Be Quiet! Goes top-down with this
low-profile CPU cooler
Despite having an enviable reputation, Be
Quiet! hasn’t branched out into liquid cooling, like Zalman or Cooler Master,
and its coolers have previously fitted firmly in the premium tower cooler
category. However, the company has just released the Shadow Rock Top Flow SR1
which, at less than 13cm tall, is short enough to fit into most HTPC cases.
Be
Quiet! Shadow Rock Top Flow SR1
The large aluminium heatsink is bent
parallel to your motherboard, with a large 135mm Shadow Wings PWM-controlled
fan mounted blowing down onto your motherboard. This should provide excellent
cooling for your motherboard too, although the exhaust air is likely to be
dumped in all directions in your case, rather than directed towards the rear
exhaust fan. Meanwhile, the heatsink uses four 8mm heatpipes to transfer the
heat from the nickel-plated copper contact plate.
The box states compatibility with the usual
CPU sockets except LGA2011; the website says the cooler is LGA2011-ready, but
our sample didn’t include the necessary fittings. This is probably just as
well, as its only rated to a TDP of up to 160W - we’ve generally found larger
coolers are the best option when dealing with LGA2011 systems.
However,
the company has just released the Shadow Rock Top Flow SR1 which, at less than
13cm tall, is short enough to fit into most HTPC cases.
Installation is typically fiddly, as we’ve
found with other Be Quiet! coolers. We’ve developed a knack now though; place
the cooler upside down on a desk, lay the motherboard on top and secure the
four mounting screws through the backplate to the brackets on the cooler. For
your own sanity, it’s best to remove your motherboard to install it; once we’d
done this, there was plenty of clearance for tall DIMMs too.
The Shadow Rock Top Flow SR1 recorded a
delta T of 43°C, which is equal to the venerable Dark Rock Advanced and only
2°C warmer than the Corsair H80 on its lowest fan speed setting. Compared to
the Intel reference cooler, the Shadow Rock Top Flow SR1 was in a different
league entirely, bettering it by a massive 30°C. Meanwhile, in our AMD Socket
AM3+ test system, its delta T of 55°C was a fair way off the better coolers but
still superior to the Corsair H80 on its lowest fan speed setting. Noise-wise,
the Shadow Rock Top Flow SR1 was far from being as quiet as its tower siblings,
though, making a noticeable thrum in both test systems.
Installation
is typically fiddly, as we’ve found with other Be Quiet! coolers.
Conclusion
The Shadow Rock Top Flow SR1 performed well
given its skinny heatsink and four heat pipes. It’s quieter and cools better
than the Intel LGA1155 reference cooler. The only downside, apart from fiddly
installation, is its noise, especially as the typical home for a premium
low-profile cooler is in an HTPC, but at least there’s plenty of cooling
headroom for a fan controller.
