Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsX99 + 6900K + 8 sticks of RAM = Works!
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2017
You can find plenty of amazing reviews on this cooler but a lack of information installing on my particular setup. I rolled the dice and it worked out. I am using an Asus X99 Deluxe II with all 8 ram slots full of Crucial Ballistix Sport. These are low profile and ended up having a tiny bit of breathing room once the Dark Rock Pro 3 250W was installed. You might be able to install slightly taller sticks but I wouldn't count on it. This is mainly because the area around the socket on this board is pretty crowded. Multiple heat sinks, vertical CMOS battery, vertical NVMe (though removable), the RAM sockets themselves, and even the shroud around the read IO all got in the way. Ideally you install this with the board out of your case, however I was able to squeeze my long slender hands in to install in place. Install as suggested in the manual, but first remove all RAM and the outer cooler fan. Now you can squeeze your hands in to hand tighten the nuts and follow up with the little wrench. Then you can reinstall your RAM working from the CPU outward and finally re-attach the cooler's outer fan.
As for performance, it cools a 6900K overclocked to 4.0Ghz very well. Idle is 25C and prolonged stress 70C with an ambient room temp at 20C. Given my workload is 30s of stress followed by minutes of rest I am considering pushing even further as these bursts rise to mid 50s and fall quickly back to idle temps. The Dark Rock Pro 3 250W TDP suits my needs way better than the Corsair AIO it replaced. It handles the short bursts followed by rest better and more quietly, cooling it more quickly. I imagine the liquid wasn't cooling fast enough during the downtime remaining a good 10C warmer than it needed to be. Its also very possible my unit was dying, reducing its cooling capacity.
Looks wise, I do prefer the AIO, but this massive cooler has a good look to it, almost like looking under the hood of a fine automobile. The outermost plate, fin stack, and fans are all dark. If your case has some light and a side window it actually adds a nice beefy, mechanical, complex, and shadowy look.
