be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 Air CPU Cooler, Immensely High Airflow, 7 High-Performance Copper Heat Pipes, Silent Wings 120mm PWM Fan, Silent Wings 135mm PWM Fan, Virtually Inaudible Operation, BK036

This was simple to install with the included brackets. It replaces a cheaper option that quite simply didnt cool the CPU effectively enough, especially when rendering in After Effects. The build quality is excellent, the performance switch, for me, is a little bit of a gimmick, just put it on performance and leave it. Couple this with quality thermal paste and you will see results comparable to a mid tier AIO. My temps now stay around 50-66 degrees and when rendering (AE uses all cores 100%) the highest temp I have seen is 90 degrees so the CPU no longer throttles when rendering.

I bought this as part of an upgrade - I will be cutting/pasting part of this post into the other reviews also. About the Fan: Things have come a long way from those little fans you screwed onto your CPU (that also broke down every so often!). This thing is huge. That said, everything runs very quiet even when I am playing high end games. Easy to assemble, seems to have good airflow (hence the low noise), fits nicely and comes with thermal paste (remember the thermal paste gets applied to the CPU and then the fan is fitted - dont apply the paste to the cooler first!). This is the set up I have and they all fit in the case and are compatible: Fractal Design Define 7 Black Brushed Aluminum/Steel E-ATX Silent Modular Mid Tower Computer Case AMD Ryzensets 7 7800X3D Processor with 3D V Cache technology (integrated Radeon Graphics, 8 cores/16 threads, 120W TDP, AM5 Socket, 104MB cache, up to 5.0 GHz max boost, no cooler) CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR5 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 6000MHz CL30 AMD EXPO Intel XMP iCUE Compatible Computer Memory – Grey (CMK32GX5M2B6000Z30) be quiet! Dark Rock Elite air cooler, 2x Silent Wings 135mm PWM fans, Speed Switch with 2 modes, high-performance heat pipes, front fan rail system, enhanced RAM compatibility, ARGB LEDs, beefy design CORSAIR RM850x Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX Power Supply – ATX 3.1 Compliant – PCIe 5.1 Support – Cybenetics Gold Efficiency – Native 12V-2x6 Connector – Black MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI Motherboard, ATX - Supports AMD Ryzen 9000 Series Processors, AM5 - 14 Duet Rail 80A VRM, DDR5 Memory Boost 6400+MHz/OC, 2 x PCIe 4.0 x16, 3 x M.2 Gen4, Wi-Fi 6E GIGABYTE Radeon RX 7800 XT Gaming OC 16G Graphics Card, 3X WINDFORCE Fans 16GB 256-bit GDDR6, GV-R78XTGAMING OC-16GD Video Card

My PC has an i5-9400f, with an 8gb RTX 3060 Ti, and 32gb DDR4 RAM. I game at 1080P @ 60fps to match my monitor. This set up does that easily on ultra/epic settings with CPU temps (C) going from the mid 60s to low 70s, however, some modern games were pushing the CPU temperature up to the low to mid 80s and the stock fan is noisy and sounding a bit overworked at these temps. After installing the Dark Rock 5, the temps for even the most demanding of games now range between 58 to 61 - that's pretty damn impressive! And it adds no noticible extra noise. It's an absolutely amazing product, worth every penny. Installation on an Intel motherboard requires a support bracket to be fitted on the back of the motherboard first - this is the trickiest part, but if your case has a cut out to keep the back of the CPU area accessible (mine did, I'm pretty sure most do), and your cabling isn't in the way, this isn't too much bother. It's just a bit fiddly working on both sides of the motherbosrd at the same time and trying to line the screws up in the bracket so none of them end up angled in any way. Once that's on, the rest is easy: two more brakcets to fit on the front, a quick clean of the CPU with IPA and a cotton bud, re-apply the thermal paste (included), then fit the heat sink on the front brackets to cover the CPU (screwdriver included), and then just clip on the fan. It comes with clear image instructions of each step. It also comes with a magnetic cover to ensure it looks great in the case too. In short, if you want to massively reduce your CPU temp with negligible added noise, you can't go wrong with this product.

Bought this to test on my recently upgrade to a Ryzen 9800X3D. Happy to report it stays below 90*C at 5.2GHz all cores in Cinebench R23 multi core. Used the included thermal paste and only a simple and lazy undervolt of -25 CO, all other settings stock. ARGB lighting looks OK and brightness is just right. I'd only add it's a bit on the expensive side, particularly because of the high difference to the non-RGB version which is 2/3 of the price. However, build quality and ease of fitting make up for the price, in my opinion.

Easy enough install, depending on the airflow configuration you want you may need an extension cable as the one included isn’t long enough if you’re going for front to back airflow and your mb pins are above the fan. That was the only mild irritation. I had initially thought, wow, this is a big boy, this may not fit in my case, but it did, just. My build is in a Lian Li Lancool III if anyone’s interested. Initial temps look very good, sitting around 33–42°C per core with a few cores having peaked earlier in the high-50s after I’d played a bit of GTA 5in 4k, but at 60fps as I’m on a TV. That’s with the cooler on quiet mode, not performance mode. Noise wise, it’s not louder than the AIO liquid cooling system it has replaced, and there’s no pump to fail which is a bonus (that’s what prompted this purchase). In face, I think it’s slightly quieter. Hopefully the lifespan will be longer than the AIO which only managed 4 years. Overall, yes.. I recommend this, and the long, magnetic screwdriver included is actually very nice tool! Bonus!

I use this to cool an AMD Ryzen 7 2700x and this cooler stays virtually silent even when I run benchmarking applications putting the processor under full synthetic loads. Temperature under load has hit a 68 degrees maximum for me which is fantastic. The first time I turned the PC on with this attached I didn’t think the PC was on, I thought I mis-pressed the power button so turned round and the PC is on and to my amazement no noise whatsoever. It’s a big cooler but fits perfectly in my Corsair 280x RGB case. The mounting instructions aren’t the best in the world but a bit of common sense will see you through. For AM4 sockets you have to remove the motherboard backplate, screw the new backplate included with the cooler on, mount the brackets to the cooler itself and the screw that to the motherboard. Took about 30 mins once I had figured it out. It even comes with included thermal paste. The look of it too is so much better than any other cooler out there in my opinion, and has similar results to most AIO coolers without the hassle of radiator mounting. A must buy.

This is a really good cooler. I use it on my 5800x3d that I have tried a few air coolers on and I will be sticking with this one. It looks good too.

Super quiet and incredibly effective, what more could you want? I was thinking to go with an AIO but I much prefer the simplicity of a CPU cooler. Although it’s size looks silly on a micro board, my CPU has never once gone above 61 degrees.