Sapphire HD7870 FleX Edition Review

1. Introduction2. Sapphire HD7870 FleX Edition3. Sapphire HD7870 FleX Edition (Super High Res Gallery)4. Testing Methodology5. Setting up Eyefinity6. Synthetic: Unigine Heaven Benchmark7. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage8. Synthetic: 3DMark 119. Synthetic: HQV Benchmark 2.010. Gaming: F1 2011 (1080p)11. Gaming: F1 2011 (5760x1080)12. Gaming: Alien V Predator (1080p)13. Gaming: Tom Clancy HAWX 2 (1080p)14. Gaming: Resident Evil 5 (1080p)15. Gaming: Far Cry 2 (1080p)16. Gaming: Total War Shogun 2 (720p & 1080p)17. Gaming: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2560x1600)18. Gaming: Battlefield 3 (1080p)19. Gaming: Battlefield 3 (5760x1080)20. Gaming: Dirt Showdown (5760x1080)21. Technical: Thermal Dynamics22. Technical: Acoustics Performance23. Technical: Power Consumption24. Technical: Overclocking25. Closing Thoughts26. View All Pages

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 reference HD7870 can get loud, especially when dealing with synthetic generated Furmark load conditions. Sapphire's HD7870 Flex Edition by comparison when idle is almost silent …. the fans spin between 1,000 rpm and 1,100 rpm. Under load these rise to 2,400 rpm – 2,500 rpm, generating a very low noise level of hum.

Another exceptionally quiet high end video card from Sapphire.

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