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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 closed 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 MSI card is very quiet generally, only becoming audible when pushed hard with the latest version of Furmark. When gaming, the fan system only emits around 32.8dBa of noise. When using the silent fan profile, noise is reduced by around 1.8 dBa when under Furmark load.
Their coolers are really very good, we get a very low return rate on these cards.
Good deal on OCUk for that card. especially with two free, and very tasty games.
The big question is, with AMD about to release a new range of cards (well in a few months at least), is anyone opting for one of these now?
Really good looking card as usual from MSI. I never see them listed in many sites. Do scan even stock them?
I have one of these and its very good. I have problems with overclocking it however and I had hoped you might do better. mine is limited to 910mhz and it crashes 🙁
Quite a sexy card. Can’t wait until MSI will realease TwinFrozr III as retail cooler.
A very good and complete review. Just one question. Due to a discusion on the dutch site hardware.info it became clear that using the latest version of the drivers has a significant effect on the results. I would like to know if the results of the other cards as used in your graphs are also obtained using the same driver versions. If these are older results with older drivers then it might be a good idea to mention the driver version / date with the different test scores for the different cards.
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