Rock 2 (Cont’d)”]
The six 6 mm nickel-plated copper heatpipes are visible in Figure 8. They are disposed in two rows inside each side of the heatsink.
Figure 9 illustrates the base of the cooler. It is a nickel-plated copper plate with mirror-like finishing.
Figure 10 reveals the Dark Rock 2 without the fan. The fins create a concave surface.
Figure 11 shows the 135 mm PWM fan that comes with the cooler, with the wire holders.
[nextpage title=”Installation”]
Figure 12 shows the backplate for installing the Dark Rock 2 on all compatible CPUs, except LGA2011 systems, which don’t require a backplate.
Figure 12 shows the pair of holders for sockets 1155/1156 installed at the base of the cooler. There are three additional pairs of holders: one for socket LGA2011, one for sockets 775 and 1366, and one for all AMD processors.
The installation is simple: just put the cooler in place and fasten the four screws from the solder side of the motherboard.
[nextpage title=”How We Tested”]
We tested the cooler with a Core i5-2500K CPU (quad-core, 3.3 GHz), which is a socket LGA1155 processor with a 95 W TDP (Thermal Design Power). In order to get higher thermal dissipation, we overclocked it to 4.0 GHz (100 MHz base clock and x40 multiplier), with 1.3 V core voltage (Vcore). This CPU was able to reach 4.8 GHz with its default core voltage, but at this setting, the processor enters thermal throttling when using mainstream coolers, reducing the clock and thus the thermal dissipation. This could interfere with the temperature readings, so we chose to maintain a moderate overclocking.
We measured noise and temperature with the CPU under full load. In order to get 100% CPU usage in all cores, we ran Prime 95 25.11 with the “In-place Large FFTs” option. (In this version, the software uses all available threads.)
We compared the tested cooler to other coolers we already tested, and to the stock cooler that comes with the Core i5-2500K CPU. Note that the results cannot be compared to measures taken on a different hardware configuration, so we retested some “old” coolers with this new methodology. This means you can find different values in older reviews than the values you will read on the next page. Every cooler was tested with the thermal compound that comes with it.
Room temperature measurements were taken with a digital thermometer. The core temperature was read with the SpeedFan program (available from the CPU thermal sensors), using an arithmetic average of the core temperature readings.
Du
ring the tests, the panels of the computer case were closed. The front and rear case fans were spinning at minimum speed in order to simulate the “normal” cooler use on a well-ventilated case. We assume that is the common setup used by a cooling enthusiast or overclocker.
The sound pressure level (SPL) was measured with a digital noise meter, with its sensor placed near the top opening of the case. This measurement is only for comparison purposes, because a precise SPL measurement needs to be made inside an acoustically insulated room with no other noise sources, which is not the case here.
Hardware Configuration
- Processor: Core i5-2500K
- Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z
- Memory: 6 GB OCZ (DDR3-1600/PC3-12800), configured at 1,600 MHz and 8-8-8-18 timings
- Hard disk: Seagate Barracuda XT 2 TB
- Video card: Point of View GeForce GTX 460 1 GB
- Video resolution: 1920×1080
- Video monitor: Samsung SyncMaster P2470HN
- Power supply: Seventeam ST-550P-AM
- Case: Cooler Master HAF 922
Operating System Configuration
- Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit SP1
Software Used
Error Margin
We adopted a 2°C error margin, meaning temperature differences below 2°C are considered irrelevant.
[nextpage title=”Our Tests”]
The table below presents the results of our measurements. We repeated the same test on all coolers listed below. Each measurement was taken with the CPU at full load. In the models with a fan supporting PWM, the motherboard controlled the fan speed according to core load and temperature. On coolers with an integrated fan controller, the fan was set at the full speed.
Cooler | Room Temp. | Noise | Speed | Core Temp. | Temp. Diff. |
Cooler Master Hyper TX3 | 18 °C | 50 dBA | 2850 rpm | 69 °C | 51 °C |
Corsair A70 | 23 °C | 51 dBA | 2000 rpm | 66 °C | 43 °C |
Corsair H100 | 26 °C | 62 dBA | 2000 rpm | 64 °C | 38 °C |
EVGA Superclock | 26 °C | 57 dBA | 2550 rpm | 67 °C | 41 °C |
NZXT HAVIK 140 | 20 °C | 46 dBA | 1250 rpm | 65 °C | 45 °C |
Thermalright True Spirit 120 | 26 °C | 42 dBA | 1500 rpm | 82 °C | 56 °C |
Zalman CNPS12X | 26 °C | 43 dBA | 1200 rpm | 71 °C | 45 °C |
Zalman CNPS9900 Max | 20 °C | 51 dBA | 1700 rpm | 62 °C | 42 °C |
Titan Fenrir Siberia Edition | 22 °C | 50 dBA | 2400 rpm | 65 °C | 43 °C |
SilenX EFZ-120HA5 | 18 °C | 44 dBA | 1500 rpm | 70 °C | 52 °C |
Noctua NH-L12 | 20 °C | 44 dBA | 1450 rpm | 70 °C | 50 °C |
Zalman CNPS8900 Extreme | 21 °C | 53 dBA | 2550 rpm | 71 °C | 50 °C |
Gamer Storm Assassin | 15 °C | 48 dBA | 1450 rpm | 58 °C | 43 °C |
Deepcool Gammaxx 400 | 15 °C | 44 dBA | 1500 rpm | 60 °C | 45 °C |
Cooler Master TPC 812 | 23 °C | 51 dBA | 2350 rpm | 66 °C | 43 °C |
Deepcool Gammaxx 300 | 18 °C | 43 dBA | 1650 rpm | 74 °C | 56 °C |
Intel stock cooler | 18 °C | 41 dBA | 2000 rpm | 97 °C | 79 °C |
Xigmatek Praeton | 19 °C | 52 dBA | 2900 rpm | 83 °C | 64 °C |
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 | 18 °C | 42 dBA | 1300 rpm | 69 °C | 51 °C |
Deepcool Frostwin | 24 °C | 46 dBA | 1650 rpm | 78 °C | 54 °C |
Thermaltake Frio Advanced | 13 °C | 56 dBA | 2000 rpm | 62 °C | 49 °C |
Xigmatek Dark Knight Night Hawk Edition | 9 °C | 48 dBA | 2100 rpm | 53 °C | 44 °C |
Thermaltake Frio Extreme | 21 °C | 53 dBA | 1750 rpm | 59 °C | 38 °C |
Noctua NH-U9B SE2 | 12 °C | 44 dBA | 1700 rpm | 64 °C | 52 °C |
Thermaltake WATER2.0 Pro | 15 °C | 54 dBA | 2000 rpm | 52 °C | 37 °C |
Deepcool Fiend Shark | 18 °C | 45 dBA | 1500 rpm | 74 °C | 56 °C |
Arctic Freezer i30 | 13 °C | 42 dBA | 1350 rpm | 63 °C | 50 °C |
Spire TME III | 8 °C | 46 dBA | 1700 rpm | 70 °C | 62 °C |
Thermaltake WATER2.0 Performer | 11 °C | 54 dBA | 2000 rpm | 49 °C | 38 °C |
Arctic Alpine 11 PLUS | 11 °C | 45 dBA | 2000 rpm | 82 °C | 71 °C |
be quiet! Dark Rock 2 | 10 °C | 41 dBA | 1300 rpm | 58 °C | 48 °C |
In the graph below, you can see how many degrees Celsius hotter the CPU core is than the air outside the case. The lower this difference, the better is the performance of the cooler.
In the graph below, you can see how many decibels of noise each cooler makes.
[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]
The main specifications for the be quiet! Dark Rock 2 CPU cooler include:
- Application: Sockets 775, 1155, 1156, 1366, 2011, AM2(+), AM3(+), and FM1 processors
- Dimensions: 5.4 x 3.1 x 6.5 inches (138 x 97 x 166 mm) (W x L x H)
- Maximum TDP: 180 W
- Fins: Aluminum
- Base: Nickel-plated copper
- Heat-pipes: Six 6-mm nickel-plated copper heatpipes
- Fan: 135 mm
- Nominal fan speed: 1,300 rpm
- Fan air flow: 57.9 cfm
- Power consumption: 2.64 W
- Nominal noise level: 21.2 dBA
- Weight: 1.9 lbs (860 g)
- More information: https://www.bequiet.com
- MSRP in the U.S.: USD 77.00
[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
Our tests proved that the name of the manufacturer is in accordance with the product: the Dark Rock 2 is really quiet. It is actually the most silent high-performance CPU cooler that we tested so far.
Although the be quiet! Dark Rock 2 doesn’t have the same performance level as the top performers we tested to date, it reached a better performance level than the other “extra silent” coolers to which we are comparing it.
If you are looking for a really quiet, nice looking, and good-performance CPU cooler, the be quiet! Dark Rock 2 is a sure bet. That’s why it receives the Hardware Secrets Golden Award.
Leave a Reply