be quiet! Dark Rock TF 2 CPU Cooler Review

We highlight VRM temperatures when using each cooler on our Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master motherboard with the overclocked Ryzen 9 5950X. Do note that the results are heavily influenced by the specific layout of the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master test motherboard with respect to top-side or rear IO-side VRM components. Your findings may vary if you have a different motherboard VRM layout and heatsink design.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given that the cooler and power delivery solution were tasked with an extra 10W of power delivery to the CPU, VRM temperature results are not particularly impressive from the Dark Rock TF 2 either.

Down-draft cooling should deliver a strong benefit for VRM temperatures. But modern motherboards are so well designed to utilise incidental airflow from a tower-style CPU cooler that the down-draft orientation benefits are somewhat mitigated by default on our Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master motherboard.

That point is particularly true when air carrying around 190W of waste heat is forced against the motherboard PCB and VRM area; the cooling proficiency is already significantly impaired at that stage.

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