be quiet! has once again managed to impress – this time with the Dark Rock Pro 3. While it is still a traditional dual-tower cooler with the limitations that entails, the Dark Rock Pro 3 also greatly improves on its predecessor in most regards. Offering all-around impressive cooling performance while remaining extremely quiet, the Dark Rock Pro 3 is lighter, more efficient, and quieter than the Dark Rock Pro 2 it replaces. Build quality, which has always been a strong point of be quiet!, is still topnotch and on par with the likes of Noctua, but without the ugly fan color. Speaking of fans, the high-quality FDB (fluid dynamic bearing) SilentWings fans are great as they offer a smooth noise profile thanks to the six-pole motor. Taking all that into account and factoring in its stylish appearance, you have a cooler that stands out in nearly every category. Backed by a solid three year warranty in an age where many of their competitors only offer a one year warranty, support is great as well. be quiet! has truly managed to deliver a stunning product.

Some issues be quiet! can improve upon remain. The biggest of these is the fact that the cooler looms over all four DIMM slots. As I saw with the CRYORIG R1 Universal, this issue can be rectified, and with better memory compatibility, the Dark Rock Pro 3 would really shine. As for now, however, potential buyers will want to keep their memory choice in mind as kits like Corsair's Dominator Platinums will not fit. Another issue seems to be a common one as of late: The heatsink encroaches on the first motherboard expansion slot. While this is an issue with most larger coolers, it can be changed. Other than the high price, which, considering the level of quality, is reasonable, the only other issue is the mounting system itself. While by no means the worst I have seen, it needs to be improved. Having to use a spanner to securely seat the cooler on top of the CPU makes it difficult to install into a case without a serious headache and more than two hands.

Overall, I am impressed with the Dark Rock Pro 3. The fact that be quiet! managed to make the cooler smaller and lighter without compromising performance significantly is fantastic. That said: be quiet! please come up with a better mounting solution! Hexagonal nuts and spanners are a pain for everyone involved. The mounting solution is not that bad on smaller coolers like the Dark Rock 3, but a change has to take place to properly accommodate heavyweights like the Dark Rock Pro 3.