Installation

When installing the be quiet! Dark Rock TF, start by positioning the backplate on the motherboard and dropping the four backplate screws through their holes. Once done, use the black plastic C-clips to hold the screws in place, before screwing the threaded posts onto the backplate screws. This will create the platform the mounting arms will anchor to.


After applying some thermal paste, prepare the heatsink for mounting by attaching the proper mounting arms to its base. Now, place the cooler on top of the CPU by lining up the four posts and the four holes on the mounting arms. With that done, place the nuts on top of their mounting arms and turn them a few times. The last steps would be to use the included wrench to hold them in place properly, before using a screwdriver from behind to tighten them up. If this all sounds fiddly, well, it is.


All that's left is to attach the fans to the heatsink before plugging them into the motherboard's fan headers.

The installation procedure for the Dark Rock TF leaves a lot to be desired. I would rate the process a 7 on a scale of 1 (hardest) to 10 (easiest). While not hard by any means with the motherboard outside of a case, it will prove a bit more painful when a system is already built. Needless to say, be quiet! really needs to come up with a better mounting system as this is one area where they are being left behind by the competition.