Noise Levels and 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 uses fan speed percentages instead of various load levels.

Noise Levels

Things now become more subjective as the Prolimatech Black Series Genesis obviously does not come with fans, which makes both noise and cooling performance highly depend on your choice of fans. The two Ultra Sleek Vortex 14s we were provided with are very quiet, allowing Prolimatech's Genesis to even tie the Scythe Mugen 4 for quietest cooler at full load. What is more impressive is that these fans made the Genesis the overall quietest cooler I have tested so far.

Fan Speeds

How its low noise levels were achieved becomes obvious once you look at fan speed numbers. Just as advertised, Ultra Sleek Vortex 14 fans have a minimum RPM of 460 and a maximum RPM of 1074. Being 300 RPM slower at maximum speed than the next-slowest fan, and 140 mm at that, their noise output is obviously also better.

The fans you go for will influence the Black Series Genesis CPU cooler's cooling performance, noise levels, and cost. Testing with various fans at my disposal produced temperatures 2°C lower on my Haswell test bench; that is, for our maximum load test. Noise levels, however, increased to 46 dBA, which is much higher then the 41 dBA with Prolimatech's fans. Fans for this cooler should then rotate at around 1000-1300 RPM to efficiently cool this heatsink without producing a ton of noise.