be quiet! BK022 Dark Rock Pro 4, 250W TDP, CPU cooler, Black

Long Format Review---I recently rebuilt my PC with a new CPU, motherboard, RAM, and GPU to be up to date with the latest in high-end gaming hardware but on a budget.New Spec---Intel i7-13700k 16c/24l 5.2GhzMSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFiCorsair 32GB (2x16) DDR5 6000MHzZotac 3080ti 12GbReason For Buying---The CPU I had was a LGA1151 socket and the new is LGA1700. My friend had previously upgraded from a LGA1151 CPU to a LGA1700 i5 CPU and used the exact same AIO water cooler I had been using in my old build - A Corsair H100i V2 dual rad claiming it fit perfectly with no issues. So I went ahead and didn't upgrade my cooler thinking it should work. Unfortunately, whilst the positioning of the plates all lined up, the CPU was less than 1mm from the coldplate when tightened down. This meant that whilst the CPU would be cooled a bit and the coolant would register as getting hot, it was very inefficient as to cool correctly you need a tight clamping force from CPU to coldplate. It would hit 100c 5 seconds after logging in doing nothing.I went looking for an adequate cooler for my CPU and I remembered I used to run an AMD 8350 8 core build with a 'Be Quiet!' Shadow Rock 2 cooler and I loved it for two main reasons. It looked amazing, and it cooled amazing. Despite being a hot chip. So I went looking for Be Quiet!'s best in tower coolers and came across this and decided to make a purchase despite figuring a AIO would be a better option. However, this was an unexpected purchase as I didn't think I'd need to buy a new cooler so I didn't want to drop £150+ on a decent new Corsair cooler.Experience---In short, I love this cooler so far and I nearly forgot how much greater huge air coolers look as part of a beautiful gaming PC with RGB lighting. Be Quiet! has an outstanding design department and their relationship to their engineers is strong.The two included Silent Wings fans are in my experienced opinion the best fans on the market. They're not cheap compared to other options but they are ridiculously quiet and efficient; good looking too. I might perhaps spring for the RGB ones down the line. The rest of my fans are Corsair RGB LL fans.Instructions---Included in the box was an installation instruction printed in separate language booklets that fold out to make reading a bit easier as the paper isn't huge due to all the languages. The instructions are clear and simple, however some of the images could be a little clearer as some of them are a bit hard to see component orientation but nothing that stopped me assembling without issues. I am so greatful that Be Quiet! Includes a full sized, branded philips head screwdriver to install the two clamping screws as today not many brands will include tooling let alone a moulded long screwdriver w/ magnetic tip.Cinebench---At the moment here in the UK (Sept 9th) we're experiencing the hottest September on record so testing this cooler with way higher than normal ambient temperatured isn't ideal, but I was still able to get some Cinebench scores with my setup.---Multi-core: 25356 - -+0v VID offset.Multi-core: 25981 - -0.1v VID offset.Single-core: 2028 - 0.1v VID offset.In summary, I'm glad I ended up with this CPU cooler and I'm happy with my purchase. Installation was a breeze with no compatibility/interference issues nor issues with instructions. I'm certain I'll get better Cinebench results when the ambient goes back down to about the normal 12c-18c for Sept/Oct so I'll keep testing and update this review at later date including any updates with the cooler itself. I definitely recommend this cooler.

This cooler shocked me as to how good it actually is. I was in the market for a beefy air cooler simply because to me it is visually appealing, and this is by far the most appealing air cooler to the eye. The noise levels are outstanding. As my ambient temperatures are quite high and my case has terrible airflow I have the cooler set to 70% and it is still quieter than my case fans running at much less than that. It is so quite I was concerned it wasn't working. It really lives up to the name and I will be investing in some silent wing fans for my case fans. I have also managed to push another 100mhz to my already generous overclock, and the CPU is running cooler, both in idle and full synthetic load than the overclock I had before and I have headroom to push it furtherIn terms of ease of install it was relatively easy. I mounted it with the motherboard still in the case. I did have to remove my GPU to install the 135mm fan though. It's not the easiest cooler to install, but it isn't hard either. The screwdriver that came with the cooler made the job very easy and is a very useful addition to the cooler as I do have use for a long phillips head screwdriver.The mounting system is the only real fault I would give the cooler. The mount works perfectly fine, but I would have preferred some sort of system that aligned the cooler perfectly as I was worried about it moving around causing issues in my thermal application, a nub in the bracket running though the middle to align perfectly would have been great. Though, I did myself no favours mounting it in the case.All in all, amazing cooler. Would 100% recommend

I'm a big fan of the previous model - DRP3. DRP4 is an excellent refresh, more refined, taken to a perfection. Performance is outstanding. If you are wondering, DRP4 is trading blows with NH-D15 (which is plain ugly). Yeah DRP4 is the sexiest cooler on the market, if that's what you're after. Also, if you are thinking about water cooling, especially AIOs, think twice. Recently I've built a new rig with an i5 9600k in a NZXT H500 case. This time I've decided to try some water cooling. Got myself a top of the line Corsair H115i RGB Platinum 280 mm AIO. After two days, returned the H115i and purchased DRP4.9600k 5Ghz @1.33v. Room ambient 22°C. Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut. NZXT H500 with default exhaust fans, 120 mm top and 120 mm back.Corsair AIO (Quiet Mode (ML Fans at 600-700 rpm, pump is at 2050 rpm), since Balanced Mode sounds like a helicopter): Aida64 stability test 10 minutes 70-73°C on 6 cores, 34-35°C idle. Water temps in the loop never dropped below 30°C, even after hours of idle. DRP4 (Silent CPU fan profile in Z390 Aorus Pro BIOS): Aida64 stability test 10 minutes 65-68°C, idle 28-30°C (would be even less with additional case fans in the front). In addition, thanks to the DRP4 fans, VRM is 5-6°C cooler, RAM is 2-3°C cooler.Moreover, DRP4 is dead silent, while H115i pump was somewhat whiny, vibrated and resonated with H500 glass panel. It wasn't loud, don't get me wrong, but the pump's pitch is not something you would want in a silent PC.For those who are wondering, DRP4 is happy to accommodate the tallest of DIMMs. I've included a picture, Corsair RGB Pro RAM, 2 sticks, slot 2 and 4. Also, DRP4 has a cutout in the fin stack, so you can use slot 1 as well. Although, for my RGB Pro it is a very very tight fit, but since I only got 2 sticks, didn't bother much.Highly recommended. A fine piece of German engineering. Pretty much the best you can get in terms of Air Cooling.