Installation

When installing the be quiet! Dark Rock 3, start by putting the backplate into position. Once done, drop the four long screws down through the holes and use the black C-clamps to hold it all in place.


You will now want to prepare the heatsink itself for mounting. With that done, slide the hexagonal screws down onto the longer backplate screws. They will form a platform for the cooler to attach to. It is now time to apply some thermal paste to the CPU before attaching the heatsink.


With the thermal paste applied, line the Dark Rock 3 up with the four base screws to gently set it into place. From here on out, place the four hexagonal nuts on top, using the spanner to hold them in place and a screwdriver to turn the backplate screws, which will tighten the nuts and securely attach the cooler to the motherboard.


All that is left is to do now is to attach the fan before plugging it into the CPU fan header, and that's it - the be quiet! Dark Rock 3 is now ready to go.

The mounting hardware be quiet! provides works fine, but is still a bit on the awkward side. I would rate the installation procedure for an average user a 7 on a scale of 1 (hardest) to 10 (easiest).