BeQuiet! Shadow Rock 2 Review
Category : Aircooling
Published by Marc Büchel on 30.09.13
A few months ago we've had the first two cooler of the Shadow Rock line of BeQuiet! for review. At first look this new addition, the Shadow Rock 2, seems to be an upgrade, more powerful version, of the Shadow Rock Pro. In the end we have in front of us a massive cooler and we're curious how it's going to perform.
On the following pages we will show you what
the BeQuiet! Shadow Rock 2 tower cooler is capable
of.
[pagebreak]
Preview
[pagebreak]
Specifications and included in delivery
Specifications
Model |
BeQuiet! Shadow Rock 2 |
Material |
Aluminium / copper / nickel |
Dimension
(D x W x H) |
147 mm x 122 mm x 160 mm |
Weight |
1120 g with fans |
Fan |
1 x 120 mm x 120 mm x 25 mm PWM |
On the manufacturer's website |
BeQuiet!
Shadow Rock 2 |
Included in delivery
- Cooling block
- 1 x 120mm Fan
- Mounting kit
for Socket LGA 775 / LGA 1155 / LGA 1156 / LGA 1366 / LGA 2011 AMD: FM1, AM2 (+) / AM3 (+) / 754/ 939 / 940
- BeQuiet! Thermal compound
- Mounting components
- Manual
The
Shadow Rock 2 ships well protected, that none of the parts included will be damaged during transportation.
BeQuiet! includes not only an Intel but also an AMD mounting kit. Therefore the cooler is compatible
with both worlds
right out of the box. BeQuiet! also equips this cooler with one of their own fans. The fan belongs to BeQuiet!'s SilentWing PWM series and measures 120 millimeter in
diameter.
[pagebreak]
Construction and design
Construction
If we had to define the type of cooler the Shadow Rock 2 is, then we would say it is a
single tower cooler. This type of cooler comes with the advantage that
manufacturers can realise a huge cooling area. The disadvantage over down-draft coolers
is that no air is directed towards the motherboard directly, therefore none of
the onboard components receive direct cooling. BeQuiet!
manufactures their Shadow Rock 2 from aluminium and copper. You can find a
copper base plate which leads the dissipation power to four heatpipes which all
have a diameter of eight millimeters. Altogether there are 51 fins soldered to the
heatpipes for perfect heat transfer. To provide this cooler with a unique
look there is a top cover plate made from solid aluminium.
Design
We could not find any manufacturing
mistakes on our sample, and it
seems that it has been very well made which means that manufacturing quality is on an excellent
level. The heatpipes do have different bending radius, which results in additional vortex.
Furthermore this cooler comes with a total of 51 fins. BeQuiet! chose a saw tooth design
on all sides of the concave fins. On top of the cooler there is a thick
aluminium plate, which also covers the top of the heatpipes.
[pagebreak]
Mounting
BeQuiet! ships their
Shadow Rock 2 with mounting kits that are compatible most of the common
Intel and AMD sockets. This is one of the most painful coolers to install we've
had for review since quite a while. We would be really happy if BeQuiet! would
bundle this cooler with a simplified mounting kit.
Since there are plenty of examples out there, which can be found at other
manufacturers and we hope to see something else in the future. In other words it
will definitely make sense if you have the manual lying next to you when you put
this cooler in place.
On these pictures you can clearly see that the Shadow Rock 2 is a
monster. Nevertheless if you choose to equip the cooler with
one fan
it is easily possible to install memory with big heatspreaders in the first DIMM
slot.
[pagebreak]
Testsystem and testroutine
Testsystem
Cooler |
Alpenföhn Nordwand
Alpenföhn Gotthard
Aquatuning NexXxoS XP3 Light @ Alphacool NexXxoS UT60
360mm
BeQuiet! Dark Rock 2
BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 2
BeQuiet! Shadow Rock
BeQuiet! Shadow Rock 2
Cooler Master Eisberg 240L Prestige
Cooler Master Hyper 212Evo
Cooler Master Hyper 412S
Cooler Master Seidon 120M
Cooler Master TPC 800
Corsair H90
Corsair H100i
Corsair H110
Corsair H5O
Enermax ELC240
EK Water Blocks Kit L360
Gelid GX-7
Gelid The Black Edition
Noctua NH-C14
Noctua NH-D14
Noctua NH-U12P
Noctua NH-U14S
Phanteks PH-TC14PE
Prolimatech Armageddon - Xigmatek PLA14025S12L
Fan
Prolimatech Megahalems Megashadow
Prolimatech Megahalems Super Mega
Prolimatech Samuel 17
Raijintek AIDOS
Raijintek THEMIS
Raijintek EREBOSS
SilverStone Heligon HE01
Thermalright AXP-100
Thermalright Macho 120
Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E |
Mainboard |
ASUS P6T Deluxe |
Processor |
Intel Core i7 920 2.66 GHz 4C / 8T |
Memory |
Kingston HyperX 3 x 1 GByte |
Graphics card |
Gigabyte GTX 285 |
Hard disk |
Samsung Spinpoint F1 640 GByte |
Power supply |
Seasonic Platinum SS-520FL2 |
Testroutine
The CPU
is being evaluated using
Real Temp and with
Prime95 we reach nearly 100% load on the CPU. For measuring the noise level
we use a Voltcraft SL-200 decibel meter, which is positioned one meter from the
CPU cooler with the fan mounted.
- 2.66 GHz 12 volts load
- 2.66 GHz 7 volts load
[pagebreak]
Results 2.66 GHz 12 volts
Cooler / fan |
Temp. diff. load |
Absolute temp. |
RPM |
Noise |
Price |
Review link |
EK Water Blocks Kit L360 - Triple Fan
(Push) - EK-Supreme LTX CPU block |
21 K |
48 °C |
1600 rpm |
41.7 dBA |
CHF 294 (EUR 220) |
EK Water Blocks Kit L360 |
Aquatuning NexXxoS XP3 Light @ Alphacool
NexXxoS UT60 360mm - Triple Fan (Pull) |
24 K |
51 °C |
1200 rpm |
36.9 dBA |
CHF 360 (EUR 300) |
Aquatuning NexXxoS XP3 @ Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 360mm - Triple Fan |
Corsair H100i - Dual Fan |
26 K |
53 °C |
2700 rpm |
48.8 dBA |
CHF 122 (EUR 88) |
Corsair H100i |
Corsair H110 - Dual Fan |
27 K |
51 °C |
1500 rpm |
41.9 dBA |
CHF 125 (EUR 104) |
Corsair H110 |
Cooler Master Eisberg 240L Prestige -
Dual Fan |
27 K |
52 °C |
1600 rpm |
46.5 dBA |
CHF 186 (EUR 155) |
Cooler Master Eisberg 240L Prestige |
Phanteks PH-TC14PE - Triple Fan |
28 K |
57 °C |
1250 rpm |
41.3 dBA |
CHF 124 (EUR 103) |
Phanteks PH-TC14PE |
Phanteks PH-TC14PE - Dual Fan |
29 K |
58 °C |
1250 rpm |
41.1 dBA |
CHF 99 (EUR 83) |
Phanteks PH-TC14PE |
Raijintek EREBOSS - Dual Fan |
29 K |
52 °C |
1500/1500 rpm |
39.6 dBA |
CHF 42 (EUR 35) |
Raijintek EREBOSS |
Corsair H90 - Dual Fan |
29 K |
53 °C |
1500/1500 rpm |
42.1 dBA |
CHF 96 (EUR 80) |
Corsair H90 |
Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E - Dual Fan |
30 K |
56 °C |
1100/1300 rpm |
41.8 dBA |
CHF 70 (EUR 58) |
Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E |
Phanteks PH-TC14PE - Single Fan |
30 K |
59 °C |
1250 rpm |
40.7 dBA |
CHF 99 (EUR 83) |
Phanteks PH-TC14PE |
Noctua NH-U14S - Dual Fan |
30 K |
60 °C |
1300/1300 rpm |
41.2 dBA |
CHF 82 (EUR 65) |
Noctua NH-U14S |
Prolimatech Megahalems Super Mega - Dual
Fan |
30 K |
57 °C |
1400/1400 rpm |
40.8 dBA |
CHF 126 (EUR 105) |
Prolimatech Megahalems Super Mega Dual Fan |
Corsair H90 - Single Fan |
30 K |
54 °C |
1500 rpm |
41.4 dBA |
CHF 96 (EUR 80) |
Corsair H90 |
Raijintek EREBOSS - Single Fan |
30 K |
53 °C |
1500 rpm |
39.2 dBA |
CHF 42 (EUR 35) |
Raijintek EREBOSS |
Noctua NH-D14 - Single Fan |
31 K |
56 °C |
1300/1200 rpm |
40.9 dBA |
CHF 114 (EUR 95) |
Noctua NH-D14 |
Noctua NH-U14S - Single Fan |
31 K |
61 °C |
1300 rpm |
39.8 dBA |
CHF 82 (EUR 65) |
Noctua NH-U14S |
Cooler Master TPC 800 - Dual Fan |
32 K |
61 °C |
1400 rpm |
41.2 dBA |
CHF 113 (EUR 94) |
Cooler Master TPC 800 |
Enermax ELC240 - Dual Fan |
32 K |
57 °C |
1500 rpm |
43.4 dBA |
CHF 107 (EUR 89) |
Enermax ELC240 |
Prolimatech Armageddon - Dual Fan |
33 K |
56 °C |
1100/1100 rpm |
36.4 dBA |
CHF 70 (EUR 58) |
Prolimatech Armageddon |
BeQuiet! Shadow Rock 2 |
33 K |
61 °C |
1400 rpm |
39.3 dBA |
CHF 47 (39 EUR ) |
BeQuiet! Shadow Rock 2 |
BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 |
33 K |
61 °C |
1400/1400 rpm |
42.0 dBA |
CHF 96 (EUR 80) |
BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 |
Alpenföhn Nordwand - Dual Fan |
33 K |
57 °C |
1500 rpm |
43.0 dBA |
CHF 103 (EUR 86) |
Alpenföhn Nordwand |
Raijintek THEMIS - Single Fan |
33 K |
55 °C |
1600 rpm |
42.0 dBA |
CHF 28 (EUR 23) |
Raijintek THEMIS |
Cooler Master Seidon 120M - Dual Fan |
33 K |
57° C |
1800/1800 rpm |
43.6 dBA |
CHF 75 (EUR 63) |
Cooler Master Seidon 120M |
Gelid GX-7 - Dual-Fan |
33 K |
53 °C |
1800/1800 rpm |
45.5 dBA |
CHF 45 (EUR 38) |
Gelid GX-7 |
Alpenföhn Gotthard - Single Fan |
34 K |
60 °C |
1200 rpm |
39.7 dBA |
CHF 65 (EUR 54) |
Alpenföhn Gotthard |
Gelid The Black Edition - Dual Fan |
34 K |
60 °C |
1600/1500 rpm |
41.4 dBA |
CHF 72 (EUR 59) |
Gelid The Black Edition |
Cooler Master Seidon 120M - Single Fan |
34 K |
58° C |
1800 rpm |
42.8 dBA |
CHF 75 (EUR 63) |
Cooler Master Seidon 120M |
SilverStone Heligon HE01 |
35 K |
61 °C |
1900 rpm |
48.2 dBA |
CHF 84 (EUR 70) |
SilverStone Heligon HE01 |
Prolimatech Megahalems Megashadow -
Dual Fan |
34 K |
58 °C |
1400 rpm |
40.5 dBA |
CHF 79 (EUR 66) |
Prolimatech Megahalems Megashadow |
Enermax ETS-T40-VD - Single Fan |
34 K |
57 °C |
1900 rpm |
42.4 dBA |
CHF 43 (EUR 36) |
Enermax ETS-T40-VD |
Raijintek AIDOS - Single Fan |
34 K |
57 °C |
2400 rpm |
43.1 dBA |
CHF 20 (EUR 17) |
Raijintek AIDOS |
Noctua NH-C14 - Dual Fan |
35 K |
57 °C |
1250 rpm |
41.0 dBA |
CHF 91 (EUR 76) |
Noctua NH-C14 |
Alpenföhn Nordwand - Single Fan |
35 K |
59 °C |
1500 rpm |
42.4 dBA |
CHF 79 (EUR 66) |
Alpenföhn Nordwand |
Gelid GX-7 - Single Fan |
35 K |
55 °C |
1800 rpm |
45.0 dBA |
CHF 45 (EUR 38) |
Gelid GX-7 |
Coolink Corator DS - Single Fan |
35 K |
57 °C |
1900 rpm |
47.9 dBA |
CHF 45 (EUR 38) |
Coolink Corator DS |
Prolimatech Megahalems Megashadow -
Single Fan |
36 K |
59 °C |
1400 rpm |
37.0 dBA |
CHF 79 (EUR 65) |
Prolimatech Megahalems Megashadow |
Prolimatech Armageddon - Single Fan |
37 K |
60 °C |
1100 rpm |
35.9 dBA |
CHF 88 (EUR 73) |
Prolimatech Armageddon |
BeQuiet! Shadow Rock - Single Fan |
37 K |
60 °C |
1500 rpm |
42.7 dBA |
CHF 63 (EUR 53) |
BeQuiet Shadow Rock |
Corsair H5O - Dual Fan |
37 K |
59 °C |
1600 rpm |
44.4 dBA |
CHF 133 (EUR 111) |
Corsair H5O |
Noctua NH-C14 - Single Fan |
38 K |
60 °C |
1250 rpm |
39.4 dBA |
CHF 91 (EUR 76) |
Noctua NH-C14 |
Thermalright Macho 120 - Single Fan |
38 K |
64 °C |
1400 rpm |
40.8 dBA |
CHF 38 (EUR 32) |
Thermalright Macho 120 |
BeQuiet! Dark Rock 2 - Single Fan |
38 K |
65 °C |
1400 rpm |
42.0 dBA |
CHF 77 (EUR 64) |
BeQuiet! Dark Rock 2 |
Noctua NH-U12P - Dual Fan |
38 K |
62 °C |
1400 rpm |
41.6 dBA |
CHF 125 (EUR 104) |
Noctua NH-U12P |
Corsair H5O - Single Fan |
38 K |
60 °C |
1600 rpm |
44.0 dBA |
CHF 113 (EUR 94) |
Corsair H5O |
Cooler Master Hyper 412S - Single-Fan |
39 K |
62 °C |
1200 rpm |
41.6 dBA |
CHF 57 (EUR 48) |
Cooler Master Hyper 412S |
Cooler Master Hyper 212Evo - Single-Fan |
39 K |
62 °C |
1500 rpm |
42.9 dBA |
CHF 50 (EUR 40) |
Cooler Master Hyper
212S |
Noctua NH-U12P - Single Fan |
40 K |
64 °C |
1400 rpm |
40.5 dBA |
CHF 85 (EUR 71) |
Noctua NH-U12P |
Thermalright AXP-100 |
46 K |
72 °C |
2400 rpm |
43.1 dBA |
CHF 48 (EUR 40) |
Thermalright AXP-100 |
Prolimatech Samuel 17 - Single Fan |
56 K |
85 °C |
1400 rpm |
40.1 dBA |
CHF 49 (EUR 41) |
Prolimatech Samuel 17 |
[pagebreak]
Results 2.66 GHz 7 Volts
Cooler / fan |
Temp. diff. load |
Absolute temp. |
RPM |
Noise |
Price |
Review link |
EK Water Blocks Kit L360 - Triple Fan
(Push) - EK-Supreme LTX CPU block |
25 K |
52 °C |
650 rpm |
32.4 dBA |
CHF 294 (EUR 220) |
EK Water Blocks Kit L360 |
Aquatuning NexXxoS XP3 Light @ Alphacool
NexXxoS UT60 360mm - Triple Fan (Pull) |
27 K |
54 °C |
600 rpm |
32.1 dBA |
CHF 360 (EUR 300) |
Aquatuning NexXxoS XP3 @ Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 360mm - Triple Fan |
Corsair H100i - Dual Fan |
30
K |
57 °C |
700 rpm |
33.2 dBA |
CHF 122 (EUR 88) |
Corsair H100i |
Corsair H110 - Dual Fan |
30 K |
53 °C |
650 rpm |
32.1 dBA |
CHF 125 (EUR 104) |
Corsair H110 |
Cooler Master Eisberg 240L Prestige |
32 K |
56 °C |
800 rpm |
43.8 dBA |
CHF 186 (EUR 155) |
Cooler Master Eisberg 240L Prestige |
Raijintek EREBOSS - Dual Fan |
35 K |
55 °C |
800/800 rpm |
36.2 dBA |
CHF 42 (EUR 35) |
Raijintek EREBOSS |
Noctua NH-U14S - Dual Fan |
33 K |
64 °C |
1000/1000 rpm |
37.7 dBA |
CHF 82 (EUR 65) |
Noctua NH-U14S |
Corsair H90 - Dual Fan |
34 K |
58 °C |
650/650 rpm |
32.1 dBA |
CHF 96 (EUR 80) |
Corsair H90 |
Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E - Dual Fan |
34 K |
60 °C |
500/900 rpm |
35.0 dBA |
CHF 70 (EUR 58) |
Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E |
Phanteks PH-TC14PE - Triple Fan |
34 K |
63 °C |
750 rpm |
35.1 dBA |
CHF 124 (EUR 103) |
Phanteks PH-TC14PE |
Raijintek EREBOSS - Single Fan |
34 K |
54 °C |
800 rpm |
35.9 dBA |
CHF 42 (EUR 35) |
Raijintek EREBOSS |
Corsair H90 - Single Fan |
35 K |
59 °C |
650 rpm |
32.1 dBA |
CHF 96 (EUR 80) |
Corsair H90 |
Phanteks PH-TC14PE - Dual Fan |
35 K |
64 °C |
750 rpm |
34.9 dBA |
CHF 99 (EUR 83) |
Phanteks PH-TC14PE |
Prolimatech Megahalems Super Mega - Dual
Fan |
35 K |
62 °C |
800 rpm |
38.8 dBA |
CHF 126 (EUR 105) |
Prolimatech Megahalems Super Mega Dual Fan |
Noctua NH-U14S - Single Fan |
35 K |
65 °C |
1000 rpm |
37.3 dBA |
CHF 82 (EUR 65) |
Noctua NH-U14S |
Noctua NH-D14 - Single Fan |
36 K |
61 °C |
1000/900 rpm |
37.2 dBA |
CHF 114 (EUR 95) |
Noctua NH-D14 |
Raijintek THEMIS - Single Fan |
36 K |
58 °C |
1000 rpm |
38.0 dBA |
CHF 28 (EUR 23) |
Raijintek THEMIS |
Noctua NH-C14 - Dual Fan |
37 K |
59 °C |
800 rpm |
34.1 dBA |
CHF 91 (EUR 76) |
Noctua NH-C14 |
Cooler Master TPC 800 - Dual Fan |
37 K |
66 °C |
800 rpm |
34.2 dBA |
CHF 113 (EUR 94) |
Cooler Master TPC 800 |
BeQuiet! Shadow Rock 2 |
37 K |
61 °C |
800 rpm |
34.4 dBA |
CHF 47 (39 EUR ) |
BeQuiet! Shadow Rock 2 |
Cooler Master Seidon 120M - Dual Fan |
37 K |
61 °C |
1200/1200 rpm |
37.1 dBA |
CHF 75 (EUR 63) |
Cooler Master Seidon 120M |
Prolimatech Megahalems Megashadow -
Dual Fan |
37 K |
61 °C |
1000 rpm |
38.9 dBA |
CHF 79 (EUR 66) |
Prolimatech Megahalems Megashadow |
Enermax ELC240 - Dual Fan |
37 K |
62 °C |
1500 rpm |
37.0 dBA |
CHF 107 (EUR 89) |
Enermax ELC240 |
Prolimatech Armageddon - Dual Fan |
38 K |
61 °C |
650 rpm |
32.1 dBA |
CHF 70 (EUR 58) |
Prolimatech Armageddon |
Phanteks PH-TC14PE - Single Fan |
38 K |
67 °C |
750 rpm |
34.6 dBA |
CHF 99 (EUR 83) |
Phanteks PH-TC14PE |
SilverStone Heligon HE01 |
38 K |
64 °C |
1000 rpm |
34.7 dBA |
CHF 84 (EUR 70) |
SilverStone Heligon HE01 |
Gelid The Black Edition - Dual Fan |
38 K |
64 °C |
1100/1000 rpm |
34.8 dBA |
CHF 72 (EUR 59) |
Gelid The Black Edition |
Cooler Master Seidon 120M - Single Fan |
38 K |
62 °C |
1200 rpm |
36.7 dBA |
CHF 75 (EUR 63) |
Cooler Master Seidon 120M |
Prolimatech Megahalems Megashadow
- Single Fan |
39 K |
63 °C |
1000 rpm |
36.2 dBA |
CHF 79 (EUR 66) |
Prolimatech Megahalems Megashadow |
BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 |
40 K |
67 °C |
500/500 rpm |
33.3 dBA |
CHF 96 (EUR 80) |
BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 2 |
Raijintek AIDOS - Single Fan |
40 K |
64 °C |
1200 rpm |
38.5 dBA |
CHF 20 (EUR 17) |
Raijintek AIDOS |
Prolimatech Armageddon - Single Fan |
41 K |
64 °C |
650 rpm |
32.3 dBA |
CHF 88 (EUR 73) |
Prolimatech Armageddon |
Alpenföhn Gotthard - Single Fan |
41 K |
67 °C |
700 rpm |
35.5 dBA |
CHF 65 (EUR 54) |
Alpenföhn Gotthard |
Gelid GX-7 - Dual Fan |
42 K |
62 °C |
700 rpm |
34.0 dBA |
CHF 45 (EUR 38) |
Gelid GX-7 |
Noctua NH-C14 - Single Fan |
42 K |
64 °C |
800 rpm |
33.5 dBA |
CHF
91 (EUR 76) |
Noctua NH-C14 |
Corsair H5O - Dual Fan |
42 K |
64 °C |
900 rpm |
37.5 dBA |
CHF 133 (EUR 111) |
Corsair H5O |
Alpenföhn Nordwand - Dual Fan |
43 K |
67 °C |
700 rpm |
37.0 dBA |
CHF 103 (EUR 86) |
Alpenföhn Nordwand |
BeQuiet! Shadow Rock - Single Fan |
43 K |
66 °C |
800 rpm |
36.7 dBA |
CHF 63 (EUR 53) |
BeQuiet Shadow Rock |
Cooler Master Hyper 412S - Single Fan |
43 K |
69 °C |
800 rpm |
35.8 dBA |
CHF 57 (EUR 48) |
Cooler Master Hyper 412S |
BeQuiet! Dark Rock 2 - Single Fan |
44 K |
70 °C |
500 rpm |
32.9 dBA |
CHF 77 (EUR 64) |
BeQuiet! Dark Rock 2 |
Thermalright Macho 120 - Single Fan |
44 K |
70 °C |
700 rpm |
34.2 dBA |
CHF 38 (EUR 32) |
Thermalright Macho 120 |
Noctua NH-U12P - Dual Fan |
44 K |
68 °C |
1000 rpm |
38.0 dBA |
CHF 125 (EUR 104) |
Noctua NH-U12P |
Enermax ETS-T40-VD - Single Fan |
45 K |
66 °C |
650 rpm |
32.7 dBA |
CHF 43 (EUR 36) |
Enermax ETS-T40-VD |
Gelid GX-7 - Single-Fan |
45 K |
65 °C |
700 rpm |
33.5 dBA |
CHF 45 (EUR 38) |
Gelid GX-7 |
Noctua NH-U12P - Single Fan |
45 K |
69 °C |
1000 rpm |
37.4 dBA |
CHF 85 (EUR 71) |
Noctua NH-U12P |
Coolink Corator DS - Single Fan |
46 K |
68 °C |
800 rpm |
35.0 dBA |
CHF 45 (EUR 38) |
Coolink Corator DS |
Corsair H5O - Single Fan |
46 K |
68 °C |
900 rpm |
35.4 dBA |
CHF 113 (EUR 94) |
Corsair H5O |
Alpenföhn Nordwand - Single Fan |
48 K |
72 °C |
700 rpm |
36.4 dBA |
CHF 79 (EUR 66) |
Alpenföhn Nordwand |
Cooler Master Hyper 212Evo - Single-Fan |
52 K |
75 °C |
750 rpm |
35.3 dBA |
CHF 50 (EUR 40) |
Cooler Master Hyper
212S |
Thermalright AXP-100 |
57 K |
83 °C |
1200 rpm |
37.0 dBA |
CHF 48 (EUR 40) |
Thermalright AXP-100 |
Prolimatech Samuel 17 -Single Fan |
67 K |
96 °C |
800 rpm |
36.2 dBA |
CHF 49 (EUR 41) |
Prolimatech Samuel 17 |
[pagebreak]
Conclusion
General |
|
+ |
- |
With the
Shadow Rock 2, BeQuiet!
shows a cooler, that leaves us with mixed feelings. Especially the
mounting kit should be redesigned. Installing this cooler, when the
motherboard is already in the case, is virtually impossible. In terms of cooling capacity the Shadow Rock 2
ranks in the center span of our comparison tables. Overall price
performance is ok and what we really liked is the design as well as the
build quality. |
|
- Build
Quality
- Design |
-
Mounting kit |
|
|
|
|
Installation |
|
+ |
- |
The mounting-kit is the achilles heel of this cooler.
BeQuiet! should definitely rework this part of the Shadow Rock 2. Let's
assume somebody is going to buy this cooler to upgrade an existing
system. Even if he has a modern case, with a huge cut-out in the
motherboard tray, he won't be able to install the Shadow Rock 2 without
removing the motherboard from the case. But this is something that
should definitely be possible with aftermarket coolers. On the other
hand, we liked that this cooler is compatible with all recent sockets from Intel and AMD. |
|
- Compatible with Intel
and AMD sockets |
-
A pain |
|
|
|
|
Performance |
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During our
tests we used the fan, which is included in delivery. What you get is a 120
millimeter fan which is PWM driven. If you drive the fan at 7 Volt you can't hear
it anymore
and at 12 Volt it can be described as audible. The cooling capacity is ok, but
since this is quite a bulky and very heavy aircooler, we would have expected
more. |
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Recommendation |
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If you're looking for a well built CPU cooler, which looks nice
and comes with a decent price tag, then the Shadow Rock 2 is worth considering.
If you want a cooler, which is easy to install, then this is not the one.
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- Gamer |
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Author: Marc Büchel
m.buechel@ocaholic.ch