SunBeamtech 'Silent Storm' ATX mid tower

PC Cases and Modding 227 Page 7 of 8 Published by

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Copyright 2005 - Guru3D.com

So since this is the "Silent Storm" We did put that to the test as silence, or more specifically noise, can be measured.

Above you can see a DBa meter at work. Now the case fans are turned off and you are looking at default ambient sound. Despite what your brain is telling you, there is always noise in the background, from the streets and other things.

The human hearing system has different sensitivities at different frequencies. This means that the perception of noise is not at all equal at every frequency. Noise with significant measured levels (in dB) at high or low frequencies will not be as annoying as it would be when its energy is concentrated in the middle frequencies. In other words, the measured noise levels in dB will not reflect the actual human perception of the loudness of the noise. That's why we measure the dBa level. A specific circuit is added to the sound level meter to correct its reading in regard to this concept. This reading is the noise level in dBA. The letter A is added to indicate the correction that was made in the measurement.

We inserted a PSU and hotwired it to get voltage on the distribution rails, connected the fans and measured the ambient noise again. Let's have a look at the next photo.

Copyright 2005 - Guru3D.com

We measure roughly 40 dBa which is to be considered in-between a quiet to moderate noise level coming from the PC. Inside the PC there is a good portion of airflow coming from the three 120mm fans though.

TYPICAL SOUND LEVELS

Jet takeoff (200 feet)

120 dBA

Construction Site

110 dBA

Intolerable

Shout (5 feet)

100 dBA

Heavy truck (50 feet)

90 dBA

Very noisy

Urban street

80 dBA

Automobile interior

70 dBA

Noisy

Normal conversation (3 feet)

60 dBA

Office, classroom

50 dBA

Moderate

Living room

40 dBA

Bedroom at night

30 dBA

Quiet

Broadcast studio

20 dBA

Rustling leaves

10 dBA

Barely audible

Bare in mind this is a very subjective test and that dBa level includes all noise in the environment.

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