be quiet Dark Rock 2 Heatsink Review

We have noticed two key elements when it comes to designing a silent heatsink.  The first is surface area and in most cases this will dictate the size of a heatsink and how much heat it can handle.  The second is a complement of the first and consists of a well designed cooling fan to match the heatsink capacity and help facilitate the heat transfer.

The interesting thing about the Dark Rock 2 is that it really is a silent heatsink having been nearly inaudible under full load.  As you can imagine noise is often a factor of the cooling fan, the more air you move the noisier it can be.  If you reduce the total airflow then the chance of excess noise is also reduced.  Sadly this aspect of the Dark Rock 2 is our biggest complaint.  On one hand we have a massive six heatpipe cooler that could easily handle 200+ watts but has been limited by a single silent running fan with no provisions to upgrade short of a full replacement. 

Of course our biggest complaint is also the biggest strength.  Without the extra mass and six heatpipe design the Dark Rock 2 wouldn't be able to handle a Core i7 LGA2011 much less a mildly overclocked Sandy Bridge with the included 135mm fan.

Installation was rather straight forward and consisted of picking the proper mounting rails for our system and bolting everything together.  The actual installation process was somewhat cumbersome considering that you had to access both sides of the motherboard to properly install the Dark Rock 2 on LGA 1155.  Installation on LGA 2011 is a little more traditional and uses the same mounting rail system but comes with a set of threaded risers and nuts to hold the cooler in place.  For both of these instances it is highly recommended that the motherboard be outside of a chassis to make the process as painless as possible.

Dark Tower Design
Silent 135mm Cooling Fan
Six Heatpipe Design
Thick Fin Radiator
Ornate Heatsink Cover
180w Power Handling

Mounting system is cumbersome
Cooler could benefit from a second fan