1. Introduction
Official product link:
http://www.bequiet.com/en/cpucooler/482
2. Packaging and accessories
The cooler is packaged in a black box with orange & white accents.
The front side presents the cooler using an overview image of it. In the middle there are both the name of the product and its cooling capacity measured in W (250W TDP). In the top right corner we find the manufacturer’s logo while on the left corner there is mentioned the name of the included fan’s line “SilentWings”.
The side of the packaging present the features of the cooler in 5 different languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Polish.
The back side of the packaging presents the BeQuiet! brand. Below there are presented the features of both the cooler and the included fans, which belongs to the SilentWings line of fans.
The cooler is packaged in soft foam to protect it during shipping.
Accessories
The product comes with the following accessories:
– 1x Manual
– 2x Intel mounting brackets
– 2x AMD mounting brackets
– 1x Hexagonal nut wrench
– 1x Intel & AMD backplate
– 1x Tube of thermal compound
– 2x Fan clips
– 4x Plastic C profile spacers
– 4x M3x15 screws
– 4x M3x3 screws
– 4x Hexagonal nuts with sleeve
– 4x LGA2011 spacer nuts
– 4x Hexagonal nuts
3. Specifications
Model: Dark Rock Pro 3
Colors Available: Black
Supported sockets:
Intel: LGA 775 / 115x / 1366 / 2011(-3) Square ILM
AMD: 754 / 939 / 940 / AM2(+) / AM3(+) / FM1 / FM2(+)
Heatsink:
Materials: Aluminum (Fins) Copper (Heatpipes & Base) Dark Nickel-plated
Dimensions (L x W x H): 150mm x 137mm x 163mm
Heatpipes: Ø6 mm – 7pcs
Weight: 1.197g (w/fan)
Fan(s):
Model: SilentWings BQT T12025-MF-PWM
Dimensions: 120 mm x 120 mm x 25 mm
Fan Speed: 1700 RPM (PWM)
Fan Airflow: 57.2 CFM
Fan Noise: 21.5 dBA
Model: SilentWings BQ SIW3-13525-Mf-PWM
Dimensions: 135 mm x 135 mm x 25 mm
Fan Speed: 1400 RPM (PWM)
Fan Airflow: 67.8 CFM
Fan Noise: 20.8 dBA
Features:
– Full aluminum top cover
– Wave-contour cooling fins
– Seven high performance heatpipes
– Vibration-isolating elements
– Adjustable height 120 mm front fan
– Fourteen aluminum heatpipe caps
4. Visual inspection
The Dark Rock Pro 3 model has an imposing & elegant design at the same time due to its construction and the used materials, also the heatsink is completely black. The cooler has a height of 163mm and a width of 137mm, being compatible with the majority of ATX cases.
The cooler is accompanied by two fans, one 120mm & one 140mm, both belong to the Be Quiet! SilentWings series.
The heatsink uses 90 black nickel-plated aluminum fins, these have an angular design at the edges for a better performance and a pleasant look. Also the fins make direct contact with the heatpipes of the cooler.
The cooler uses 7 heatpipes each with a diameter of 6mm, these are arranged in a U shape to facilitate heat dissipation, these make contact with the base of the cooler but not direct contact with the CPU itself. Mounted on the base of the cooler we find a small secondary radiator.
Like the heatpipes, the base of the cooler is made out of nickel-plated copper. The base is brushed to a mirror finish.
The top part of the cooler maintains the imposing & elegant design, the metal is brushed. In the middle we find the manufacturer’s logo also the caps of the heatpipes are made out of aluminum and painted black.
The two fans of the cooler are part of the SilentWings series, the 120mm fan model BQT T-12025-MR-PWM has a maximum speed of 1700 RPM, also this fan has the PWM function. The cable of the fan is covered entirely by black sleeving, the fan uses a 4-Pin Molex connector.
The 135mm fan, model BQ SIW3-13525-Mf-PWM has a maximum speed of 1400 RPM, just like the 120mm fan it too features PWM. The cable of the fan is covered by high quality black sleeving and the fan uses a 4-Pin Molex connector and a splitter to power both fans of the cooler.
Unlike other fans, the SilentWings line of fans uses a frame with a centered mounting system.
5. Testing
The following system was used to test the cooler:
– Processor: Intel i5 4690K @ 3.9 GHz and overclocked to 4.5 GHz
– Motherboard: MSI Z97 Gaming 9 ACK
– RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB DDR3 @ 2133MHz
– GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 Armor 2X 4G
– SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB
– HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB
– PSU: Antec Edge 550W Gold
– Display: AOC i2769VM
– Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe White
– Thermal compound: Arctic Cooling MX-4
Software used for testing the cooler:
– AIDA64 Extreme Version: 5.60.3700 (12/07/2015)
– Intel Burn Test v2.54
– Prime95 28.5
The cooler was tested with the CPU at the default turbo frequency of 3.9 GHz and overclocked to 4.5 GHz with a core voltage of 1.187 V.
Also the included fans have been used at their maximum speed.
The room temperature was approximately 26°C (78°F), with 2°C margin of error.
The idle test consists of the CPU sitting idle at the desktop for 30 minutes, the temperature was measured at the end of the test.
The settings of the software used are the following:
Intel Burn Test v2.54 – Stress level: Maximum
Prime95 28.5 – small FFT
AIDA64 Extreme Version – Temperature monitoring.
Each test was conducted for 40 minutes.
The test results are as follows:
Idle
Full Load
The noise level was measured at three different distances from the fans (10cm, 20cm, 30cm.) the noise was measured with a margin of error of ± 5 db.
The space between the DIMM slots and the front fan is approximately 39mm.
6. Final thoughts
The Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 cooler stands out due to its cooling and silence performance. The build quality is expcetional characteristic Be Quiet!, starting from the packaging to the accesorries.
Another characteristic of this cooler is the attention to details and finishing touches: the base of the cooler which is polished to a mirror reflexion, the black aluminum fins with waves at the edges and so on.
The mounting process is relatively simple if the user follows the manual.
The performance of the cooler is very good, being close to some high end AIO coolers, also the two included fans: 120mm and respectively 135mm are silent even at their maximum RPM.
The only drawback is the fact that the cooler extends over the DIMM slots, however the space allocated for RAM modules is approximately 37mm which allows access to RAM modules that use normal size heatsinks.
In conclusion, the Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 is a silent cooler with a very good performance and a unique appearance. Although at first glance the price seems high, it is justified by the quality of the cooler and its accesorries. Also the two included fans are part of the Be Quiet! SilentWings line of fans.
