be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2

[Pumper]

Looks like I've lost in the Haswell lottery. Can only do 4.4GHz at 1.25v (max I'm willing to go).

 

[badon]

I have been trying to find this cooler based on the excellent review it received from techPowerUp, but I can't find it in stock anywhere, from a reputable seller.

I would prefer to buy it from Newegg, but they don't carry it. There is one for about $140 + shipping from an ebay seller with a terrible reputation for selling broken stuff internationally that is too expensive to return. NCIX will let me buy it, but they don't have it in stock. Amazon UK has it, but won't ship it outside the UK.

Any ideas or advice?

 

[Pumper]

Amazon UK has it, but won't ship it outside the UK.

That does not sound right. I bought it on amazon.co.uk and I live in Lithuania.

 

[badon]

Yes, you are correct. It seems I misread something. I might have been looking at a particular seller that doesn't ship outside the UK. How do you like it? Have you had the chance to make comparisons with other coolers?

 

[Pumper]

How do you like it? Have you had the chance to make comparisons with other coolers?

It is great. Idle and when gaming it is completely silent. When rendering at 100% load you can hear it, but unlike Xigmatek Dark Knight (my prev. heatsink) it does not have the annoying whining noise - only airflow is audible.
It looks nice (made a side window on my case to see it installed) and is small enough not to block the top PCI-E slot on a mATX mobo.
Installation is simple and it sits in place like a rock.

 

[badon]

The appeal of this cooler is from the stellar review. The only cooler that could consistently beat it for cooling was one of the more expensive water coolers. That, and being nearly the most silent too. Being beautiful is a bonus. So, I've been considering going through the bother of tracking one down instead of using another that has similar attributes, because anything similar must surely be inferior. I have managed to find a few comparison reviews that say other coolers are superior, but none of those reviews are rigorous like the techPowerUp reviews are, and those same coolers scored lower in tPU tests. I'm inclined to disregard the dissenting reviews as not repeatable comparisons.

One of the reviewers from a major site had a difficult time spelling things correctly, and was obviously cutting corners in pretty much everything he touched. Another reviewer named the Phanteks and other much cheaper coolers as being superior, but he never claimed that he actually TESTED anything, let alone using repeatable procedures with calibrated high-end equipment. Of course, the differences we're talking about here are all small between the best coolers, which was also shown in techPowerUp's tests. I could easily choose any of them and have much better quiet cooling than most people get. The only reason I'm willing to split hairs is to ensure that my money goes to the one that is truly the best of the best.

I'm a little more insistent about things like that than I probably should be, for most practical considerations. When my be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 is being exhibited in a museum as the state of the art for heat pipe cooling before liquid cooling began to dominate in the history of computing, then I suppose I will vindicated. Nobody will bother to build a glass display case around the second best obsolete technology that's already taking up more space than it deserves. I guess you could call that "pride of ownership". Is that how you feel about yours?

For someone using the name "Pumper", I assume you would prefer to be using liquid cooling if it were truly better than the state of the art and high reliability of the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2. If so, then I'll indulge in a little confirmation bias for a moment

 

[badon]

due to CPU DIE > TIM > IHS > TIM > Heatsink if the CPU is delidded temps would drop by a large amount

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the heavy weight of the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 requires significant screw-down force to keep it from pulling away from the CPU as it sags under gravity. Trying to mount it with that much force on a fragile delidded CPU might damage the die. It's still possible to do mounting job, but the screw-down force would need to be borne by a shim around the diet. The wider diameter of such a shim would reduce or mostly eliminate the forces applied to the die. As for obtaining such a shim, I'm not aware of anyone that's making them. They would need to have the same height as the die, with a small tolerance.

Maybe the mounting hardware is designed such that it tranfers most of the screw-down forces to the motherboard PCB? In that case, it might be much less fragile than I'm imagining.

 

[Pumper]

CPU socked is holding the CPU in place. The whole pressure from heatsink is on the socket frame and not the CPU itself.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the heavy weight of the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 requires significant screw-down force to keep it from pulling away from the CPU as it sags under gravity. Trying to mount it with that much force on a fragile delidded CPU might damage the die. It's still possible to do mounting job, but the screw-down force would need to be borne by a shim around the diet. The wider diameter of such a shim would reduce or mostly eliminate the forces applied to the die. As for obtaining such a shim, I'm not aware of anyone that's making them. They would need to have the same height as the die, with a small tolerance.

Maybe the mounting hardware is designed such that it tranfers most of the screw-down forces to the motherboard PCB? In that case, it might be much less fragile than I'm imagining.

You delid the CPU remove the gunk around the IHS apply new paste and viola essentially the gunk that holds the IHS on creates a gap between the IHS and the CPU die thus pressure between the die and IHS which is filled with paste has lackluster thermal transfer capabilities. by removing said gunk using better paste temps will drop. The benefit depends on the CPU and how much of that crap is used to hold the IHS on some are far worse than others.

 

[badon]

Do you mean to say that putting the IHS ("lid") back on after applying better paste will eliminate my concerns about the forces involved with directly mounting a heavy cooler to the silicon die?

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

correct use google delid 3770k etc etc and you will see what people are doing many on this forum have also done so.

Essentially what it boils down to is this.

Intel CPUs with a TDP of 95w or less use TIM under the IHS
Intel CPUs with a TDP of 125 or higher use Solder under the IHS

Solder is of course far better at heat transfer thus the higher temps on the Ivy Bridge and Haswell CPUs

Its a trade off people need to deal with either in that it limits your ability to hit insane overclocks or you void the warranty to hit higher clocks.

Regardless the Dark Rock Pro 2 is a fantastic cooler but in terms of performance

The Alphefon or w.e K2 aka Deep Cool Assassin but its in black / Noctua NH-D14 / Phanteks PH-TC14PE are all fairly close in performance the Alpfenon is a good bet if you cant find the be quiet! cooler. http://www.alpenfoehn.de/index.php/en/cpu-cooler/10-cpu-kuehler/7-k2

 

[badon]

I accidentally ordered the DARK ROCK 2 (DR2) instead of the DARK ROCK PRO 2 (DRP2). I placed another order for the correct cooler, but having the DR2 in my hands, it looks very refined, even in small details. For example, one unexpected thing I noticed is that the fan blades are much heavier and stiffer than most other fans. I'd bet that makes them less prone to resonate with any vibration modes running through them, which keeps the whole system quieter. Such a small detail barely increases cost, but several little things like that add up to the edge that the DRP2 always seems to have when compared to other very effective and quiet coolers, like the Deepcool Gamer Assassin.

Thanks for all of your excellent reviews. Seeing consistent direct comparisons makes it much easier to firstly find out what the best of the best is, and secondly decide what price versus performance I prefer. Without TechPowerUp reviews, I would never be able to figure out which one is the best, and I'd end up being a fool for marketing and pretty colors. Your comparative reviews are doing a great service to the entire industry by reducing the importance of marketing, and rewarding manufacturers solely for making good stuff at a good price. When they spend less money on marketing, they can invest that money into creating better products, and that's good for everyone!

Of all the things I had to buy for my new build, the CPU coolers were the hardest ones to evaluate and make an informed decision about. Thanks TechPowerUp!

 

[badon]

I tried to install the DR2 while I'm waiting for the DRP2, but the backplate looks like it's not really compatible with LGA1150, as advertised. I posted about the problem at the Be Quiet! forum in CPU cooler LGA1150 backplate, but no response yet. Maybe someone here has good advice to share?

 

[Domokun]

I'm curious to know how the Dark Rock Pro 2 stacks up against the HR-02 Macho (or HR-02 Macho Black), which I believe to be the "gold standard" of CPU heat-sinks. It would be great if you could source the HR-02 Macho for comparison, especially considering it's half the price of the Dark Rock Pro 2.

 

[badon]

It looks impressive. With only one fan, I would bet it's not as quiet as the Dark Rock Pro 2. RPM's equal noise, so 2 fans can move the same quantity of air at a lower RPM compared to a single fan. However, there's more heat sink metal in a 1 fan design, so I suppose we have to see a comparison. I suspect the difference in metal isn't enough to keep the RPM's down on the HR-02 Macho.

 

[badon]

Oh, I forgot to update about the backplate issue. Misunderstood the instructions on the Dark Rock 2, and I had the backplate, uh, backwards. It works great! I've never seen my quad core CPU temp above 40 C, so if the Dark Rock Pro 2 is BETTER, I will be impressed.

 

[Domokun]

With only one fan, I would bet it's not as quiet as the Dark Rock Pro 2. RPM's equal noise, so 2 fans can move the same quantity of air at a lower RPM compared to a single fan. However, there's more heat sink metal in a 1 fan design, so I suppose we have to see a comparison. I suspect the difference in metal isn't enough to keep the RPM's down on the HR-02 Macho.

Well, from personal experience, the HR-02 Macho is extremely quiet. Without direct comparison, it's hard to say which solution creates less noise. However, the TY-140's maximum speed is 1300RPM with a resulting 21dBA.

 

[badon]

I suppose we will have to wait for TPU to do a direct comparison and tell us which one is the "best", hint, hint...