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Recently we have changed our method of measuring noise levels. For most reviews we have built a system inside a Lian Li chassis with no case fans and have used a fanless cooler on our CPU. We are using a heatpipe based passive power supply and an Intel SSD to keep noise levels to a minimum. The motherboard is passively cooled and we use a Sapphire HD5670 Ultimate Edition graphics card which is also passively cooled. Ambient noise in the room is kept as low as possible. We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the chassis and 4 foot from the ground to mirror a real world situation.
Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on only the components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.
We normally use air conditioning which generates noise levels around 21dBa. We disabled air conditioning to lower ambient noise to 16.2dBa.
We use a SkyTronic DSL 2 Digital Sound Level Meter (6-130dBa) from a distance of 1 meter.
KitGuru noise guide
10dBA – Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves
20-25dBA – Whisper
30dBA – High Quality Computer fan
40dBA – A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA – Normal Conversation
60dBA – Laughter
70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA – City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA – Motorcycle or Lawnmower
100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output
110dBA – Orchestra
120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine
130dBA – Threshold of Pain
140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range)
160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum
The Vantage proves to deliver a very modest set of noise figures considering the limited radiator size. It is programmed to deliver idle temperatures between 28-30 c and when in performance mode it is noticeable, but not intrusive. When under full load and trying to cool a 6 core Intel Cpu at 4.5ghz however it becomes audible. That said, there are not many occasions, even during gaming when a 6 core processor is fully loaded so the noise levels at extreme settings are normally only apparent when running Prime or Cinebench.
