be quiet! Dark Rock PRO 4 review

Cooling 189 Page 1 of 10 Published by

teaser

Introduction

be quiet! Dark Rock PRO 4 
Dual rad & dual fans and still extraordinary silent

We review another be quiet! Dark Rock series cooler, this is the PRO 4. Again with totally black looks the flagship cooler comes with two radiators, two fans and takes up that cooling performance towards 200 Watts of cooling power, enough for any processor and some tweaking of course as well. Looking closer at the Dark Rock PRO 4 one could say, that be quiet! did a D15 here, however, this one is powder coated in an all black design, will that extra coating have an adverse effect on cooling performance? It comes fitted with two silent wing fans, in the middle a 135mm and at the top a 120mm one.

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 Pro 4 is the successor of Dark Rock Pro 3 and keeps most of its silence and performance features.

  • Inner SilentWings 135mm PWM fan features: airflow-optimized blades, six-pole fan motor and FDB
  • Decoupled fan mounting
  • Seven 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
  • Fins have improved RAM compatibility (bottom fins feature cut-outs for memory)
  • 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)
  • 250W TDP
  • Support for an additional 120mm fan
  • Projected release: Q2 2018

The dual-tower design for the Pro 4 increased the cooling TPD to 250W without losing the silence aspect. Have a peek at the model tested below; among 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.


Img_0249

Share this content
Twitter Facebook Reddit WhatsApp Email Print