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We have built a system inside a Lian Li chassis with no case fans and have used a fanless cooler on our CPU. The motherboard is also passively cooled. This gives us a build with almost completely passive cooling and it means we can measure noise of just the graphics card inside the system when we run looped 3dMark tests.
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. Ambient noise in the room measures close to the limits of our sound meter at 28dBa. 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 Refrigerator
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 twin fans are quiet under load, registering around 34dBa when gaming. We could not notice any coil whine from the card, even when deliberately exacerbated under synthetic conditions.
So, when choosing a 380X, would it really matter whether I take the Radeon NITRO or Powercolor? (Asus is so much more expensive, that it’s not worth considering)
As much as I am an AMD fan I don’t think these offer good value considering you can get a 970 for £235 or a 390 for £250.
Why not a 980 while you’re at it 😀 I don’t need a 970 with my gaming, but the 960 is not enough. Until that time that Nvidia makes a 960Ti, I’ll be considering a 380X. I can use that 35-50 for other fun things, such as games 😉
Not really Lucas — both NITRO and this Powercolor card are excellent, just minor differences between them.
At £195 this is nice, however just because 960’s are still so inflated, it shouldn’t be the counterbalance as to why this price is like it is.
Actually when up against some “Uber 960” like the Palit GTX960 2Gb Super Jetstream that’s £176, or this 380X Myst Edition “4GB” for 11% more I call it the winner! Given it provides a person who might consider upgrading to 1440p at some time (5-8 months) before the next generation cards, for now it’s the better value.
While you might consider a 390/970… in the case of a 970 those are starting £260, adding 32% is a big jump and rightfully so, but if just 1080p now and thinking a panel upgrade, a 3.5+.5Gb might seem a little dull once you have a 1440p. Especially with next gen-cards coming in right in such a time-frame. Even a 390 8Gb at £250 and only 1080p it’s a hard sell, I’d pocket the 30-32% now and see where it takes you if and when you have that new panel.
The 390 is actually cheaper here in the states, and that fact the the 390 edges out the 970 in most 1080p benchmarks and pretty much all 1440p benchmarks, the 390 is probably the best price:performance card in the American market. Currently you can get one for $279 or £184.…wow, you guys pay a lot more in Britain
What is this Pallit 970 that I’ve ONLY seen in Kitguru’s benchmarks? And why is it beating the 390 when in 99% of every other 390 benchmarks I’ve seen, the 390 is beating the 970 stock and with an overclocking? I’m just curious as to where Kitguru obtained the one 970 in the world that’s faster than every other 970 in every other professional review in the world?
It all depends on the clock speeds, that is what is relevant – the GTX970 we use isn’t a reference card. all the clock speeds are listed. Same as the R9 390 – it will beat a R9 390X when you manually overclock it.