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We take the issue of noise very seriously at KitGuru and this is why we have built a special home brew system as a reference point when we test noise levels of various components.
Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on components we are testing. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635.
As this can be a little confusing for people, here are various dBa ratings in with real world situations to help describe the various levels.
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
Noise was measured from half a meter away with two 2TB drives installed.
Considering the RS411 is using three tiny 40mm fans, the noise levels are very respectable indeed. You can hear them in a very quiet room, but a rack mounted system is designed to be set up in a specialist IT targeted environment, away from workers and general employees.
With two Samsung 2TB drives installed, the system only takes 21 watts at idle and 45 watts under load. When fully populated and active we would expect the load figure to rise to around 55 watts.
Time to test the cooling system. Our room ambient temperatures are 23c which is a reasonable temperature for an air conditioned environment.
The drives remained between 1c and 4c above ambient and the average figures are recorded above. Great results from the Synology RS411.
