When it comes to improving with each revision, be quiet! is arguably one of the best at doing so. The Dark Rock Pro 4 continues that trend. In reviews from a number of years ago, Noctua always managed to squeeze out a victory against be quiet!'s previous flagship coolers. This includes the Dark Rock Pro 2 and Pro 3 models, at least in regards to cooling. Meanwhile, be quiet!'s offerings were always a bit quieter.

Enter the Dark Rock Pro 4, and on this new test platform, it does exceptionally well. The gap between the Dark Rock Pro 4 and NH-D15 is nearly non-existent in the overclocked tests. Better yet, while the gap has closed, be quiet! still manages to offer the quieter cooler. That certainly is something for them to be happy about. Put simply, this latest offering from be quiet! is in the upper echelons of available air-cooling options.

It doesn't hurt that be quiet! has listened and finally upgraded their mounting hardware as well. The Dark Rock Pro 4 is much easier to install compared to previous generations. Add to that its top-tier build quality and you have little in the way to complain about. Even clearance with memory and graphics cards has been improved, even if only to a minor extent, while its appearance is still quite nice.

A few issues are noticeable; first and foremost, it is a large and heavy cooler. While the weight isn't a deal breaker in my eyes, some will find it troublesome. Meanwhile, its size means it will make accessing various things a bit more difficult, such as the 8-pin EPS connector or removing or installing memory. The latter is the biggest drawback here, as with many ultra-high-end air coolers, clearance for such things is not great. Even with it being improved, the Dark Rock Pro 4 is not as accommodating for memory as the Cryorig R1 Universal, for example, which also offers similar performance.

My other thoughts come down to the cooler's aesthetics. The Dark Rock Pro 4 lacks the sleek looks of the Pro 3, but that can be forgiven since the new mounting hardware is so much easier to work with. In general, it feels like the Pro 4 is generally a quality-of-life upgrade that was much needed, along with a few tweaks to get be quiet! back into contention.

In general, If you don't mind keeping your memory heatsinks a bit shorter by, for example, using G.Skill Trident Z sticks or shorter, the be quiet! has a lot to offer. In fact, I can wholeheartedly recommend this latest offering. While it does have the same limitations as most other high-end air coolers, that leaves style and noise levels, both of which be quiet! excels in.

Overall, if you are looking for a good-looking top-tier air cooler that can be considered silent, look no further than the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4.