be quiet! Shadow Rock 2 CPU Cooler Review

Testing
For testing we will be using our X79 machine, which we recently upgraded with the Intel Core i7 4960X Extreme Edition Processor!

be quiet! Shadow Rock 2

The test system is made up of the following parts:

Processor: Intel Core i7-4960X Extreme Edition
Motherboard: ASUS P9X79 Pro
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
Memory: 16GB Kingston 10th Anniversary
Power: Thermaltake Smart 750W
Storage: 750GB SATA II Drive
Cooling: be quiet! Shadow Rock 2
Case: Cooler Master Cosmos II with 5 fans

For testing we will be using the Intel Burn Test with the AVX instruction set. We use this instead of Prime 95 as it will push the processor much harder. We have it set on the maximum setting and let it ruin through 3 passes. This gives us a realistic idea of the temperatures the processor would hit when it is under full load.

Keep in mind this is an Extreme Edition processor. These run much hotter than normal chips so keep that in mind. Since making our change to the Core i7-4960X Extreme Edition we have only tested one other air cooler on it so we do not have that much of a comparison. First up is our idle temperatures.

idle

As you can see the cooler works great in keep our processor nice and cool during idle operations.

Now for the load test.

load

Even though the Noctua cooler did a better job cooling than the Shadow Rock 2 the temperatures were well within what we like to see. Keep in mind this processor does run hotter than most out there.

About Author