Acoustic Samples: Listen to this Heatsink!

The heatsink is moderately noisy, but not much more than any standard heatsink is these days. The 15mm thick fan limits things to within reasonable levels. To listen to this heatsink for yourself in operation, be sure to click on the little headphones icon below and download the Acoustic Sample MP3 file.

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. Measurements are made on the dB (A) scale.

FrostyTech Sound Level Results
-	Manufacturer	Model	Noise Level	Scale
	Zalman	CNPS700-Cu	41.7 dB
	Zalman	CNPS6500-AlCu	47.4/28.9 dB
	Intel	Socket 478	42.5 dB
	JMC	400124	47.2 dB
	Arkua	848X-6B	49.3 dB
	Taisol	CEP426151A	50.7 dB
	JMC	400094	50.8 dB
	Vantec	CCK-7025	51.4 dB
	Arkua	838T-7G	51.7 dB
	JMC	401100	53.0 dB
	Dynatron	DC1207BMW	53.0 dB
	Dynatron	DC1207BMX	53.4 dB
	Thermal Integration (high)	TI-V7035TN	53.6 dB
	Zalman	CNPS5700D-Cu	53.8 dB
	Globalwin	VA476	54.2 dB
	Eumax	DW-45	54.2 dB
	Dynatron	DC1206BMV	55.1 dB
	Glacialtech	Igloo 3300	55.4 dB
	AVC	117140	56.1 dB
	Taisol	CCP445172	57.5 dB
	CPUMate	DIA10500	57.5 dB
	NengTyi	NW6700	58.0 dB
	Coolermaster	IHC-H71	64.4 dB	louder

The heatsink measures in at about 53 dB which is fairly respectable. Much of the noise that is generated comes from airflow I'd say. Up next, thermal test results are in.