System Review – PC-Club Silencer

Noise Levels

We usually run two sets of noise tests, in order to provide a more comprehensive picture of how loud each SFF is. Our standard test uses the same setup as our performance benchmarks. For our low-noise test, we install a fanless GPU into the system; or for systems with integrated graphics, we will use those. Mid-range to high-end graphics cards can contribute substantially to the amount of noise that a system emits, and using a lower performing graphics card will frequently reduce noise levels to the point where our SPL meter can no longer produce accurate readings. In such a case, we will simply put 30 dB as the value, and for most people, this will be close enough to silence that the system will not be noticed. Here are the results for the Silencer, with four tested configurations: standard as shipped, then without the case fan and with a single Seagate HDD, then running the X800 Pro with the Seagate, and finally, using the onboard graphics with the Seagate.

As we've alluded in the earlier parts of the review, the system case fan is tremendously noisy for such a small component. It may be necessary if you're running multiple hard drives – and even then, it may not be sufficient for two drives in such close quarters – but it really ruins the "Silencer" name. The X800Pro also manages to make quite a racket in the case, which brings us to the clear winner in terms of configurations: the eVGA with Arctic Cooling's Silencer.

With the case fan unplugged, the Silencer is able to beat all other options in terms of noise to performance ratios. 35 dB for a fast system is almost unheard of! It's nearly as quiet as running with the integrated graphics, and of course, it is many times faster than the IGP in gaming situations. Even after prolonged gaming, the Silencer kept the GPU at acceptable levels and didn't increase fan speed enough to be noticed. There were periodic noise level increases of around 3 dB, but they would usually only last 15 seconds before the fan speed would drop back down to normal.

One thing that we’ve mentioned before is the noise level of the Raptor drive, particularly when doing a lot of head repositioning. We didn’t include the results in our noise charts, but at a distance of 12", the Raptor registered as high as 55 dB on our SPL meter – and that's with the case fan unplugged. Ouch! Loading Doom 3, HL2, other games, and booting XP all produced this amount of noise, and we think that most people who are interested in a "Silencer" PC would prefer a quieter hard drive as well, rather than increased HDD performance.