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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
Emitted noise falls in line with the other AMD reference cards we have tested in the past.
Well this is rather disappointing, especially after that sexy powercolor card you reviewed last week. I hadnt forgotten about it !
£20 for a 20mhz core increase and a bit of an OC on the memory? I can do that myself with CCC and spend that £20 on some drinks :p
Good cards, but I agree, this isn’t really hitting the spot for me, seems a bit cheeky really as its a complete reference design.
This is a nice card, all 6970s are nice ! powercolor card has me spoiled, that was awesome.
Fair score, I was thinking it might be a 7, but the hardware is that good that would be unfair. any higher than 8 is overly generous, as the powercolor one tested here last week is miles ahead and deserves the gold award.
Man, bad time for HIS to release this, after the powercolor PCS+, MSI HAWK, Sapphire Flex and the Asus GTX580 direct CU ! what awesome boards in the last week.
Yeah, dont really think this is such a good deal. id rather get a reference card for £20 less, and oc it myself.
I just bought a 6970 myself, picked it up for £260 and have overclocked it to 960mhz, faster than this HIS, and £40 less 🙂
yeah, im feeling smug, so what :p
Good review, thanks for the testing. ill give this one a miss and get their reference model, as our local store is selling it for £270 inc vat.
I dont mind HIS, good products with some of their range. This one however is a miss for me, because I dont think companies should get away with selling bios adjusted cards for £20 more. there is no extra work, and a ‘turbo’ sticker doesnt cost anything extra.
every HD6970 ever made hits 920mhz, so there is no hand selection going on here Zardon, that was a rather optimistic closing comment from you.
Waste of money, I can modified bioses myself and I dont have to pay £20 for the priveledge.
Good card, but its nothing out of the ordinary. Not sure they will sell many of these when there are alternatives offering better specifications and coolers etc.
very disappointing for a HIS release. Sad that they couldn’t put IceQ X on it. 6870 with IceQ is my dream card for now:)