be quiet! Pure Rock LP CPU Cooler Review

Installation

Being a low-profile CPU cooler, you typically wouldn’t expect an overly complex installation methodology. With that being said, be quiet! does have something of a reputation in this regard. – Starting with the manual, however, things certainly get off to an encouraging start with there being only four steps necessary to install the Pure Rock LP. These come with nice diagrams and written instructions making the understanding of the process pretty straightforward.

If you are, however, struggling to understand how to fit this CPU cooler, be quiet! has you covered as their official website has an instructional video showcasing the installation across both Intel and AMD sockets. – With that being said, however, just how easy (or hard) is this system?…

Mounting

Getting things off to a bad start is the itemisation on the packaging. The bag below would seem to indicate that this only contains the parts necessary for the Intel 17XX and 18XX sockets (even despite the fact that there isn’t an Intel 18XX socket yet – Meteor Lake isn’t expected until 2024). – Despite this, however, this bag actually contains some highly critical parts for pretty much all socket types.

This labelling did make me worry, for a moment, that some key parts were missing. Fortunately, though, you do get everything you need to fit this (sans a screwdriver), but this does create some completely unnecessary levels of confusion.

And what about the methodology? Well, once again, be quiet! has chosen a system that works, but seems ultimately unnecessarily complicated. There’s some delicate work here that even includes the apparent need for a wrench (supplied in the accessories). – Sometimes I can’t help but feel that someone somewhere at be quiet! is getting paid huge amounts of money to come up with installation methodologies and in the absence of being able to think of anything better than current proven designs, just decides to think completely out of the box for something that works, but is unnecessarily fiddly!

The key point of issue I take with the Pure Rock LP is that while it is mostly easy to install, this is pretty much entirely restricted to when you’re dealing with a loose motherboard. If it’s already installed in the case then this methodology makes the process notably more difficult. And especially so if you plan to utilise that existing thermal compound that comes pre-installed.

Overall Thoughts

In truth, the be quiet! Pure Rock LP certainly has a better (and less complicated) installation methodology than a lot of their prior CPU cooler designs. – With that being said, however, they still contrive to find a way to make it seem way more complicated (or confusing) than it really needs to be.

As noted above, ignoring that really confusing labelling on the parts packaging, if you’re fitting this direct to your motherboard prior to it going in the case, easy peasy. If not, however, then you may legitimately require an extra pair of hands to hold it in place while you attach the rear screws.

This isn’t impossible by any stretch, but again be quiet! you do seem to want to make things tougher than they really need to be!