Noise Benchmarks
Noise Benchmarks
It’s one thing to see pictures and hear tales about our experiences with the cases, but here is a bit of quantifiable data: how much noise these cases make when they’re running.
To get these numbers, we put a fan-less PSU in each case and attached all of the cases’ fans, then took a decibel reading 4” (10 cm) from the top front of the case. Remember, because we used a completely silent PSU to drive the fans, the actual noise output when using these cases with a typical PSU/fan will likely be a bit higher. Using the fan-less PSU let us eliminate other noise factors, so we could concentrate what the cases themselves were putting out.
Our only problem arose when our decibel meter was unable to read the 3R System R240 Grace case, as it was so quiet it didn’t register at our meter’s 35 dB range! So we’re going to estimate the Grace at 34 dB, and start the graph at 33 db, which would effectively represent silence.
There are some really interesting numbers here, but there are two main points of interest. First, the 3R System R240 Grace is extremely quiet, as mentioned above. Second, the NZXT Tempest case — while offering the most fans and airflow — is surprisingly one of the quieter case offerings in the pack.
- Previous page Cooler Master Cosmos S
- Next page The Case Roundup at a Glance:...
For those of you who think the Cooler Master Cosmos S is a bit on the loud side. It has a sibling called Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 which is more oriented towards quite computers. It’s basically the same case as the Cosmos S but with some alterations. It sports soundproofing on the sidepanels. Six 3.5” “housings” (for lack of a better word) with rubber grommets to reduce vibration. As for cooling it comes with 4 semi-quiet 120mm fans, two mounted on the top, one rear and one on the floor of the case with some kind of funnel so you can choose where you want to direct the air. And there is an optional fan mounted on top of 3.5” bay, although it takes up one of the five available 5.25” bays.
//Jimmy