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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. 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.
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
When idle, the fans spin around 1,110rpm generating very little noise at all.
At the reference speed setting, the fans spin at around 2,300 rpm when gaming, peaking at 2,600rpm under Furmark load (57%). The noise levels are noticeable although never intrusive.
When ‘lethal boost' is enabled, the fans spin higher to compensate for rising temperatures. When gaming the fans spin at 2,900 rpm and they rise to 3,300 rpm (78%) when under the synthetic Furmark load. The noise levels increase noticeably and can be heard above several quality case fans. We didn't find the pitch of the fans to be uncomfortable long term.
Both settings are significantly quieter than the reference HD7970 GHZ Edition we have here. Two fans are certainly better than one, especially when attached to a monster cooling solution.
wozzers,. off to read now
thats incredible. only skimmed over it, will read more later. quad crossfire anyone? 🙂
Well im not easily impressed but this has hit the spot. When will it be available in stores? might sell my laptop to try and snap one up before they sell out.
By the way What has happened to XFX this year? they seem to have completely dropped off the radar.
now thats what I call a video card. I can only dream.
I only need another 2 screens, a new computer and this card now to make my gaming life complete!
Will be interesting to see the price if this hits retail in the big UK stores. i reckon it will be closer to £600. 6GB of GDDR5 is costly and some of the lower spec 7970s are already just over £500.
What is the recommended power supply for this and a system? 850W? 750W?
engineered to the limit. Its almost like the Asus Mars and Ares, but half the price 🙂
Will Sapphire genuinely make man y of these? seems like an engineering showcase. Still, its friggin impressive to see a company putting so much effort into something so incredible.
AMD must be pleased to see this. their reference cards are pants.
I prefer nvidia cards, but I wish to god Sapphire would join the green ranks. I can only imagine what they would come up with.
Im still waiting on a modified GTX690 with three fan cooler overclocked to the hilt. Not to buy, just to read about.
I dont see anywhere in the review when it says they will only make a few of them, where is everyone saying they will make this limited edition?
Thats a good cooler on the card, wonder if they would have had more success going three fan, but 80mm each, spinning them slower but producing more airflow. It also looks like the cooler could handle 120mm fans. so x2 of them would have rocked even more.
I dont know why people r complaining about the price. GTX690 is £1,000. Two of these might only be a little more with much more performance.
Good job Sapphire @thumbs up
thought id follow up after I had a spare half hour to read this in depth.
That is one of the best video cards ive seen. Great to see this as everything in the graphics card world has been pretty boring lately.
I just messed up my keyboard reading this. time to order a new razer blackwidow.
WTF, This what im looking for….
Awesome GPU….
hmm, I wonder if the Intel have like this…
Any review about the Intel’s latest GPU’s?
This card looks fantastic and I’m glad to see such a powerful offering from AMD. It’s hard to agree that this is a good card for Eyefinity simply because Sapphire neglected to offer three of the same output. Even with adapters we will still have to deal with the notorious single/double tear due to mixed outputs being used with three monitors.
Gracias for inspiring me to go look up my own legwork.
Yours was way more detailed than mine.