Bulky CPU coolers sometimes have a tendency to encroach on territory occupied by neighboring RAM, especially when your memory fills every available DIMM slot, including the ones that are nestled closest to the CPU socket. Depending on the size of your RAM—specifically, your RAM’s heatsink—this can be a problem. The solution? Either downsize your RAM or install a different cooler. Be Quiet has a new air cooler that falls into the latter category.
The company’s new Dark Rock Slim, as the model name plainly states, is a slim cooler that shouldn’t have any trouble wedging between both sets of DIMM slots. I say “shouldn’t” because I have not spent any hands on time with it, but it seems pretty clear from the photo above that this cooler doesn’t have a potbelly to worry about.
It also offers “high physical clearance for any memory module,” Be Quiet says. There are some pretty big RAM kits out there, but if Be Quiet’s claim is true, the Dark Rock Slim will not have trouble coexisting with any of them.
The cooler is compatible with both AMD and Intel processors based on any relatively modern socket: LGA 1150, 1151, 1155, 1156, 1366, 2011-v3, and 2066 for Intel, and AM2(+), AM3(+), AM4, FM1, and FM2(+) for AMD.
As with most air coolers, the Dark Rock Slim consists of a finned aluminum block connected to a copper base by way of heatpipes. There are four heatpipes in this case, and it comes with a Silent Wings 3 120mm PWM fan that is rated to only hit 23.6 dB at full throttle. That’s about the noise level of a whisper (PDF).
Be Quiet says the Dark Rock Slim will be available on May 14 for $59.90 (£54.99).