Fan Noise

In the past years users would accept everything just to get more performance. Nowadays this has changed with people being more aware of the fan noise and power consumption of their graphic cards.
In order to properly test the fan noise a card emits we are using a Bruel & Kjaer 2236 sound level meter (~$4,000) which has the measurement range and accuracy we are looking for.


The tested graphics card is installed in a system that is completely passively cooled. That is passive PSU, passive CPU cooler, passive cooling on the motherboard and Solid-State HDD.
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 is conducted at 100 cm distance and 160 cm over the floor. The ambient background noise level in the room is well below 20 dbA for all measurements. Please note that the dbA scale is not linear, it is logarithmic. 40 dbA is not twice as loud as 20 dbA. A 3 dbA increase results in double the sound pressure. The human hearing is a bit different and it is generally accepted that a 10 dbA increase doubles the perceived sound level.

Before the launch some people said that this card runs hot and needs a loud cooler, sorry I don't see that. Under idle the HD 4850 is the quietest card I ever tested. Even on the passive test system with every other noise source in the room removed you can barely hear the cooler in idle. The fan speed ramps up slowly with load/temperature and performance levels and reaches a very reasonable peak noise level.

Apparently the cooler of the MSI Radeon HD 4850 is slightly better than the one installed on the Powercolor HD 4850. It delivers a bit lower temperatures which means that the fan can run quieter. Also it is a possibility that another fan is used which produces a tiny bit less noise. Or the thermal paste is just applied better and the heatsinks are perfectly identical in performance. This would also mean a lower GPU temperature, resulting in less fan noise.