Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro C1 CPU cooler review

[siopao1984]

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Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro C1 CPU cooler review by VR-Zone.com

Introduction

Today we bring you yet another review of a product from Be Quiet, who perhaps is the most well known German manufacturer of PC-related products. A few weeks ago we had a look at their Dark Rock Advanced C1 Be Quiet Dark Rock Advanced C1 CPU cooler review by VR-Zone.com, a very high quality CPU cooler; today we are going to test and review its monstrous brother, the Dark Rock Pro C1 CPU cooler.


Manufacturer features and specifications

• For gaming, multimedia and CAD systems even at maximum processing power.
• Suitable for overclocking operation.
• Extremely efficient up to more than 220 watt.
• Maximum cooling efficiency, Delta T 9.2 @ 100 watt.
• Quiet operation with 1× Silent Wings PWM fan, 12.0–25.9 dB(A).
• High-quality materials with dark nickel surfaces.

[siopao1984]

Packaging and Bundle



The Dark Rock Pro C1 cooler is supplied inside a very large cardboard box which could fit a power supply. The artwork on the box is limited to a very basic frontal schematic of the cooler but the product’s features and specifications are all printed on the sides and rear of the box. Inside the box, the cooler is well protected by thick Styrofoam pieces.



Bundled with the cooler you will also receive the main backplate and the necessary aluminum retention brackets needed for the installation of the cooler, a small syringe of thermal compound and a basic black and white manual.



The Dark Rock Pro C1 is a humongous “twin tower sandwich” style of cooler, weighting more than 1.5kg with its stock fans attached. A thick black aluminum plate is installed at the top of the cooler, serving mostly as an aesthetic enhancement but also helps with the mechanical cohesion of the gigantic cooling body. The aluminum plate covers the entire cooler except from the second cooling fan. The cooling fans are two of Be-Quiet’s best 120mm SilentWings series PWM controlled fans, which are also slightly faster than the single fan of the smaller Dark Rock Advanced C1. The SilentWings PWM is a high quality fluid dynamic bearing fan with an innovative fins design for optimum airflow performance and a maximum rotational speed of 1700RPM but without any lighting or other aesthetic enhancements.



The fins of the Dark Rock Pro C1 cooler are nickel plated and their fan-facing side is cut to a wave shaped pattern which is supposed to reduce turbulence noise. The fans are held into place by metallic wire brackets, coming in direct contact with the metallic cooling body. Unlike their wavy design of their fan-facing side, the back side of the fins is perfectly straight. The fins are also well cut and rounded, eliminating sharp edges and minimizing the risk of physical injury while handling the cooler.



Although the base of the cooler is nickel plated, it is actually made out of pure copper. The seven 6mm heatpipes move through the base and do not come in direct contact with the CPU; the heat is first absorbed by the base of the cooler and then transferred to the heatpipes, which in turn transfer the heat to the aluminum fins.



The base of the Dark Rock Pro C1 cooler is very well machined and considerably better than that of the smaller Dark Rock Advanced C1 cooler, forming a perfect mirror.

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Installation



The installation of the Dark Rock Pro C1 cooler is not very complex but it requires basic tools, such as a common Philips PH2 screwdriver, and some time. To begin with, you need to screw the correct retention brackets for your CPU slot onto the base of the cooler.



You may not have to remove your motherboard from your case if the motherboard tray is cut open behind the CPU area but it will certainly prove to be difficult for any person to alone hold both the backplate and the cooler while securing the cooler by screwing it down. Unfortunately the universal backplate cannot be secured on the motherboard prior to securing the cooler; both parts are being held in place by the same screws. The size of the cooler will only make things even more difficult, therefore we recommend placing the cooler on a flat surface (such as a bench or table) and install it by placing the motherboard on it like in the above picture.



The Dark Rock Pro C1 cooler becomes the center of interest when installed on a motherboard; the cooler is so massive that covers most of the top part of an ATX motherboard. It will most definitely go over some of the DIMM slots as well, which will forbid the user from installing tall RAM modules in them. Normal RAM modules will fit fine beneath the huge cooling body but they have to be installed before the cooler.

[siopao1984]

Testing Equipment and Performance

In order to provide you with the most professional and accurate reviews, we are using the following equipment to test the performance of coolers. The system automatically calculates the Delta T temperature, which is the difference between the ambient temperature and the temperature at the top of the thermal core.

• Custom copper thermal core with automatic power controls
• Watlow heat generation rods
• PT100 temperature sensors
• Lutron DW-6091 Power Analyzer
• SL-5868P digital sound level meter
• CompuLAB interface
• MyPClab thermal interface
• Custom calibration box
• Custom software

More information about our testing equipment and methodology can be found in this article CPU and GPU Coolers Testing Methodology by VR-Zone.com.



It appears that the massive size and the two fans of the Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro C1 cooler are not just for looks; the thermal performance of the cooler is nothing short of outstanding, effortlessly competing with the best CPU coolers currently available. Unfortunately the acoustics performance of this cooler is not nearly comparable to that of its smaller Dark Rock Advanced C1 sibling; using two and faster fans made the Dark Rock Pro C1 much noisier.

[siopao1984]

Final Words and Conclusion

Quality (30% of the total score)

Much like its smaller sibling, the Be Quiet Dark Pro C1 CPU cooler is well designed and very carefully manufactured, without the slightest of defects to comment about. Be Quiet is a company which places a lot of attention on the quality of their products and it shows.

Quality Score 10/10



Performance (40% of the total score)

The Dark Rock Pro C1 is a massive cooling body, clearly designed with maximizing a system’s thermal performance in mind. It offers outstanding thermal performance when the fans are running at maximum speed but acoustics performance becomes less than mediocre. The end user has the option to run the cooler’s fans at minimum speed (or in PWM mode, when the motherboard supports it) and receive outstanding acoustics performance paired with good thermal performance. This versatility makes the Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro C1 one of the most flexible “monster” coolers currently available.

Performance Score 9.5/10



Aesthetics (20% of the total score)

Users who care about aesthetics will not be disappointed by the appearance of the Dark Rock Pro C1 cooler. The cooler lacks fancy features such as lighting but it has a very classy, clean design which is perfect for tidy, professionally looking systems. The huge size of the cooler will block most of the upper part of a system and since it lacks any lighting you should expect the view from a windowed side panel to become very, very dark.

Aesthetics Score 9.0/10



Value (10% of the total score)

The Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro C1 offers great performance and flexibility while it is priced amazingly close to its smaller Dark Rock Advanced C1 cooler. The current retail price of the Dark Rock Pro C1 cooler is about 60€ inc VAT (which converts to about 83USD/103SGD) at the time of this review, a very fair price considering the size and class of the cooler. Unfortunately the great size could become a problem for some users, especially those with small cases and/or tall RAM modules, therefore we recommend to check that it will fit inside your system prior to ordering this cooler.

Value Score 9.0/10

[xbox]

small clearance for the memory. users need to avoid getting memories with taller heat spreaders.

[keropi]

That's also my thought. I had to get the GSkill ECO due to this problem with extremely large coolers. This looks promising though with its 14 heatpipes..