be quiet! Pure Rock Slim 2 in the test – small, quiet and cheap

Recently, be quiet! brought a successor to its cheapest CPU cooler, which we will take a closer look at in the following article. How much cooler can you get for little money and do you deliver a good alternative 5 years later?

Packaging and scope of delivery

As is typical for the manufacturer, the box is designed in black and only the orange in the logo and the heat pipes create a little contrast. The front and back show the cooler in different views, the sides then provide information about further specifications. The “essential” lettering on the side places the cooler in the budget section of be quiet! a.

The heat sink and fan are inside the box in a small plastic tray and are separated from each other by a thin layer of foam. Guaranteed not the safest way to ship a cooler, but inexpensive. The protection from above is then provided by a box folded several times, in which the accessories are loosely located.

This is expected to be manageable and only includes fan clips and mounting brackets for Intel. AMD brackets are preassembled at the factory, which is very practical depending on the system.

Assembly and installation

Attaching the cooler could hardly be made any easier, thanks to the pre-applied thermal paste, you only need to attach the two hooks for the AM4 socket and turn the clamping lever. For Intel systems, the installation is the same as for stock coolers, simply push in the pins and you’re done. The whole thing is also available again in video form:

Specifications

Here is an overview of the technical details, everything else can be found on the manufacturer’s website, as always.

And here is the comparison between Pure Rock Slim and Pure Rock Slim 2:

The successor has become a bit taller and narrower, weighs a little more and can dissipate 10 watts more heat. The most relevant change, however, is the change from a coldplate to the cheaper direct-touch method.