tanassi wrote:
TechpowerUp has great reviews but good question: how are they on noise measurement?
They use a Bruel & Kjaer sound meter which is the same brand SPCR used to use before the chamber was built.
I trust TechpowerUP's sound readings at 25 dBA and higher. Anything below 25 dBA and the readings get squashed together.
Any card that is under 27 dBA on their load test is quiet enough for some users but there are always those who consider anything above 20 dBA too loud.
The biggest downfall to TechPowerUp video card noise tests is that they don't show the quietest cards in all the reviews. Any non stock video card doesn't make the chart in anything other than its own review.
For example in the 6950 reviews you'll see the 5770 listed as 45dBA at load but if you look at
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/ ... WK/29.html you will see a 5770 doing 25 dBA at load.
Considering how many pages of reviews there are on TechPowerUP it'd be easy to overlook a quieter video card that could compete or even beat the card you are looking at in the most recent review.