be quiet! Dark Rock 4 review - Introduction

be quiet! Dark Rock 4 
Proper cooling / Proper Looks / Seriously Silent

We test and review the be quiet! Dark Rock 4 CPU Cooler. Armed with totally black looks and a very silent fan, the new Dark Rock 4 might be able to impress you. It offers 200 Watts of cooling power, enough for most processors and a bit of overclocking, it, however, remains ridiculously silent.

There really aren't any bad performing coolers being produced anymore. For every segment and budget, you can find something you need. The market stabilized and within the entire range and scope of heatpipe based coolers, there's a certain comfort zone with a corresponding product available. As a result, most of the coolers available on the market are all adequate at the very least. There are always exceptions to this, there's a handful of manufacturers out there that offer the really interesting stuff, the kit and gear that really stand out from the cooling crowd, the hardware you and me crave and need so badly... that is in the enthusiast domain of gaming hardware. And that's where we need to make a stop at Be Quiet! as they often tick all the right boxes. Actually, be quiet! launches two products in the Dark Rock 4 series, we'll split these into two reviews as both deserve their own content. The two models are the Dark Rock Pro 4 and Pro editions, successors to the Dark Rock Pro 3 processor cooler, both of them keeping most of its silence and performance features compared to the model 3 versions.

The Dark Rock 4 and Dark Rock Pro 4 replace the model 3 released a few years ago. They have an improved mounting system making both models easier to assemble and install. They should be more silent as well. The Dark Rock Pro 4 model has a dual-tower design and sitting in-between the two is a PWM-controlled SilentWings fan (135 mm). The solutions have a dual-fan setup in a push-pull configuration and as such you will spot a second SilentWings 3 (120 mm) fan at the outside. The pro has seven copper heat pipes and seems to have improved clearance space for DDR3/DDR4 compatibility (compared to the previous model). The cooler is coated completely dark, which looks pretty nice, to be honest. Dark Rock 4 would be the successor of Dark Rock 3 and keeps most of its silence and performance, features distinction is mainly to be found in easier assembly through better mounting. Compared to the Pro version, this model is smaller with a single radiator and six heatpipes, it also lacks a second fan. The Dark Rock 4 is completely black coated. 

• SilentWings 135mm PWM fan features: airflow-optimized blades, six-pole fan motor and FDB
• Decoupled fan mounting
• Six advanced high-performance copper heat pipes maximize heat conductance
• Special wave-contoured cooling fins for silent airflow
• Small dots on the fin surface form a larger cooling area
• Special black coating with ceramic particles for perfect heat transfer
• Brushed aluminum top cover with a high-grade diamond cut finish
• Convenient top mounting (screwdriver included)
• 200W TDP
• Support for an additional 120mm fan
• Projected release: Q2 2018

The new features gave bequiet! the possibility to raise the TPD to 200W without losing the silence aspect. At the same noise level, Dark Rock 4 provides better cooling performance than its predecessor. In this review we'll test the 200W capable Dark Rock 4, Have a peek at the model tested below; one of the more silent (air-based) coolers we have ever tested, even with a Core i7 4790K that we'll throw at it. Next page, please.