Noise Levels & Fan Speeds

Testing Procedure

Fan noise testing is done at 25%, 50%, and 100% fan speed, with the dBA level being recorded by a Pyle PSPL25 sound pressure level meter at a distance of 30 cm. The fan(s) RPM results are taken at the same 25%, 50%, and 100% settings. The selected speeds are handled by MSI's Command Center software, and a Lamptron FC6 fan controller is also used as a secondary method of confirming RPM and dBA readings in case MSI's Command Center cannot control the fan(s), which ensures that proper results can still be obtained if the software fails. To give users the noise profile of the tested CPU cooler, testing is done using fan speed percentages instead of various load levels.

Noise Levels

The H5 Universal has a good fan profile, and while I feel the lower end of the fan's RPM range could be improved upon to drop its noise output from 35 dBA to something closer to 30dBA, the fan is still near-silent with low loads. At 100% fan speed, it will peak at 43 dBA, which is noticeable, but still very quiet. This is the benefit of having an air cooler over, say, an all-in-one liquid cooler—while the H5 Universal won't beat out an AIO with a 240 mm radiator, it does well against 120 mm solutions in terms of performance only to slaughter them in terms of noise.

Fan Speeds

The RPM readings indicate that the PWM range could be a bit improved for a lower minimum RPM; however, noise, given these fans top out at 1377 RPM, is still good.

Overall RPM and dBA readings and the cooling performance show that CRYORIG has done an exceptional job in balancing cooling performance and noise output with the Universal H5, though a few more tweaks could further improve upon those parameters.