Overall be quiet!'s Pure Rock 2 FX is a cooler that will grab your attention visually with it's subtle but evenly lit Light Wings fan, which takes a traditional tower cooler design into the ARGB era. While some will scoff at the inclusion of ARGB lighting, the fact is it's a feature many people enjoy, and is not going anywhere; thus, adoption at this point is nearly a must. After all, if you dislike ARGB, you can always leave it off. Still, it will likely rub a few consumers the wrong way as they won't want to pay for a feature they dislike or have no need for. In which case, you can simply opt for the original Pure Rock 2, saving you a few bucks and sticking with a standard fan rather than an ARGB LED-equipped one.

In terms of build quality, the unit is solid. The base is slightly convex, while the finish on the fins was perfect, with no scratches to be seen. This was a bit of a surprise, considering the manhandling the cooler was subjected to during shipping. However, it also shows be quiet! didn't skimp on the black coating either. As for the heatsink design itself, due to its offset nature, I encountered no issues in regards to memory or graphics card clearance; however, the mounting hardware could do with a refresh. Standoffs rather than plastic spacers with screws would make the installation process far easier on AMD systems. Furthermore, the entire install process could be improved on all sockets by using an attached crossbar with captive screws rather than the current free-floating setup. As for the fan, I can say it is a hefty, well-built unit that is quiet, yet still manages to push a decent amount of air.

With all that said, it makes it a bit disheartening to see the performance results. The be quiet! Pure Rock 2 FX will never compete with the likes of the Dark Rock Pro series or other heavyweight, premium coolers. However, against smaller, more affordable offerings, it still falls behind. Options like the ID-Cooling SE 224XT Basic absolutely trounce it in terms of price to performance not only at max fan speeds but at the same noise levels as well. This can be said for many other tower coolers such as the SilentiumPC Fera 5, CM Hyper 212 Black Edition, and more. While I will say the be quiet! cooler is a better option in regards to warranty, support, and build quality; at the end of the day, performance matters most, and it is here that it fails to deliver considering its MSRP. However, if you manage to find one while the promotion is active until the end of September 2022 or until supplies run out, you could potentially save up to $13. This makes the cooler a much better value proposition, but it still falls behind in performance.

In summary, the be quiet! Pure Rock 2 FX is a good-looking cooler that hits all the right notes visually but forgot to show up when it was time to perform. That doesn't mean it is a bad cooler, as it can still easily handle lower wattage processors used in entry to mid range builds where 200+ watts isn't the norm. But if you're running an upper mid-range to higher end CPU, think Intel i7 K series, or AMD Ryzen 7 or higher, you will want something with more thermal headroom.