Acoustic Samples: Listen to this Heatsink!

You can listen to this heatsink in operation by simply clicking on the small pair of headphones and listening to the MP3 file. The fan does spin at a decent RPM, but fan noise doesn't seem as annoying as it could have been (a good thing). Overall, most fans under 25mm in height have pretty tolerable noise signatures in our experience. This isn't the case every single time, but a good rule of thumb.

FrostyTech Acoustic Sampling Chamber
Standard Waveform view of a 10 second recording. Click on the headphones to listen to an MP3 recording of this heatsink in operation.

Sound Level Measurements:

Listening to the actual noise a heatsink makes allows you to hear what pure numbers alone cannot get across. To further emphasize FrostyTech's reliance on cold hard facts when evaluating a heatsink, we also take Decibel readings with a sound level meter. These results may be higher than the manufacturer's listed specs, but then again these are real world measurements.

FrostyTech Sound Level Results
-	Manufacturer	Model	Noise Level	Scale
	Coolermaster	HHC-L61	42.2 dB	quiet
	Coolermaster	HSC-V62	43.7 dB
	Spire	5F263	44.5 dB
	JMC Prducts	400023	46.6 dB
	Zalman	All Flower HSF	47.4/28.9 dB
	Taisol	CGK760092	48.4 dB
	GlacialTech	Igloo 2310	49.4 dB
	Cho-Liang	CB0307U-17	49.5 dB
	Arkua	628	50.7 dB
	Noisecontrol	Silverado	50.8 dB
	NengTyi	XPC5000	52.4 dB
	Cho Liang	CB0315U17	52.5 dB
	Spire	5T235	52.5 dB
	Ajigo	MF014-021	52.8 dB
	Ajigo	SF017-011	53.6 dB
	Thermal Integration	TI-V77L	53.0 dB
	Tocools	Crown	54.5 dB
	Cybercooler	P5750	55.4 dB
	Sibak	AT01515B	55.8 dB
	Titan	TTC-CU5TB	57.6 dB
	Sibak	AE01625B	58.2 dB
	Sibak	AC02625B	59.7 dB
	Coolermaster	HHC-001	59.9 dB
	Dynatron	DY1206BH-625	63.3 dB
	Dynatron	DC1206BMP	65.1 dB	louder

It is best when heatsinks produce less than about 55 dB of noise so the Titan TTC-CU5TB is a bit noisier than we like to see. All things considered the fan here will be noticeable, but the tone isn't that high pitched. Higher pitched noise signatures tend to annoy people the fastest.