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Recently we have changed our method of measuring noise levels. 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 also passively cooled. This gives us a build with completely passive cooling and it means we can measure noise of just the graphics card inside the system when we run looped 3dMark tests. Ambient noise in the room is around 20-25dBa. 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 video card. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.
We load the card with FurMark.
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 Powercolor HD6970 PCS+ cooler is extremely quiet, hardly noticeable, even under load situations. It is worth pointing out that when gaming it generally registers around 32 dBa. The figures in the graph above are a worst case scenario, achieved with Furmark.
Some very nice hardware this week Zardon. thanks man.
Great pictures of the board, great looking card that, very hefty
I always like their PCS+ cards, but I never know what their UK warranty is like, so I buy sapphire everytime.
That is fucking killer looking ! those heatpipes are wicked. Are yoyotech going to stock it?
Dual fans always works for me, better coverage and slower speeds. makes sense to everyone.
Apart from AMD.
As much as I love Sapphire and XFX, I think PC get ignored a lot and its not really fair, some of their designs are just as radical as sapphire. I think this card is brilliant, those noise levels are class leading
The cooler is awesome, really works well. I think their balance might be a bit in favour of noise though, but I suppose you could set up a manual profile for a little more noise for slightly lower temps
Its all good. apart from the free game. seriously, its over a year old now, can none of these manufacturers clear stock? how about Dead space 2 or something people really want?
WHats the price? dont see it anywhere 🙁
I dont think its out yet man. probably £20-30 more, as usual. worth it. I might sell my 6850 cf setup and get one of these, to lower the noise levels, as my system is quite bad atm
Seems its quite near the core limit. wonder why they went with such a relaxed memory timing, clearly that hynix is way capable of more. that OC was very good indeed.
Hmmm, looking at the cooler taken out from the video card. I am wondering what is cooling the memory chips and other components?
@rickshaw – the dual fans are. Clearly indicated by the huge oc potential on the memory.
Nice~~~ Powercolor has done it again, cant wait to get one of those
Wow, just wow, ultra heavy wow! After my comment on the PCS+ 6870, this was exactly what I was expecting, and that’s why I asked you to ask them for a sample to review.
I’m going to buy it right now. Enough said!