Be Quiet! Announces Dark Rock Slim CPU Cooler

[btarunr]

Be quiet!, the market leader in PC power supplies in Germany since 2007, announces Dark Rock Slim, a compact high-end CPU cooler that offers high physical clearance for any memory module. With a supported TDP of up to 180 watts, Dark Rock Slim offers enough headroom for silently cooling any mainstream processor while keeping the space above occupied RAM slots clear.

Dark Rock Slim is part of the Dark Rock 4 cooler family and works with all current Intel and mainstream AMD sockets. Cooling characteristics, performance and appearance are inspired by the Dark Rock 4 series, with the new compact heat sink providing high clearance for better RAM compatibility. Its high 180 watt cooling performance is achieved with a maximum noise level of just 23.6 dB(A), which is a result of a perfect synergy between cooling fan, heat sink and heat pipe design.



Impeccable cooling performance and virtually inaudible operation
Dark Rock Slim's cooling fins and heat pipes use a specially enhanced ceramic black coating that not only gives the heat sink an appealing all-black design, but also improves the cooler's heat conduction. The heat transfers efficiently from base to heat sink through four high-performance copper heat pipes. Small dots on the fin surface increase the total cooling area, while a wave-contoured shape contributes to perfect air flow. The intake fan is be quiet!'s own Silent Wings 3 120mm PWM, using airflow-optimized blades, a reliable six-pole motor, funnel-shaped air intake and fluid-dynamic bearing (FDB). The fan mounting uses a decoupled design to minimize vibration, thus reducing noise, and a second optional fan that can be mounted on the other side of the heat sink using the included clips.

Smart design and craftsmanship
With its high memory compatibility, Dark Rock Slim expands be quiet!'s top-of-the-line air cooler portfolio. The cooler offers a perfect balance between performance, build quality, utility, and appearance, while installation is simplified thanks to an easy-to-use top-mount design. The cooler's brushed aluminum top cover features a high-grade diamond-cut finish with specially manufactured caps masking its heat pipe ends. The slim heat sink layout guarantees high compatibility with expanded LED RAM modules and high-profile memory heat spreader designs.

Available on May 14th, 2019, Dark Rock Slim will hit retail and online stores at an MSRP of €57.90 / £54.99 / $59.90.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[kastriot]

Dark slime?

 

[phill]

That's kinda pricey.. More than I was expecting that's for sure...

 

[Joss]

According to the manual installation on AM4 uses the included motherboard backplate. That's good, I've read lots of stories of using hair driers to melt the glue mobo makers use.

 

[bonehead123]

Although I like the fit & finish, since I switched to AIO liquid cooling a few years ago, I just can't imagine going back to having to look at that huge hunker of fins & fans hangin off me mobo

Although I like the fit & finish, since I switched to AIO liquid cooling a few years ago, I just can't imagine going back to having to look at that huge hunker of fins & fans hangin off me mobo

 

[robot zombie]

Its so adorable! Price is a bit steep for the performance as usual... though the current line gives you great performance for what it is. This ones probably no different just looking at its design.

But I think you really gotta want that distinctive look to justify this. If all you want is a little black cooler there's a 212 that'tll serve that role.

I have a Dark Rock 4 myself with no regrets. The finish on these things is so nice and the fins are solid. You wont find a sturdier cooler. Mounting it on AM4 was super easy, too. The fans they come with are great. It cools exceptionally well, and quietly.

So I like their stuff. Super nice coolers. But again the little guy gets harder to justify. It just seems odd to run a small cooler like that in a fancy build, which these are clearly geared for. Not overclocking high end cpus on this thing...

Which... it comes down to budget relativism. If you're already spending $1500+ on a build its not a big tack on. But at that point you'll spend more on the 4 or pro 4 and be way happier... Whereas in a budget build where smaller coolers shine this one is probably too expensive relative to everything else. But I feel like nobody is buying this to put on their midrange stock-clocked CPU. If your budget allows you do do that, you're probably getting a better CPU with stock heatsink instead.

I dunno, maybe I'm underselling the performance. We'll see how it tests. It has all of the makings of a solid performer, I suppose. I really like the look of it. I just have a hard time seeing a good place for it. For my sensibilities and the builds I do, I would never pick one of these.

 

[Deleted member 158293]

That's a cute little one, but still 180w rated so that's good. I'm using a Dark Rock 4 and these things have a very, very nice fit & finish.

 

[sutyi]

Yikes... that's Noctua NH-U12 money right there. Wonder if the performance is there to back it up tho...

 

[efikkan]

That's kinda pricey.. More than I was expecting that's for sure...

I'm always puzzled by how many buyers happily pay $100 or more for an AIO liquid cooler, but thinks paying ~$60-80 for a premium air cooler is too much. In reality, liquid cooling only makes sense if you're overclocking and need more cooling than an air cooler can provide, and have the case airflow to go with it. Otherwise you're better off buying a good air cooler, and spend the money saved on upgrading the case fans.

 

[sutyi]

I'm always puzzled by how many buyers happily pay $100 or more for an AIO liquid cooler, but thinks paying ~$60-80 for a premium air cooler is too much. In reality, liquid cooling only makes sense if you're overclocking and need more cooling than an air cooler can provide, and have the case airflow to go with it. Otherwise you're better off buying a good air cooler, and spend the money saved on upgrading the case fans.

I think he meant that you can have the regular DR4 for the same money (even less in some places) and a DRP4 for about 4 euros more. Considering this is a smaller version of the DR4 I don't get the pricing either...

 

[efikkan]

I think he meant that you can have the regular DR4 for the same money (even less in some places) and a DRP4 for about 4 euros more. Considering this is a smaller version of the DR4 I don't get the pricing either...

No disagreement there, if you can fit the bigger option and it's cheaper, then go for it.
I was talking more in general.

 

[bug]

Dark slime?

For some reason when I read "rock" and "slim" I thought:

 

[phill]

I'm always puzzled by how many buyers happily pay $100 or more for an AIO liquid cooler, but thinks paying ~$60-80 for a premium air cooler is too much. In reality, liquid cooling only makes sense if you're overclocking and need more cooling than an air cooler can provide, and have the case airflow to go with it. Otherwise you're better off buying a good air cooler, and spend the money saved on upgrading the case fans.

I thought it would have been aimed a little lower down the price chain such as £30 to £45 at best.. People just see a small heatsink and think that won't cost much and then run away when they find out the price...
I'm not an AIO fan, prefer custom water but on a few systems I run air cooling having a decent but cheap air cooler is a wonderful thing. The systems I use air with run only at stock so it doesn't matter providing they can cool down the CPU to 60 to 70C depending on the ambient temps That's just my opinion mind

 

[efikkan]

I thought it would have been aimed a little lower down the price chain such as £30 to £45 at best.. People just see a small heatsink and think that won't cost much and then run away when they find out the price...

I'm not an AIO fan, prefer custom water but on a few systems I run air cooling having a decent but cheap air cooler is a wonderful thing. The systems I use air with run only at stock so it doesn't matter providing they can cool down the CPU to 60 to 70C depending on the ambient temps That's just my opinion mind

You know, there are many good budget air coolers out there, like Be Quiet Pure Rock and Cooler Master 212 series, which provide good cooling for budget builds.

But if you want the best cooling at low noise levels, then you have options like the bigger Noctua coolers or Be Quiet Dark Rock, etc., which costs about twice as much but does perform better.

 

[Joss]

I want to cool a R7 2700x which I'm not overclocking.
I want a cooler just a notch more efficient than the stock one and silent.
I want something not too large both for compatibility and aesthetics.
I want sober colours that'll match whatever hardware.
I want quality.
I'm willing to pay.

This is it, the Dark Rock Slim.

 

[efikkan]

I want to cool a R7 2700x which I'm not overclocking.
I want a cooler just a notch more efficient than the stock one and silent.

Any of these coolers are much better than the stock ones.
In general, you want a cooler that is designed for at least a good step in TDP above your CPU, especially newer CPU that can boost a bit beyond their "TDP" rating. Some coolers are more calibrated for high performance, but others, including the ones from Noctua and Be Quiet scales very well in low RPM, so having a cooler like this will give you low noise, even at load.

But don't forget that any CPU cooler, regardless how good it is, is just a part of the cooling system. You need decent airflow from intake to exhaust, and the fans here are essential for noise levels.

 

[Deleted member 158293]

One thing the top AMD cooler has going for it is the downdraft which cools the VRM circuitry. Especially useful on cheaper boards with no, or less efficient heatsinks. AIO & tower air coolers do not cool these efficiently ...or at all in the case of AIO.

 

[efikkan]

One thing the top AMD cooler has going for it is the downdraft which cools the VRM circuitry. Especially useful on cheaper boards with no, or less efficient heatsinks. AIO & tower air coolers do not cool these efficiently ...or at all in the case of AIO.

Downdraft coolers are generally a bad idea for any PC with sustained medium to heavy load, since they will mostly recycle the same air in a closed system (which most reviews don't test). This might be fine for an office PC with no load, but not something you want in a computer for gaming, photo editing, video editing, development etc. You definitely don't want this kind of cooler for a Ryzen 7 2700X, an i9-9900K, Threadripper or Skylake-X.

Cooling the motherboard VRMs is about having enough airflow past the CPU cooler, and a common "rookie mistake" with AIOs is to blast hot air on the VRMs.

 

[Deleted member 158293]

Downdraft coolers are generally a bad idea for any PC with sustained medium to heavy load, since they will mostly recycle the same air in a closed system (which most reviews don't test). This might be fine for an office PC with no load, but not something you want in a computer for gaming, photo editing, video editing, development etc. You definitely don't want this kind of cooler for a Ryzen 7 2700X, an i9-9900K, Threadripper or Skylake-X.

Cooling the motherboard VRMs is about having enough airflow past the CPU cooler, and a common "rookie mistake" with AIOs is to blast hot air on the VRMs.

Don't follow you there... the air entering the downdraft cooler should not be recycled, obviously. It is warmed up by the CPU, but still considered quite cool for VRMs as these can reach much higher temperatures.

 

[phanbuey]

Don't follow you there... the air entering the downdraft cooler should not be recycled, obviously. It is warmed up by the CPU, but still considered quite cool for VRMs as these can reach much higher temperatures.

I think he means that a portion of it isnt exhausted fast enough after passing through the CPU, VRM and then bounces back into the general case and gets sucked into the cooler again.

But I agree with you VRMS are so hot that any airflow is good... A hairdryer on medium setting could probably cool them them.

 

[Deleted member 158293]

I think he means that a portion of it isnt exhausted fast enough after passing through the CPU, VRM and then bounces back into the general case and gets sucked into the cooler again.

But I agree with you VRMS are so hot that any airflow is good... A hairdryer on medium setting could probably cool them them.

Ah ok... combined with a top exhaust fan only a small portion of the warm air bouncing off the GPU (or riser ribbon cable) & side panel might get recirculated if static pressure is low. On heavy use systems however downdraft will keep the motherboard quite a bit cooler overall at the expense of a degree or 2 on the CPU, a good tradeoff from my experience anyways. That's what I'm seeing between my RP4 cooler system and one with Wraith Prism.

 

[dicktracy]

That picture is a HEDT platform. With only 4 heatpipes, this is a system suicide...

 

[bug]

That picture is a HEDT platform. With only 4 heatpipes, this is a system suicide...

Because damn the specs, let's build a system like that picture we saw on the net. Right?

 

[efikkan]

That picture is a HEDT platform. With only 4 heatpipes, this is a system suicide...

Oh really? So I guess my i7-3930K that currently sits under a Be Quiet Pure Rock with 4 "lousy" heatpipes is doomed then?