In the world of CPU cooling, be quiet! recently, I am busy.We recently tested (and liked) the company’s Shadow Rock Slim 2 Budget air conditioner. Now, the company is adding a high-end cooler to its Dark Rock series, defined as a top-flow (down-draft) “TF” model, aptly called Dark Rock TF 2. With six copper heat pipes and a pair of fans whispering Silent Wings 3, be quiet! Some metallurgical origami has been performed to create its latest invisible air cooler.
As a dual-radiator downdraft cooler, Dark Rock TF 2 utilizes a pair of large + small heat sink stacks, turning them on one side to allow a compact or narrow configuration where conventional coolers may exceed the installation gap.
Specification
| high | 5.125 inches / 130.2 mm |
| width | 6.5 inches/165.1 mm |
| depth | 5.50 inches/139.7 mm |
| Base height | 2.0 inches/50.8 mm |
| Assembly.offset | 0.0″ (centered) |
| cooling fan | (1) 135 x 25 mm |
| Connector | (2) 4-pin PWM |
| weight | 34.1 oz/966 g |
| Intel slot | 115x, 1200, 2011*, 2066* |
| (*Only for square ILM mount) | |
| AMD socket | AM4, AM3 (+) |
| Warranty | 3 years |
| Internet price | $86 |
Be quiet! The installation hardware included with Dark Rock TF 2 is suitable for most current Intel desktop sockets and AMD’s AM3(+)/AM4 socket CPUs. All hardware also uses the company’s usual invisible black color scheme. A 4-pin PWM dispenser allows single-head fan control and includes a non-descriptive thermal paste injector-probably quiet! Compound.
Quiet! Covers Dark Rock TF 2, with a 3-year warranty.
Dark Rock TF 2 uses a downdraft design, which means that the cooling fan moves air down through the cooler towards the main board instead of through the cooling tower. Using six heat pipes, the large upper cooling stack distributes the heat evenly on the broad surface of the cooler directly below the top-mounted fan.
Below, the smaller radiator is located in the center below the middle fan, collecting the folded end of the heat pipe, while providing some surface area to dissipate any heat that will not go further up the cooler pipe. From one end to the other, the six heat pipes pass between the milled bottom plate, the mounting block and the fixed hardware bracket, and are twisted together to form the foldable double radiator sinking design of the Dark Rock TF 2.
Dark Rock TF 2 is equipped with a pair of 135mm fans; one is Silent Wings and the other is a variant of Silent Wings 3. Each is managed by 4-pin PWM and has a rated speed of up to 1400 RPM.
The grinding base of Dark Rock TF 2 is completely flat, and ambient light cannot pass between our steel ruler and the installation surface of the cooler. Below the smaller lower cooling tower, we can see the milled wide-tooth heat exchanger protruding between the heat pipe and the cooling fins of the lower tower, providing more surface area for the cooler to use.
The milled 40mm x 43mm Dark Rock TF 2 heat sink allows the use of high-quality thermal paste and can be used for general solder paste distribution on the CPU integrated heat sink (IHS) during installation.
Dark Rock TF 2 is mounted on a pair of stable brackets and fixed by two permanently integrated mechanical screws. Please note that heat pipe clusters may cause some incompatibility issues with memory DIMMs, depending on the motherboard spacing and clearance, so the direction of the cooler is important when choosing the installation method.
After installation, due to the downdraft design, the position of the cooler is significantly lower than most heat pipe coolers. This allows Dark Rock TF 2 to be used for system construction with low cooler clearances. The centrally mounted fan can easily slide between small and large cooling stacks, and the upper fan slides on a set of rubber fans. Both are locked by a set of spring clips to hold them firmly in place.
