Dark Rock Pro 5 Overview
be quiet! has gone with an all-black design with the Dark Rock Pro 5. So the entire heatsink, heatpipes, and both fans are black. The cooler is quite a large too, the official dimensions are 145mm x 136mm x 168mm (LxWxH). You definitely want to keep in mind that the cooler is 168mm tall as many cases will only support up to 160mm and sometimes 165mm.
Starting at the front of the cooler we have our first fan which is a 120mm Silent Wings 4 fan. In performance mode this fan will spin up to 2000 RPM with an airflow of 68.7 CFM, and air pressure of 2.48. This fan features airflow-optimized fan blades and a tight tip clearance between fan blade and frame which provides extremely high air pressure.
Looking at the cooler from the side we can see its dual-tower, dual-fan design. The second fan is in the center, which will get to in a bit. We can see that the front fan is held into place with fan clips, which allows you to move it up if you need to.
Moving around to the back of the cooler we can see how each of the heatsink towers are designed. These towers have 45 fins each and feature a black finish that actually has ceramic particles in it, this should aid in heat transfer. Also the fins on the back of the cooler are recessed, this should help reduce noise.
At the top of the cooler is a cap that has the be quiet! logo in the center. This is a magnetic cover and can easily be removed. Once removed we can spot a small physical switch that allows you to choose the Performance or Quiet mode. By default the cooler is set in Performance mode, and I will leave it there.
With the top cap removed we can also easily remove the center fan. You simply pull up on the top frame and it will come out. This type of system is great and much easier to remove than fan clips, especially considering you need to remove the center fan to get the cooler installed. The center fan is a 135mm Silent Wings fan that will spin up to 1700 RPM, with a max airflow of 116.6 CFM in the performance mode.
Coming up from the base of the cooler are seven 6mm-thick copper heatpipes. These of course have that black ceramic coating as well. The heatpipes go up into the heatsink towers in a “U” fashion which is pretty common for dual-tower coolers like this.
Taking a look at the base of the cooler we have a very nice finish. Some machining marks are visible, but nothing to worry about. The base should provide a nice even surface for heat transfer.
