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.
