Final Thoughts
It is good to see a high performance top-flow air cooler. Most high performance air coolers we see are tower-style coolers, while top-flow coolers are typically for mid-range to entry-level processors. Not the Dark Rock TF 2! This is a cooler that can handle thermal loads up to 230W! In our testing with the Intel Core i5-10600K we saw idle temperatures around 30C and load temperatures around 54C, which is very impressive. The cooler also did pass our CPU+FPU test in AIDA64 with temperatures hovering around 70C (many coolers will fail here).
During idle the Silent Wings 3 fans cannot be heard at all really, they are basically silent (no pun intended!). Even when we ran our extreme test the fans were not all that loud at all. Other coolers (especially stock coolers) will sound like a jet engine taking off and the Dark Rock TF 2 is just doing its thing barely noticeable.
When it comes to installation things were pretty straight-forward and the included instructions were easy to follow. Based on the size of the cooler as well as the fan installation you are likely going to have to install the cooler outside of your case, which means removing your motherboard if you are upgrading. While the cooler is pretty large you still have more than enough room for memory with 49 mm of space under the bottom fan. With that much space we were able to install our memory after we installed the cooler.
With the Dark Rock TF2 be quiet! has done some nice upgrades over the original which not only help with performance and sound levels, but also installation. Right now the Dark Rock TF 2 is selling at our favorite online retailer for $89.50, which puts it on the more expensive side, but I feel you aren’t going to find many coolers that offer this type of performance and are this quiet. Overall ThinkComputers gives the be quiet! Dark Rock TF2 CPU Cooler a 9 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Great performance
– Very quiet
– Easy installation
– Top-flow design will help cool VRMs
– Plenty of RAM clearance
Cons:
– Will likely have to install outside of your case
– Price
