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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 Sapphire HD7850 Overclock Edition is extremely quiet, almost silent when idle. When gaming, the fans spin up around 1,700 rpm and can only be heard from a close distance. Furmark causes the fans to spin higher, peaking at 2,200 rpm.
Excellent, nice little card, I do think it will cost more than £200 however as even some of the basic cards are 195.
The XFX cards look much nicer IMO, but the cooler on the Sapphire cards is well thought out. Every card has a different cooler construction too, XFX tend to use the same cooler and heatpipe config between a whole range of cards, which works well on the mid or low level card, but not so good on the higher end model.
Nice lookin card, again from sapphire
If one fan would break, you will have to buy a new full heatsink solution because is impossible get a replacement of one fan. Bad for Sapphire.