Pros:
- Quiet Noise Levels
- Excellent noise normalized performance
- Solid Black Design
Cons:
- Moderate Maximum Cooling Performance
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About BeQuiet!
German company BeQuiet! was founded in 2001 is considered one of the best brands amongst enthusiasts for their capable coolers that place an emphasis on quiet performance.
I’ve most recently tested their Pure Loop 2 FX, which I found capable of handling up to 285W loads with Intel’s i9-13900K. They’re also known for their lineup of fans, power supplies, and cases – their Silent Base 802 is one of my favorite cases on the market and is the case I use for cooling tests with Intel’s i7-13700K.
Today we’ll be looking at BeQuiet’s Dark Rock Pro 4 to see how it performs with modern CPUs – specifically Intel’s i7-13700K and AMD’s Ryzen 7 7700X. When it was released, it raised the bar for quiet operation and strong performance – but we’ve seen how some high end coolers designed with older CPUs in mind like Intel’s i9-9900K can struggle under the heat of workloads from modern processors like Intel’s i9-12900K.
Can BeQuiet’s quiet Dark Rock Pro 4 handle the heat of modern platforms? I’ll show you how well it performs in the benchmarks, but first lets take a look at the installation and specifications of this cooler.
Foreword & Testing Platform Configuration
My previous tests have focused on Intel’s i9-13900K and Ryzen 7700X, but with today’s article and most future reviews I’ll be using the i7-13700K and Ryzen 7700X instead. Intel’s i7 isn’t quite as difficult to cool as the i9-13900K, but it’s still capable of overwhelming most coolers. Only the strongest liquid coolers, like DeepCool’s LT720 or Cooler Master’s MasterLiquid 360L Core, will be capable of keeping the i7-13700K under it’s peak temperature in intensive workloads.
The most complete cooling comparison results will from the Ryzen 7700X section, which features results from 19 different coolers. I haven’t been testing the 13700K long, as such today’s review will only feature results from 11 coolers in total. Between the results shown on both CPUs, this should be a sufficient amount of data to show you how BeQuiet’s Dark Rock Pro 4 holds up with modern CPUs.
Intel LGA1700 13th Generation Raptor Lake and AMD AM5 Raphael Platforms
| CPUs | Intel i7-13700K AMD Ryzen 7 7700X |
| Motherboard | Intel LGA 1700 – MSI Z690 A PRO DDR4 AMD AM5 – ASRock B650e Taichi |
| Computer Case | Intel – BeQuiet! Silent Base 802, System fans set to LOW AMD – DeepCool CK560WH |
| Comparison Coolers | Scythe Kotestu Mark Three Scythe Big Shiruken 3 Rev B BeQuiet! Shadow Rock 3 BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 DeepCool LT720 DeepCool AG500 Cooler Master Master Liquid 240L Core Cooler Master Hyper 622 Halo Cougar Forza 135 DeepCool LT720 DeepCool AG500 EK AIO Elite 280 D-RGB Fractal Design Celsius+ S28 Prisma Iceberg Thermal IceSLEET G4 Silent Iceberg Thermal IceSLEET X7 Dual Iceberg Thermal IceFLOE T95 Jiushark JF200S MSI MEG CoreLiquid S360 Noctua NH-D15S Scythe Kotetsu Mark Three Thermalright Silver Soul 135 Thermalright Peerless Assassin Thermalright Frozen Notte 240 |
- Maximum Noise Levels and Cooling Performance on both Intel and AMD platforms
- Noise Normalized Quiet Cooling Performance at 38.2 dBA with Intel’s i7-13700K
- Noise Normalized Silent Cooling Performance at 36.4 dBA with AMD’s Ryzen 7 7700X
- CPU Temperatures at and noise levels at 175W and 125W with Intel’s i7-13700K
- CPU Temperatures and noise levels at 95W & 75W with AMD’s Ryzen 7700X
Features of BeQuiet’s Dark Rock Pro 4 Dual Tower Air Cooler
Dual Tower Heatsinks
Nickel Plated Copper Heatpipes and base
BeQuiet’s cooler utilizes seven copper heatpipes, the contact plate is comprised of nickel plated copper.
45mm RAM Compatibility
The Dark Rock Pro 4 is compatibile with all RAM 45mm or shorter with no problems whatsoever.
2x Silent Wings 3 PWM fans
Packaging and included contents
The Dark Rock Pro 4 arrives in a box similar of other coolers in its class, and uses cardboard and molded foam for the protection of the inner contents.
Included with the package are
- Dual Tower Radiator
- 1x 120mm fan
- 1x 135mm fan
- PWM Splitter
- Mounting for modern Intel & AMD platforms
- Thermal paste
- Screwdriver
- Manual
- Fan Clips for 3 fans
LGA 1700 & AM4/AM5 Cooler Installation
The installation of the Dark Rock Pro 4 isn’t hard, but it takes a few steps more than some of the easier installations on the market. AMD users will need to start by removing the default retention brackets, Intel users will start by applying the backplate to the motherboard.
The next step is to add the mounting standoffs and place the mounting bars on top. Secure the mounting bars with the included screwdriver and screws.
Place the heatsink on top of the mounting bars, then secure it by using a screwdriver to tighten the mounting screws. Finally, attach the fans using the included clips and connect them to your motherboard’s PWM connection.
Intel i7-13700K Thermal and Acoustic Results
Maximum Cooling Performance
Running Cinebench without power limits enforced is difficult to cool, and most coolers are unable to keep the CPU under it’s peak temperature in this scenario – so we’ll be looking at the maximum watts dissapated by the cooler in this situation.
BeQuiet’s Dark Rock Pro 4 performs similarly to mid range coolers in this maximum performance scenario, but that’s only one part of the equation. Let’s look at the noise levels next.
Maximum Noise Levels
The Dark Rock Pro 4 achieves its maximum cooling performance with total system noise levels of 39.6 dBA, which is the quietest result we have tested with Intel’s i7-13700K! Given these quiet noise levels, we can forgive it’s slightly lower performance.
Noise Normalized Results
While maximum performance testing is nice, a lot of folks prefer to test coolers with noise levels equalized. This can result in some performance loss in the most power intensive workloads like rendering.
BeQuiet’s Dark Rock Pro 4 is able to sustain an 217W average when noise levels are equalized to 38.2 dBA, which is (within a margin of error) on par with Noctua’s NH-D15S.
175W Thermal & Acoustic Results
Most loads that common users run won’t use more than 200W, so this is a better analogue for a worst case scenario of what folks might actually see in day to day usage.
At 58C over ambient, the Dark Rock Pro 4 performs on par with Juishark’s JF200S and Cougar’s Forza 135, but runs significantly quieter than both with noise levels recorded of only 38.9 dBA. This is a very quiet noise level, and won’t bother anyone.
All results shown on Boring Text Reviews are tested in an environment at 23C ambient temperature.
125W Thermal & Acoustic Results
When restricted to 125W, thermal performance really isn’t a concern – though I’ve included that information in the graph below. Really, any cooler should be able to handle this load – even Intel’s stock cooler!
With a temperature of 44C over ambient, BeQuiet’s thermal performance is on par with the best results we have from other air coolers. But really, thermal performance isn’t a concern at this lower power limit – noise levels are more important.
All of the coolers tested achieved good acoustic levels here, but the Dark Rock Pro 4 was so quiet that ran quieter than the system fans with total system noise levels of 37.3 dBA.
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Thermal and Acoustic Results
Maximum Cooling Performance
Running Cinebench without power limits enforced is difficult to cool, and most coolers are unable to keep the CPU under it’s peak temperature in this scenario – so we’ll be looking at the maximum watts dissapated by the cooler in this situation.
As with the previous CPU, the Dark Rock Pro 4 performs similarly to mid-range coolers in this maximum performance scenario. But this is only part of the picture, now on to the noise measurements.
Maximum Noise Levels
BeQuiet’s Dark Rock Pro 4 achieves its maximum cooling performance with total system noise levels of 38.9 dBA, which is a very low noise level. This is quieter than all of the mid-range and high-end air coolers shown below, only beaten by a lower end BeQuiet! Cooler and Fractal’s AIO when set to silent mode.
Noise Normalized Results
While maximum performance testing is nice, a lot of folks prefer to test coolers with noise levels equalized. This can result in some performance loss in the most power intensive workloads like rendering.
The noise normalized results here are excellent, the 2nd strongest result from an air cooler when paired with AMD’s Ryzen 7 7700X. Noctua’s NH-D15S takes a minor lead in this test, but you wouldn’t notice performance difference between 119W and 122W in real life workloads.
95W Thermal & Acoustic Results
Most loads that common users run won’t use more than 100W, so this is a better analogue for a worst case scenario of what folks might actually see in day to day usage with AMD’s Ryzen 7700X.
At 52C over ambient, BeQuiet’s Dark Rock Pro matches our best results from other air coolers and achieves this with silent noise levels of 38.2 dBA – quieter than any of the midrange or high end air coolers that I’ve tested (thus far).
All results shown on Boring Text Reviews are tested in an environment at 23C ambient temperature.
75W Thermal & Acoustic Results
When restricted to 75W, thermal performance really isn’t a concern – though I’ve included that information in the graph below. Really, any cooler should be able to handle this load – even Intel’s stock cooler!
With a temperature of 40C over ambient, the Dark Rock Pro 4’s thermal performance falls is again on par with the best results we’ve recorded with AMD’s Ryzen 7700X and it achieves this with the 2nd quietest noise levels we have from any cooler tested thus far. Simply excellent performance in this lower power test!
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Conclusion
