be quiet! Pure Rock LP CPU Cooler Review

A Closer Look

The be quiet! Pure Rock LP is undoubtedly one of the smallest and most compact CPU coolers I have ever reviewed here at eTeknix. – As noted earlier, it sits at only 45mm tall and 92mm across meaning that in terms of case compatibility, this offers a near-total solution in terms of functionality and compatibility.

Aesthetically, however, be quiet! has still done an excellent job of making the Pure Rock LP visually appealing.

With its sleek black design with well-placed branding, the be quiet! Pure Rock LP genuinely looks fantastic and would suit practically any kind of system build or design. Before we get into actually testing this CPU cooler, however, let’s take a closer look at some of the individual components that go into the overall finished product.

Contact Plate

The be quiet! Pure Rock LP features a fantastically large and highly polished copper contact plate. As noted earlier in the review, this does come with thermal compound pre-applied, but we remove this as per our testing methodology. – As you can see below though, the build quality of this component is truly excellent which should, all going well, result in some excellent levels of heat transfer and dissipation from the processor.

Radiator

Out of the box, the fan comes pre-attached to the radiator and, in truth, beyond having a closer look, there isn’t really much need for the user to unscrew this. Well, except perhaps if you needed to re-orientate which way the fan cable goes, but for 98% of people, I daresay that this isn’t going to be a problem.

Is the fan hiding anything untoward though? Well, the short answer is no. The radiator looks to be an exceptionally high-quality design with masses of fins which are both strong and well-spaced. Despite not having much room to work with here, the radiator on the be quiet! Pure Rock LP seems to be making the best use of what it does have!

Fan

The be quiet! Pure Rock LP comes with a single 92mm cooling fan. The exterior bezel is only around 15mm tall making it exceptionally well-suited to the overall slim nature of the design and a solid accompaniment to the radiator.

Operating at speeds of up to 2,500rpm, this does clearly raise a question as to whether this is going to be a busy little fan which, by proxy, may result in higher-than-expected noise levels. – Given that this is a be quiet! product, however, we sincerely doubt that this is going to be the case.

Overall

On the whole, despite its small stature, the be quiet! Pure Rock LP certainly seems to represent itself as a potent cooling solution within a genuinely low-profile package. Everything within the admittedly minimalist design looks produced to the highest of standards, which, all going well, will be translated in our upcoming testing.

Before we get onto testing, however, I think it would be fair to say that be quiet! has something of a mixed reputation of difficulty/challenge when it comes to its CPU coolers. Put simply, is the Pure Rock LP actually easy to live and work with? Well, let’s find out!