Following on from our stock thermal and acoustic testing, here we re-test the operating temperature of the GPU, but with noise levels normalised to 40dBa. This allows us to measure the efficiency of the overall cooling solution as varying noise levels as a result of more aggressive fan curves are no longer a factor.
With stock noise levels hitting 38dBa, there is some room to increase fan speed when noise-normalising, therefore reducing temperatures. In this case, we had to increase fan speed to 54%, or 1850rpm. That reduced both the edge temperature and the hot spot by 4C, which isn't much but it's better than nothing. We will see how custom cards from the likes of Sapphire and Gigabyte will compare in the coming weeks.