SOUND There's really not much to say about the noise level. Once I couldn'teven hear it running with my system powered up, well, that was enough for
me. This thing is very quiet (0.9
Sones to be
exact). I could not be happier with how quiet the Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5
is.
Noise Level
All measurements are taken using full fan speed.
The noise level is measured in Sone (loudness) instead of dB (sound
pressure). The loudness depends upon ears response curves and tells you
exactly, how bothering a certain noise is. Sone takes the frequency and
bandwidth of a sound into account.
A doubling of the number of Sones sounds to the human ear like a
doubling of the loudness.
The comparison of products from different manufacturers is basically
impossible, since all manufacturers measure in different ways. Even a
rough translation from Sone to dB doesn't help. A 15dB cooler can be
louder than a 1 Sone cooler from another manufacturer.
Nevertheless with the Sone data you can compare our coolers between each
other and get a quite precise idea how annoying the product will be.
1 Sone: nearly inaudible in a computer case
2 Sones: clearly audible
3 Sones and more: disturbing
CONCLUSION I cannot stress enough that you should approach the installation of an
Arctic Cooling Silencer NV 5 with patience and persistence. That is not
to suggest that you'll have the same experience that I did. You could just as
easily be able to install it on your first attempt and have excellent cooling
results right away. I'd be doing you a disservice though if I glossed over what
was necessary for me to achieve my excellent end results.
For those of you with a 6800 GT, you can expect to have even greater
temperature reduction. The Arctic Cooling Silencer NV 5 is a huge leap
past the stock 6800 GT cooling. It is not as dramatic an improvement over the
already excellent 6800 Ultra stock cooling but still pretty impressive. Your
mileage may vary, but if you stick to it the rewards are sure to be well worth
the ride.
I'd like to thank CrazyPC.com
for providing the sample for this review.
PROS
Quiet, basically silent
Good price/value
Innovative fan design
Impressive cooling of 6800 Ultra, even when overclocked
Stronger screws than original NV 5
CONS
Memory pads may be too thick or uneven, requiring sanding
Instructions not for 6800 Ultra
Confusing specifications between website and packaging
February 15, 2005 - Updated page 4 with note that I had already removed
the stock thermal compounds in my review of the BFG 6800 Ultra OC. At that
time I then replaced with Arctic Silver 2 on the GPU core and Ceramique on
the memory modules.
February 15, 2005 - Updated page 5 with PROS/CONS section.
March 23, 2005 - Updated page 1 and page 4 with ambient room and
case temperatures.
