Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro C1 Dual Tower CPU Cooler Review

Be Quiet! have created a dual tower CPU cooler which utilizes 7 6mm heatpipes and offers excellent cooling performance. The Dark Rock pro manages to outperform both the Noctua NH-D14 and Alpenföhn K2 in all of our performance tests showing that using enough 6mm heatpipes eliminates the possibility of thermal saturation when coupled with a pair of high performance fans. It may not be quite at the same overall performance level as the Thermalright Silver Arrow and Phanteks PH-TC14PE coolers, but it did trade blows with both of them throughout testing. Perhaps the most key element of the Dark Rock Pro’s successful performance is the high air pressure levels offered by its pair of 1700 RPM fans. While some of the competitor’s 140mm variants may move a greater quantity of air, pressure is a field where the 120mm version is always likely to win.

Given the 1700 RPM operational speed of the Silent Wings fans used, you’d be forgiven for thinking that acoustic performance could be a negative point of the Dark Rock Pro. The fact that noise output was very low, lower than all of today’s dual tower competitors apart from the Silver Arrow, speaks greatly for the quality of Be Quiet!’s Silent Wings fan series. Of course, the benefits of a PWM connection are that if you still require even lower noise levels, just set the fans to drop their speed when thermal loads are at low points.

Installing the Dark Rock Pro was a task that we are glad we didn’t have to complete a number of times. The overall process was a general pain from start to finish. Securing the backplate in place was basically impossible due to the use of rubber O-rings which weren’t strong enough to hold its weight. Attaching the CPU cooler itself to the mounting hardware was very nearly impossible and relied on a ridiculous method which used trial and error. Why a company would create such an awkward attachment method which relies on you moving your upside-down motherboard about strewing thermal paste everywhere is beyond me. At least the installation manual was relatively easy to follow. Another slight positive is the fact that after all of the hard work involved with the installation, a very secure mount was achieved.

Be Quiet! have created a very aesthetically pleasing CPU cooler in the Dark Rock Pro. Don’t let its cumbersome dual tower form factor trick you into thinking that this cooler is any less attractive than it actually is. Dark nickel plated heatsink material and a black aluminium cover create an understated elegance with very little added production cost. The aluminium cover also has another positive effect by being able to keep the pair of towers rigid and positioned equal distance apart.

Retail pricing of £54.19/€67,90 makes the Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro a very competitively priced CPU cooler. Given the availability problems of Thermalright’s Silver Arrow, the Dark Rock Pro can be considered today’s cheapest dual tower CPU cooling option with widespread availability. Be Quiet! back their cooler with a 3 year warranty which is always good for extra peace of mind.

So there we have it, a dual tower CPU cooler which uses 6mm heatpipes that can closely compete with the performance levels of the 8mm heatpipe-touting Silver Arrow and Phanteks PH-TC14PE. Third place can be considered a great success for Be Quiet!’s Dark Rock Pro given its competitive price tag. If Be Quiet! can keep up this level of performance with their future releases and fix the horrible installation method, it may not be long before the air-cooling crown turns into a 3-way tie. While the Dark Rock Pro may not actually force the Phanteks and Thermalright air cooling kings to Be Quiet!, it does perform admirably at a competitive price making it a great option for anybody who has plenty of patience to install this extreme performance dual tower CPU cooler from Be Quiet!.