BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 – A suitable successor to a legend

Key features

BeQuiet!, which I don’t need to introduce here, launched its top-end Dark Rock Elite cooler early this year. Along with it, the Dark Rock Pro 5 was also released, but it has remained somewhat in the shadow of its elite sibling, which I would like to correct today. I firmly believe that the fifth gen of the Dark Rock Pro will successfully build on the previous versions, which have always been known for their uncompromising cooling performance and quiet operation.

Build, design and key features

If you read my February review of the Dark Rock Elite cooler, the following text will look very familiar to you. The main difference with the Dark Rock Pro 5 is the fan used on the front tower, which has now been replaced by a 120mm model from the Silent Wings 4 series. So you’ll find two dense bundles of aluminum fins intersected by a total of seven 6mm copper heatpipes. These provide heat dissipation from the large copper base of the cooler to the aluminum fins of the cooler. The coldplate is coated with a thin layer of nickel to protect against oxidation and is also the only area of the cooler that is not coated with a layer of matte black paint with ceramic particles that ensure the high thermal conductivity of this finish.

   

BeQuiet! also states that this cooler is also fully compatible with liquid metal, that is if you are skillful and brave enough to use this material as a medium between the cooler and the CPU heat spreader. Personally, however, I would recommend most users to stick with a paste of sufficient quality and, most importantly, non-conductive one.

   

Another minor difference from the Elite version is the design of the top surface of the cooler. You will no longer find a strip with ARGB backlighting, but an industrial-looking perforated cover with the manufacturer’s logo in the middle. This cover is attached to the cooler with small magnets and by removing it, you can access the middle fan, after which you can access a pair of mounting system screws. These screws are fitted with springs for optimal downforce, but due to their position on the cooler they are harder to access and it is for this reason that you will also find a long shank Phillips head screwdriver in the cooler accessories, as is a good habit with Dark Rock coolers.

   

The top surface of the base is designed as another small passive cooler. The total heat transfer surface of the fins is quite negligible compared to the rest of the cooler, but every watt of dissipated waste heat from the CPU counts.

Under the top cover, similar to the Elite version, there is also a maximum fan speed limiter. Q(uiet) mode limits the maximum speed of both fans, while P(erformance) mode lets the fans run at full speed.

   

This means that, unfortunately, both fans used have proprietary terminals for connection to the integrated splitter/limiter. The middle fan is also attached to the cooler in an atypical way and does not have a standard frame. This makes the eventual replacement of the fans seem difficult and you will have no choice but to contact BeQuiet! support.

The included accessories of the Dark Rock Pro 5 cooler are virtually identical to what you can find with the Elite version. The workmanship of the mounting system fits nicely with BeQuiet’s philosophy of never indulging in fads or superfluities. But there’s nothing missing here, including the aforementioned popular screwdriver, which you’ll appreciate when installing the cooler, as you have to get inside the cooler to secure the heatsink to the mounting system’s crossbars. The system is fortunately robust enough considering the considerable weight of the cooler, the installation of which is fortunately very straightforward and so you shouldn’t encounter any snags.

   

Cooler and fan parameters

The BeQuiet!Dark Rock Pro 5’s physical dimensions are virtually indistinguishable from its elite brother. The dimensions are identical and the weight difference is only due to the presence of a slightly lighter fan on the front tower. However, it is still a bulky cooler with a not insignificant height of almost seventeen centimeters, and that’s only assuming that you won’t have to adjust the position of the front fan due to tall RAM modules. Low-profile RAM modules, fortunately, pose no problem. What’s more, the price has been reduced slightly compared to the Elite version, making the Dark Rock Pro 5 a high-end cooler for 100 EUR, which combined with the three-year warranty is an attractive offer.

The fans used are modified versions from the Silent Wings 4 series and thanks to the integrated splitter/controller under the top cover of the cooler you can reduce the maximum fan speed to 1500 or 1300 RPM. Also, thanks to the aforementioned splitter, you can get by with a single PWM header on the motherboard. When testing the Dark Rock Elite I was very happy with the overall acoustics of the cooler, so I kind of expect that the acoustic profile of the cooler has been optimized here as well.

• Contents
• Key features
• Measurement methodology
• Results – 39 dBA
• Results – 42 dBA
• Results – 45 dBA
• Results – 48 dBA
• Results – maximum speed
• Spectral analysis of noise
• Conclusion and evaluation

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