A Closer Look

The be quiet! Shadow Rock 2 is certainly an attractive cooler, with its brushed aluminum top and heatpipe caps giving it a clean and professional appearance.


The bulk of the cooling is handled by the four 8 mm copper heatpipes which transfer heat to 51 aluminum fins. The cooler is also built in such a way as to allow the fan to be installed on any of the heatsink's four sides.


The heatpipes are arranged in a U-shape and pass through the base but do not make direct contact with the CPU. What is intriguing, however, is the top of the base, as it is ridged like that of a smaller heatsink. How much this helps is up for debate, but it did catch my attention because it deviates from the norm. Then there are of course the heatpipe caps which are a nice aesthetic touch.


The base of the cooler has a perfect mirror finish, which is something I was not expecting but am very happy to see. be quiet!'s attention to detail has thus far been impeccable on this cooler.


be quiet! includes a 120 x 25 mm from the Silentwing family. The fan's model number is BQ PUW2-12025-MR-PWM. Using a unique airflow-optimized fan-blade design to reduce noise and turbulence, the fan offers 51 CFM at 1600 RPM, which should provide adequate cooling without a ton of noise.