TechRadar Verdict

Pros

+
Twin 120mm fans
+
7 heat pipes
+
Fairly quiet

Cons

-
Not the lowest temperatures
-
A bit pricey

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Be Quiet's Dark Rock Pro C1 is a well put together twin stack cooler with a huge cooling area. Designed with each stack comprising 44 nickel-plated aluminium cooling fins, this is a serious chip chiller.

The cooler uses seven 6mm heatpipes that run from the nickel-plated copper base plate and right through the two cooling stacks.

Sitting between each stack is one of the two 120mm SilentWing Be Quiet PWM fans used for cooling. Be Quiet claims they produce 57.2 CFM of air each and together only generate a quoted noise level of 25.9dB(A) at 1,700rpm – the fastest the fans spin.

Both fans run off a single four-pin PWM motherboard connector and each is already fastened in place with tensioned wire mounts.

Size matters

As a result of its sheer size, this is another CPU cooler that makes the first memory slot and even the second one a bit tricky to occupy. Certainly, using modules with tall heatsinks is out, but standard sized modules should be okay.

The Pro C1 doesn't seem to cool as well as it should. In our tests it couldn't beat Scythe's Yasya for cooling, and the Yasya only uses a single 120mm fan. Although it's still a big cooler, it's somewhat smaller than Be Quiet's monster.

You do get a nagging feeling that the Dark Rock Pro C1 should be doing better than it does.

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