A Closer Look

The be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 is a nice-looking cooler because of its dark, nickel-plated aluminum fins which really help it live up to the "dark" in its name. The unique top plate and metal heatpipe caps tie the design together well.


The bulk of the cooling is handled by the dual aluminum towers with forty-four fins and seven 6 mm heatpipes. be quiet! has done an exceptional job with the aesthetics and specifications.


be quiet! includes a 135 x 25 mm and 120 x 25 mm fan of the Silentwing family. The 135 mm fan's model number is BQT T13525-MF-PWM, and the 120 mm fan's model number is BQT T12525-MF-PWM. Both fans combine a uniquely airflow-optimized fan-blade design to reduce noise and turbulence with fluid dynamic bearings (FDB) which give them a much longer lifespan than traditional ball- or sleeve-bearing fans. Instead of using an external PWM splitter, be quiet! placed the adapter on the fan itself, which seems a bit awkward to me as many of today's motherboards include two CPU fan headers.


The heatpipes on the Dark Rock Pro 2 are arranged in a typical U-shape and pass through the base of the cooler. There are, when it comes to the base and heatpipe contact, a few slight gaps, but they are on the very edge only. Contact between the base and heatpipes is exceptionally good otherwise. The base of the cooler, while flat and smooth, doesn't have the mirror finish of the previously reviewed Ereboss cooler. It is, however, shinier than most.