Be Quiet! Showcases High-Quality Dark Rock TF & Shadow Rock LP Air Coolers, Specs

German case, cooler, & PSU manufacturer "Be Quiet!" made an appearance at CES this week, where they spotlighted two new air coolers and the Silent Base 800 enclosure we previously wrote about.

Be Quiet! expanded its cooler line with the Dark Rock TF -- a black monolith with two top-down fans -- and the Shadow Rock LP. The Dark Rock TF (TF initializes "Top Flow" air direction, or top-down) is the larger, more powerful cooler rated for 220W TDP. It sports six nickel-plated copper pipes with a two-tiered aluminum fin design. The CPU block is not direct contact, but does appear solid and well-machined with its smooth coldplate.

The fans were borrowed from their near-silent PSU design and can be mounted in a single or dual configuration. Single works best when space is tight and memory heat spreaders are close to the cooler. The dual fan configuration will provide better cooling, given that there is enough room for both fans, and acts as a sort of push-pull through the aluminum heatsink.

The most interesting thing about the fans used on the Dark Rock TF is that they utilize a six pole design rather than the standard four pole fan design. Additional magnetic poles serve as points of engagement of the fan, keeping the RPM stable (propelling it at 6 points) to reduce friction and noise of the rotating unit. Be quiet! tells us that the major advantage of this is smoother functionality that results in approximately 30% quieter cooling. A nice touch that finishes off the product is a black, brushed aluminum cover plate with individual caps for each of the heat pipes.

Be Quiet's Dark Rock TF measures in at 130mm tall (with fan), advertises a max 250W TDP support with the dual fan configuration, and offers 51mm memory clearance (dual-fan) or 70mm clearance without the bottom fan. MSRP is $80.

The Shadow Rock LP shares the two-tiered fin design and the copper heatpipes of the Dark Rock TF, but the similarities thin out after that. The LP (or low profile) Shadow Rock is built to fit inside smaller enclosures and only supports one fan, but measures in at just around 110mm with the fan. The fan that comes with the cooler is the traditional four pole design and there's no nickel plating on this cooler. The fins are aluminum and are supported by four heat pipes. The Shadow Rock LP is rated for approximately 130W TDP and is priced at $40. Memory clearance up to 32mm is supported.

Then there's the Silent Base 800 enclosure, something we previously posted about. While we will be doing a full review of Silent Base 800 later, we were able to get our hands on the case today. As advertised, it comes equipped with three fans: 2x140mm (front) and a single 120mm (rear). There are mount points for additional cooling units, as expected: On the top, there is installation space for a 280mm liquid cooling solution. On the side there is a snap-in 120mm mount point, and on the bottom there is room for one more 120/140mm fan. As seen in the images from our earlier post, the drive bays have some modularity as they can be removed if desired.

The case is equipped with a layer of sound damping material on both of the side panels, and there is a reasonable amount of space behind the motherboard side to route cables. The front of the case is easy to work with. The optical drive bays are hidden by a magnetically closed door with reversible hinges, and the two intake fans can be accessed by pressing in on a snap-latch panel which is hinged at the bottom of the case. There is also a dust filter to remove before accessing the two fans, but a simple push down on a comfortably sized clip removes the filter. In order to provide you with an idea of how the case might be to build in, we were able to fully disassemble, shoot video, and reassemble the case in about ten minutes. 

The hands-on with these products helped to confirm what we have already reported about be quiet!: The products feel solid, appear to be well-manufactured, and should make some noise in an already competitive market. Be Quiet! is new to the US market, but the company is serious about taking a foothold. If you’re interested in the Silent Base 800, keep watching the site as we should have a full review posted in the near future.

- Patrick "Mocalcium" Stone.