Acoustic Samples: Listen to this Heatsink!

The Nidec fan is actually pretty quiet in operation and not as loud as the waveform here seems to make it. Measured in at just 48.4dB the 80mm BetaSL fan would be a great replacement by itself for a noisy power supply of intake fan. In any event, the Tocools A1M is not very loud, and doesn't have a high pitch to it so chances are that it will for the most part get drowned out by the rest of the computer. To hear this heatsink for yourself, click on the small pair of headphones just below and download the MP3 file of the heatsink in operation.

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
	Tocools	A1M	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
	Spire	5T235	52.5 dB
	Thermal Integration	TI-V77L	53.0 dB
	Ajigo	SF017011	53.6 dB
	Tocools	Crown	54.5 dB
	Cybercooler	P5750	55.4 dB
	Sibak	AT01515B	55.8 dB
	Sibak	AE01625B	58.2 dB
	Sibak	AC02625B	59.7 dB
	Coolermaster	HHC-001	59.9 dB
	Sibak	AC06725TH	62.4 dB
	Dynatron	DY1206BH-625	63.3 dB
	Dynatron	DC1206BMP	65.1 dB	louder

We're always happy to see heatsinks with measured sound levels under the 50 dB mark and the Tocools A1M comes in at 48.4dB. That can still be a pretty noisy cooler depending on the pitch and frequency of the sound, but in general heatsinks in this region do not standout.