be quiet! Dark Rock TF CPU Cooler Review

By Brian Nyhuis

Dark Rock TF Benchmarking

In the benchmarks that will be run, we used an Intel 4770k clocked at 3.5GHz with Turbo Boost and the low power state enabled. Turbo Boost allows the 4770k to hit up to 3.9GHz right out of the box.

To record temperatures, we used Core Temp, logged the temperatures for 15 minutes or while each program was active, and averaged all 4 cores.

Benchmark wise, we will be using several synthetic and real-world benchmarks to perform normal, heavy, and extreme load. The benchmarks that we’re going to use today include: Prime95, x264, 3DMark 2013 (Firestrike test only), Metro Last Light, and Sleeping Dogs. Prime95 will peg all four cores and eight threads to 100% with the In-Place Large FFT test, which will help us to understand exactly how hot this CPU can get with each cooler.

Ambient temperature during all testing was 74 degrees Fahrenheit.

I have reviewed several other air and liquid CPU coolers in the past and you will find them in the charts below for comparison purposes.

Idle

Dark Rock TF - Idle

Prime95

Dark Rock TF - Prime95

X264

Dark Rock TF - x264

3D Mark 2013

Dark Rock TF - 3DMark 2013

Grand Theft Auto V

Dark Rock TF - GTA V

Metro Last Light

Dark Rock TF - Metro LL

Sleeping Dogs

Dark Rock TF - Sleeping Dogs

Overall Results: With the Dark Rock TF being a full-sized cooler, I had expectations that it would perform like the CM Hyper 612 V2. In fact, it outperformed the 612 V2 and kept pretty tight with the V3 Voltair. The Voltair has a little ‘cheat’ built-in, allowing it to cool a little better than your traditional cooler via a TEC plate. When it came to heavier CPU loads, that is where the Dark Rock TF started to show its true colors, performing quite well.