Conclusion
At this point I may as well admit that it’s probably time to let go of my bias against top down coolers. Well, at least in the case of the SR1. This cooler breaks many of the rules of coolers in it’s class, and performs even as well as some of the better tower coolers. I feel one of the biggest contributing factors to this is the way the heatsink does not blow hot air directly onto the CPU. Instead of causing more work for itself, it works to move the air away, while at the same time maintains a lower profile. The mounting system is a breeze to work with, I would put it in the novice difficulty category. And at around $50 USD I would say the cost is spot on to the SR1’s performance and quality. It may even be slightly low, but don’t tell bequiet!.
So is there anything bad to say about the SR1? Well for one you can’t buy one in the United States yet. And if we were to compare it to air coolers in general it would not be top shelf performance, but that is slightly irrelevant.
ThinkComputers.org would like to award the bequiet! Shadow Rock TOPFLOW SR1 a 10 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– High quality fit and finish
– Cost
– Performance for a top down cooler is amazing
– Easy installation
– Packaging/Product protection is great
Cons:
– Not available in the U.S.