be quiet! Shadow Rock TOPFLOW SR1 Overview
Pulling the SR1 from it’s generous foam padding you will find first that this is a massive cooler. If it were a standard tower cooler is could easily be too tall for many cases. However since this is a top down cooler it has longer heat pipes and lays horizontal with the CPU/Motherboard when installed.
The SR1 exhibits the same outstanding fit and finish that we’ve come to expect from be quiet!. There is no doubt that this company knows how to design and produce excellent aftermarket computer hardware.
Included with the unit is everything needed for both socket types, AMD and Intel. Also included is a multilingual manual and a small tube of thermal paste, enough for 3-4 installs depending on your TIM application method.
Going back to the cooler itself you will find that the entire unit is nickel plated even the solid copper base.
The four heat pipes are all fairly large at 8mm in diameter. In various places they run through the 53 aluminum fins to transfer heat away from the CPU. You will find that the leading edge (fan side) of the fins are all serrated to reduce the noise of air being disturbed as it makes contact with them. This is a technique used on mostly high end coolers
Finally you will find a 135mm be quiet! Shadow Wings PWM fan already installed on the cooler on the top side.
If you noticed looking at the photos, unlike many top down air coolers the heat sink on the SR1 does not sit directly over the top of the base and CPU. Instead it’s longer tubes place it slightly farther forward, with the bottom edge of the base being parallel with the bottom edge of the heat sink. This is something to keep in mind as it means you will need some extra room to one side of the cooler when installing. Also not having the heat sink directly over the base means that the hot air being exhausted doesn’t blow straight back onto the base/CPU and could result in better cooling.