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measuring dB/SPL

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teutsch

New Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2007
How are SPL/Decibels measured?
I've a "hearing problem", ostensibly unable (multiple licensed audiologists) to heard "low level" sounds but the sounds from a new Zalman cnps8000 and a stock nVidia GEForce 6600 (PCIe) are enraging individually.
My Extech 407727 sound level meter cuts off at 40dB.
Zalman purports less than 28dB even without the FANMATE set to its lowest level.
What can I use in the less than $100 range to measure the dB/SPL of the devices mentioned?
Since I cannot rely upon the published specifications of the dB levels of the Zalman cooler how do I select a replacement cooling system for the NVIDIA controller?
Is there some method to turn off the power (without physical disasembly) in the bios to the NVIDIA controller and use the onboard controller?
Redirection to another forum area is certainly acceptable.
thank you
 
hmm, neither of those components are known to be very noisy, but I've never heard them in action. I was also bugged by fan noise, so I went to watercooling, but that may be a bit overkill.

If it were me I would pick up an arctic cooling vga silencer- they truly are very quiet. Also, look for a HSF that uses a 120mm fan, the noise will be much less annoying from the larger fan, as it will be lower in pitch.

The cooling forum will provide more specific answers.

Welcome to the forums, and let me know if you need any help with any questions, I may not know, but I know lots of smart people around here.
 
a quality case like the Antec Sonota II runs $90 WITH a very nice PSU, I have one and it cuts down the noise considerably, one thing you can use to check where the noise is coming from is to use your finger to stop the fans one at a time by touching the middle of the fan (this won't hurt), DO NOT use any hard object like a pen and ONLY stop the fan for a few second max, make sure the fan spins up again and be prepared to shut off the power if it doesn't.

another idea might be to get a refund on the video card and search for a fanless version WWW.silentpcreview.com can help with this
 
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