Fan Noise

In past years, users would accept everything for a little bit more performance. Nowadays, users are more aware of the fan noise and the power consumption of their graphics cards.

In order to properly test the fan noise that a card emits, we use the Bruel & Kjaer 2236 sound-level meter (~$4,000), which has the measurement range and accuracy we are looking for.


The tested graphics card was installed in a system that was completely passively cooled; that is, passive PSU, passive CPU cooler, passive cooling on the motherboard, and on a solid-state drive.

This setup allows us to eliminate secondary noise sources and test only the video card. To be more compliant with standards like DIN 45635 (we are not claiming to be fully DIN 45635 certified), the measurement was conducted at 100 cm of distance and at 160 cm off the floor. The ambient background noise level in the room was well below 20 dBA for all measurements. Please note that the dBA scale is not linear but logarithmic. 40 dBA is not twice as loud as 20 dBA. A 3 dBA increase results in double the sound pressure. The human hearing perception is a bit different, and it is generally accepted that a 10 dBA increase doubles the perceived sound level. The 3D load noise levels were tested with a stressful game and not with Furmark.

Idle noise levels are clearly too high given the production position and low-heat output of the GPU. The fact that we measured idle temperatures below 30°C supports the theory that HIS did not properly optimize fan settings in their BIOS.

Noise levels under load are the same as idle, which is another indicator for a lack of optimization. While the card is not "noisy" under load, it emits much higher noise levels than competing custom-design HD 7750 and HD 7770 cards (not listed in the graph).