[Test] be quiet! Dark Rock 3 : Specs | CPU | Hashrate | Review | Config

Hi all !

After the success of Dark rock 2 and Dark rock pro 2 be quiet! returns with the new revisions of these coolers, the Dark Rock 3 and Dark Rock Pro 3!
Will these coolers be up to their predecessors? This is what we will see in this test of Dark Rock 3!

The box takes the usual design of the brand, sober and classy and which clearly indicates the goal sought by be quiet! Ie silence and performance!
It is also stated that the cooler is capable of dissipating 190Watts, so an already well overclocked processor should not be a problem.

The cooler is well protected in foam, so there is very little chance of ending up with a damaged cooler during delivery, a good point!

The bundle is made up of:

• A universal fixing plate
• 1 kit de fixation AMD 754 / 939 / 940 / AM2(+) / AM3 (+) / FM1 / FM2 (+)
• 1 kit de fixation Intel LGA 775 / 1150 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011
• 1 tube of thermal paste
• The necessary screws
• 2 clips for a second fan
• 1 clef plate
• 1 manuel

The bundle is sufficient but I would not have been against adding an extension for the fan, or a Y-cable if the cooler is mounted with 2 fans, or adapters to lower the voltage received by the fan in order to reduce noise pollution.

And here is Dark Rock 3! The fan is large and covers the entire front face.

The beast in profile, as we can see the fan rests on 2 rubber bands in order to attenuate the vibrations transmitted by the fan.

Here is the back side, each of the 51 fins is filled with small bumps to break the airflow.

The top of the radiator is a black brushed aluminum plate with the most beautiful effect accompanied by black caps covering the heat pipes, as much to say that it looks very good!

The base of the Dark Rock 3 is topped with fins that help heat dissipation a bit more, a practice that isn’t very common but certainly doesn’t hurt!

The base has a mirror effect.

The fan is a 135mm SilentWings rotating at a maximum of 1400 RPM with a PWM connector (4 pin).

The radiator

The Dark Rock 3 is rather imposing but with a reasonable height, it shouldn’t have a lot of compatibility issues with most cases sold on the market, a non-negligible point to take into consideration when buying a new one. pc.

The fan

Note a small incompatibility between the fan and the motherboards / rheobus, indeed it is at the time when I am writing these lines impossible to correctly read the speed of rotation of the fan. The motor being a 6 poles instead of the usual 4 poles, it will be necessary to wait for the manufacture of an interface by be quiet! in order to solve the problem, the interface will be available mid february.

Before starting, you might as well tell you right away that the assembly is not really easy and it will take patience to get to the end!
First of all, I will show you the order of the parts to be installed during assembly, to make it more clear!

To start, you need to place the black plate on the back of the motherboard and line up the holes like this:

Then you have to place the long screws like this:

Then you have to place the black plastic spacers in the notches provided for this purpose (the motherboard is represented by the red line):

Then screw the screw nut like this:

The first step is now complete! If you’ve done everything right you should have a motherboard that looks like this:

Now let’s take care of the cooler itself, placing the tabs for the Intel sockets:

Once the 2 legs are placed, you have to put the cooler on the motherboard, the result should be like this:

Then place the nuts on the screws like this:

And to finish (finally!) The fastest way to screw all this is to turn over the motherboard, to lock the nut with the key and to screw with a Phillips screwdriver on the back of the motherboard, once the 4 screws screwed in the cooler is finally in place!

The test platform

The be quiet! Dark Rock 3 has been tested on the configuration below:

• Processor: Intel Core i7 875K @ 3,2 Ghz
• Motherboard: Asus P7P55D
• Memory: Kingston HyperX 4 x 2 Go 1600Mhz
• Hard disk: WD Raptor 150 Go
• Graphic card: Sapphire Toxic 5850
• Food: Seasonic X650

The test protocol

The core i7 875K has been slightly overclocked to 3.2Ghz. The temperatures under load are an average of all the cores for 3 tests of 30 minutes on OCCT, the temperatures at rest were taken after 15mins on the desk (still an average of the 4 cores).

The cooler has been tested against Noctua NH-U12s, NH-U14S, NH-D14, NH-L12 and Thermalright HR01 (equipped with a Nexus real silent 120 fan)

The temperatures

The temperatures of Dark Rock 3 are excellent, almost at the level of Noctua NH-U14S which is not an easy task! It will have no problem cooling down your processor, even overclocked ones.

Noise pollution

Attention : Part to be taken with a grain of salt, unfortunately not having access to the appropriate equipment and using an android application to take the readings the measurements below are only indicative! The readings were taken 15cm from the cooler.

Again a very good point for be quiet !, the noise pollution is very contained. At a minimum the fan will be able to be inaudible and will be very discreet as much as possible. Note a very slight noise emanating from the motor when you glue the ear on the fan but disappears very quickly.

Here we are at the end of this test, does Dark Rock 3 keep its promises? The answer is yes! The fan knows how to be forgotten, and even at full speed the noise is not unpleasant as for the performances they are excellent!
Another point to note is the compatibility with the old sockets (like the LGA 775 at Intel and Socket 754, 939 at AMD) which is rather appreciable.
The high-end finish and a very “dark” look make this cooler a very good choice for a gamer config.

The +

• Very good performance
• Contained noise pollution
• Compatibility with older sockets
• Look
• High end finish
• SAV be quiet!

The –

• The bundle could have been more complete
• A bit tedious assembly

Many thanks to Armelle from be quiet! which allowed me to do this test.

Where to find the be quiet! Dark Rock 3?

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