Our regular readers may be interested to hear that we've got high-end dBA equipment on order and are studying the math required to objectively analyze noise level output on PC hardware. In the meantime, the above video can serve as a noise comparison between the AMD Wraith and old AMD stock coolers. There is no dBA or spectrum analysis at this time – just a noise comparison test with a controlled environment, so what you hear in the two cooler recordings is a relative read-out. That is to say, because each test was identically conducted, you can confidently know that the videos are directly comparable to one another.
For this test, we ran our Zoom H6N mic with X/Y attachment on a tripod that was positioned one foot (diagonally) from the top of the CPU coolers. A shotgun mic and camera were also used for recording additional noise and video.
We ran the coolers at 100% speed (full power throughput). This was done through an elegantly jury-rigged solution: A silent PSU was connected to the wall, jumped with a paperclip, and connected via adapters to the CPU fans. We only tested at full speed. Running this in a real-world environment with SMART settings would reduce noise levels further, something we already discussed.
Take a listen to the video for your own comparison. Again, these two coolers were controlled within their environment and provide a relative, direct comparison between them. Because we are not running objective dBA tests yet, something we continuously talk about, there is no dBA or frequency spectrum plot at this time. Soon, though.
Editorial, Test Lead: Steve “Lelldorianx” Burke
Video Editing: Andrew “ColossalCake” Coleman
