PC Gamer - UK (2022-01)

Dark Rock TF 2

BE QUIET! £ 80

Cooling for your whole system

Keeping your CPUcool

is vital,but so is overall

system cooling. A cooler

like the Be Quiet Dark Rock TF 2

blows air downwards,which helps

to keephot running M.2drives,

and yourvital motherboardVRM,

running cool. This is something

that can often be overlooked in

AIO cooledsystemsthat lack

good airflow over the

motherboard,particularly if you

have a GPUheating up everything

around it. The Dark Rock TF2

performs much likeother single

tower air coolers, and though it’s

on the pricey side, it’s not

unreasonably sogiven the

inclusion oftwo high-qualityfans.

Its ability tomount a fan above or

below theheatsink (orboth)adds

a lot of installation flexibility. You

can use it in all kinds of systems

from powerful gaming PCs

through tocompact SFF systems.

In the BeQuiet tradition, the

Dark Rock TF 2 is very quiet,

particularly underlow loads and

with a rating of up to 230W,it can

handle all modern CPUs, though

overclocking will be beyond it.

SPECS SOCKET SUPPORT: INTEL LGA 1150 , 1151, 1155 , 1200, 2011 , 2011-3, 206 6, AMD AM3 & AM4 COMPATIBLE / FANS: 1X

SILENT WINGS 3 135MM, 1X SILENT WINGS 135 MM / FAN SPEEDS: UP TO 14 00 RPM / DIMENSIONS (L X W X H): 163 MM X

140 MM X 1 34 M / NOISE LEVEL: MAX 27 .1 DB(A)

6

WHATCPU SOCKETS

DO AIR COOLERS

WORK WITH?

Not all coolers support all CPU

sockets.Coolingfor AMD

Threadripper CPUs canbe tricky,

for example, as the sheer sizeof

these chipsmean you’ll want

proper coveragefor optimum

cooling. Similarly, Intel 12th Gen

LGA 1700 compatibility is now a

topic of discussion, so pay close

attention to thelist of supported

socketsif you’re investingin one

of those. Stock from earlier in

2021 will definitely lack support,

but youmay be able tofind a

compatibilitykit.

When it comes toAMD Ryzen

desktop CPU support, things get

a little easier. Aside from the

aforementioned Threadripper

chips, all other Ryzen CPUs use

the sameAM4 socket. That

means thatany CPU cooler that

lists AM4 supportis goodright

the way upto the current Ryzen

5000-series CPUs.

C 7

CRYORIG £ 30

A great choice for a truly tiny system

The Cryorig C7 has
been on the market for
some time, but it’sbeen
updated to support newer
sockets. It’sperfect for a truly
compact small form factor
system thanks to its 47mm height
and adherence to ‘keep-out’
zones, where it will not interferein
any way with other system
components.
The C7 destroys the stock
Intel cooler. It’sratedfor up to
100W but is better suited to 65W
class CPUs.This leaves it a bit of
headroom for Turbo bursts. If
you’re overclocking, orusing a
high core-count processor, you

can giveit a pass, butthat’sto be

expected. With the rightCPU it

will stay surprisingly quiet for its

compact size. Itstop flow design

will help to coolthe VRM and M. 2

SSD, too, something that can be

neglected in compact systems.

The Cryorig C7 is a niche

cooler, but for the tiniest builds,

the C7 does an admirable job. If

you want a little bit of extra TDP

headroom, there arecopper and

graphene coated versions, too.

SPECS SOCKET SUPPORT: INTEL 12 00, 1150 , 1151, 1155 , 1156, AMD AM4, AM3, AM2, FM2 & FM1 COMPATIBLE / FANS: 1X
92MM QUAD AIR INLET / FAN SPEEDS: 600-2500 RPM / DIMENSIONS (L X W X H): 97 MM X 97 MM X 47 MM / NOISE
LEVEL: MAX 30 DB(A)

5

Truly tiny size

Cools well considering its size

Quiet lowload operation

VERDICT

Downward blowing for more cooling

Quiet operation

Good build quality

VERDICT

5 6

Group Test

HARDWARE

4