Heatsinks come in a variety of shapes and sizes and while you may think that heatsink design is universal across the globe that isn't always the case. Generally speaking the American market is often more concerned with heatsink performance whereas in Europe there is an overriding drive to make things as silent as possible. Can a silent heatsink make noise in the performance arena? Let's find out.

In this review we will be looking at the bequiet! Dark Rock 2. This is a performance cooling solution that is designed to bridge the gap between a silent cooling and the inherent performance issues associated with silent cooling systems. The Dark Rock 2 is a tower style heatsink constructed from 6mm heatpipes, 44 thick aluminum cooling fins and fully machined copper baseplate. Everything is coated in dark nickel plate for style and protection.