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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.
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 Gigabyte cooler has already shown how well it handles the core temperatures under load but we noticed it wasn't loud at all, even when running Furmark. We recorded a maximum of around 35.8dBA with our noise meter which is an excellent result.
That is a fantastic board. SLi scaling is impressive, always has been.
Good all round boards, but I keep wondering if it is just too little to late. rumours on the net say ATIs next solutions are out in a months time.
I love the 460, only card from nvidia ive rated in 2 years. 450 not so much.
SLI performance is strong. these cards overclock liike crazy
ermm dont these seem a bit expensive compared to 460s at 145-150 ?
the cheaper models are normally 768mb versions though, not worth picking up
I still think the HD5850 is a better buy. its faster and with AMD you get better drivers and support.
5850 is priced higher + not always faster card, thus not the best buy… yet…
I agree with Jordan – HD5850 is quite a bit more expensive still.
Unless you get a HD5850 on a sale deal, its costing more. and if you manually OC these 460s you get HD5850 performance anyway. thats the whole selling point from nvidia.
Nvidia re panicing tho. they know ATis new cards are coming soon. its a reduced sale to sell as many cards as possible before everyone goes back to ATi.
everyone needs to stop calling them ATI 😉 that name is no more. unfortunately
lol yeah, i dont think anyone cares about the name change
AMD better pull their socks up some and get their new cards to market since the GTX 460’s in SLI are so close to 5870 in Crossfire for half the price