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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
Thanks to the Vapor X cooler, the card remains quiet when gaming, although it is audible. When placed in ‘boost' mode, the fan noise increases a little under load.
THe price is pretty good, but some of the GTX580s have dropped in price recently too, £380 ish. Nice to see them working out a deal for BF3.
Is battlefield 3 any good? havent played it yet.
Cant see it anywhere for sale yet. is this a preorder on any store im missing?
Love the vapor X cooler, got one on my GFX too 🙂
If you were buying one today, would you get this or the twin fan XFX ?
Battlefield is £30 for PC. This is a very good price.
Nice, good temps and cooler
No one is stocking it, or evenon preorder
I like sapphire cards, i want their 6990 but cant get one anywhere
Great. Good luck to all wo entered the comp. Hope i win!
Love it! Cant wait to play bf3. They make good hardware
Why buy one of these. New cards will be out in a few months
Vapor x rocks. Dual bios switch is a good idea. Any ideas when we might be able to get it? Ive held off buying bf3 for this now
6970 is a great card, but i bought the 6959 and modded it to 6970 cost me 210
Last month
@Billy …and why buy those cards coming out in a few months when new cards will come out a few months after those? lol
I agree you gotta jump in sometime. Seems like as good a time as any now
Nice. I rexoomend 6970 for 1080p. Has extra bandwidth for more aa than 6950
Really dumb question bby someone who knows nothing of graphics cards, just because its supports the 3 screen setup it will still work fine with just 1 screen ? Also the switch to change the modes is that a physical switch on the card or a something you can change on the computer on the fly?
Hi Dan, Yes, the card works fine with 1 screen. I just tested Battlefield 3 with eyefinity. All other games are using one screen.
There is a physical switch on the card for the enhanced core speed mode. Switch it while the system is off and restart. There is a picture of it, earlier in the review.
Ok awesome thanks for the speedy response. Does that switch poke out the back or would i have to take the case of my computer each time i wanted to change it?
I would just leave it on the higher setting all the time.
The bios switch is on the card itself, you would need to take the door off the case to get at it.
So you review an special/overclocked edition with BF3 and you do not bench it with BF3, just with these freaky triple display that only people with $5000 rigs uses… cool.
Three 1080p screens in uk can cost as little as £500. And we used this sapphire review card to test battlefield 3 with those screens. Not sure how you work out 5000 dollars just for that.
An eyefinity setup is not expensive at all actually. i5 2500k, 4gb of ram, £80 motherboard easily used as a basis for an ef rig.
pretty good………………nice