Despite the length of the range, the Dângrêk are a relatively low mountain system, the average elevation of the summits being around 500 m. The highest peak is Phu Khi Suk (Thai: ภูขี้สุข), an inconspicuous 753 metres at the eastern end, in the Chong Bok (603 m) area, where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia intersect.

A small administrative division of Thailand in Surin Province, Phanom Dong Rak District, bears the name of this mountain range.

There has been much illegal logging both on the Thai as well as on the Cambodian side, leaving large hill stretches denuded, vulnerable tree species such as Dalbergia cochinchinensis have also been affected.

The Dângrêk Mountains were part of the ancient Khmer Empire, which spread northwards across them, culminating with the almost complete control of the Isan area in 1220 under Jayavarman VII.

[9] Among the archaeological remains in the mountain area there are stone carvings on the Pha Mo I-Daeng cliff, ancient stone-cutting quarries, as well as the Sa Trao reservoir.

However, the largest and most important archaeological site in these mountains is the Prasat Preah Vihear compound, a Shaivite temple of the Khmer imperial times dated from the reign of Suryavarman I[10]: 96  in a dramatic location on top of a high hill.

In one of the worst cases of enforced repatriation in UN history, the Thai military forcefully sent as many as 40,000 refugees back into Cambodia often through heavily mined areas despite their unwillingness to return.

[13][14] In the 1984 movie The Killing Fields, the Dângrêk Mountains are the final escarpment that Pran, portrayed by actor Haing S. Ngor, climbs in order to reach the safety of the refugee camp across the border in Thailand.

Anlong Veng became the final resting place of the Cambodian dictator Pol Pot (Saloth Sar) where it was used for the Khmer Rouge to rebuild their former bases on 18 February 1994.

There is still an unexcavated site in a forest with landmines in the Dângrêk Mountains, about 6 km north of Anlong Veng where 3,000 people were allegedly killed by the Khmer Rouge for having become "corrupted" as late as between 1993 and 1997.

[citation needed] In mid-2011, three districts of Surin Province in the Dângrêk Range were declared "disaster zones" following border clashes between the Thai and the Cambodian military.