be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 CPU Cooler Review

Performance

As you can see from the chart below, the thermal performance at stock temperatures is about on par with that of the Zalman Reserator 3, a high-performance 120mm water cooling unit! The performance is also only slightly behind that of the Lucifer, which is the only higher ranking air cooler on the graph. Low idle and low load temperatures from the Dark Rock Pro 3 are very impressive and significantly better than the temperatures of the be quiet! Dark Rock 3, which can be seen much further down our graph.

Backing up those impressive temperatures is super quiet performance. The be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 clocks in at 39 dBa, which is a rounded number, it was consistently about .03 louder than the Thermalright Macho Rev.A. CPU cooler, and to be honest, they’re both virtually silent and I couldn’t hear the Dark Rock Pro 3 at all from a few feet away, despite using an open test bench.

Once overclocked we do see the Dark Rock Pro 3 giving way to the water cooling products, but its performance its right up alongside the superb GamerStorm Lucifer, making the Dark Rock Pro 3 one of the best air coolers we’ve ever tested.

The Dark Rock Pro 3 beats out its nearest competitor, the Dark Rock 3, taking the top spot as the quietest CPU cooler we’ve ever tested on an overclocked CPU. It was barely a whisper above ambient at load, very impressive. Thermal performance from the Lucifer may have been neck and neck, but the Dark Rock Pro 3 has done it at a significantly lower acoustic level.