Our acoustic measurements are less precise on this mid-range test system, the noise floor of the totally quiet testing room is 34 dBA as measured with a Benetech GM1351 Digital Sound Level Meter.
We take our measurements with the decibel meter on the top and middle section of the case, overhanging the side panel (PSU side, not Motherboard tray side) by exactly 1 inch to avoid any airflow pressure coming from the exhausting H100i V2.
The underlying noise level of the system, emitted by all the non-GPU hardware combined, is 35 dBa thus anything above this level can be attributed to the graphics cards. The PSU is passive for the entire power output range we tested all graphics cards in and all CPU and System fans have a fixed fan speed completely isolating them from any changes in temperature across the system.
Noise levels were measured after 5 minutes of load under three scenario: Furmark, Unigine Heaven and desktop idle in sequential order with 2 minutes downtime in between each test.
Noise levels were a little disappointing. There was only a slight discernible improvement in noise levels compared to the Founder's Edition, caused by a different pitch, but the total noise pressure output (dBA) was identical.
Fan speeds were as follows: 39% at idle (1300~ RPM) and 68% under sustained load (2250 RPM). The lack of a semi-passive fan mode means that the fans do not turn off at idle, resulting in slightly more idle noise but lower temperatures as a result.
OMG now GPU cards must have RGB. LOL.
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