Albatron and ASUS GeForce 6800 Ultra Vendor Review
by Derek Wilson on July 18, 2004 1:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Noise Level Comparison
For this data set, we wanted to isolate the sound level of the graphics card from that of the CPU fan. As the GPU fan in both these systems is the loudest component, the SPL of the entire system will be very close to that of the GPU HSF itself, but we were able to do a little math to get something very close to our goal.As our SPL meter measures sound pressure in dB, and SPL is measure in an RMS fashion, we need to do a little bit of math. First, we find the ambient SPL (SPLamb), then the SPL of the system with the CPU (SPLamb+cpu), and finally the SPL of the entire system (SPLsys). The SPL was measured at half a decimeter from the GPU fan. After we collected our data, we used this formula to determine the SPL of the GPU fan without the CPUfan:
gpufactor = (10(SPLsys / 20))2 - (10(SPLamb+cpu / 20))2
SPLamb+gpu = 20 log(sqrt(gpufactor + (10(SPLamb / 20))2))
And after all that, we end up with some comparable noise numbers. And we can see that the Albatron is quieter than the ASUS (generally a 1dB increase is an audible change, while a 6dB increase is perceived as twice the volume, but volume perception varies from person to person).
We are measuring fairly close to the source of the sound here, and it may be more useful to test SPL inside a case at about a meter, but deciding on exactly what to do with that is tricky. For now, this will have to do, but we are open to suggestions on how to proceed with sound tests.
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ReapeRalex - Wednesday, August 18, 2004 - link
I come here first whenever I'm the market for new toys, good site :)Could you include Doom3 in the benchmarks for these reviews? Apperantly Doom3 can push overclocked cards over the edge that might otherwise appear stable. Lets face it Doom3 and Half Life 2 will the be main game on peoples minds who are looking to upgrade to these new cards (I just hope a Half Life 2 benchmark is available soon so I can make an informed decision on which card to get :) ).
Anyway, great site, always informative and well written :)
mjz5 - Sunday, July 18, 2004 - link
good review DerekWilson.. and true, we don't need to see 100s of different games benchmarked, this article was created to illustrate the difference between the and only the two makers.pookie69 - Sunday, July 18, 2004 - link
Nice article. Simple and straight to the point.Just one thing - the noise tests - i think it would be a good idea to perform two sets of tests, one with the cards under load, one when they are both idle. It would be interesting to see exactly how much the noise of some of these cards jumps up by (or not) during gaming.
:)
shuttleboi - Sunday, July 18, 2004 - link
Can you please provide heat and noise measurements for other cards as well, particularly the ATI x800 cards?Chapbass - Sunday, July 18, 2004 - link
"Interestingly, the Albatron had its core temperature warning level set at 125 degrees Celsius, while the ASUS was up at 135."Something might be telling me the whole 125 degrees celcius might be a mistake?
but...ya never know...
: )
retrospooty - Sunday, July 18, 2004 - link
DOOM 3 BABY !!! :DDerekWilson - Sunday, July 18, 2004 - link
We didn't really need to go heavy on the game tests in order to illustrate how these cards perform in relation to the stock 6800U and 6800UE which have been put through an exhaustive analysis already.But we really want to bring you guys the info you want to see. If these game tests aren't sufficient, we can add a game and/or change the lineup. We don't want to be too heavy on the game tests, but we do want the games we tests to be relevant.
Just let us know what you want, and we'll get it into our upcoming reviews.
Thanks for the feedback!
Pollock - Sunday, July 18, 2004 - link
And Aquamark isn't technically a game, even if it's based on one...that kind got me, too.Jeff7181 - Sunday, July 18, 2004 - link
Wow... only 2 game tests?