Fan Noise Dbc reading Audible noise decible readings complete

Ok this is basically a thread that is meant to prove that some of the online forums with topics such as "My asus z70v is loud" are not exactly mainstream. I have been saying for much time that i review laptops that are worthy. My reviews are honest and truthfull and reflect the oppinion of pretty much 99% of our customers. There is always 1% that would feel otherwise. Its called user preference and it can cause the majority to disagree with the overwhelming minority.
Average Audible Decible readings for the following. These tests were taken from less then 1 inches away from the exaust vents not in the way of the exaust but directly over it. Keep in mind that this distance is kind of like listening to an earbud in your ear vs. 2 feet away pointed at a different direction which is how we use laptops. Keep in mind these tests were conducted in a SILENT room which is the first time I have been in one in over a year:

1. Asus Z33A
Main fan low load @ 54Dbc
Main fan medium load @ 59Dbc
Main Fan low battery @54Dbc
12" Away medium load @ No reading below 50Dbc

2. Asus W3V
Main fan low load @ 61Dbc
Main fan medium load @ 61Dbc
Main fan low battery @57Dbc
12" Away medium load @ No reading below 50Dbc

3. Asus Z70V (Same fans as the z70va refresh)
Main fan low load @ 60Dbc
VGA fan low load 60/80 undervolt fan off @ No reading below 50Dbc
VGA fan low load 60/80 undervolt fan on @ 61Dbc
VGA fan low load 400/250 normalvolt @ 61Dbc
Main fan medium load @63Dbc
Main fan 3dmark @69Dbc
VGA fan 3dmark @64Dbc
Main fan low battery fan off @ No reading below 50Dbc
VGA fan battery @61Dbc/off
12" Away medium load @ No reading below 50Dbc

Now i would like to rimind you that the fans here are not any more loud then the previous 2 but the pitch on all 3 laptops is very different. I am sitting in a Silent basement now. There is no sound anywhere, i can hear a roach running accross the room. Conclusion is if you dont like the sound you get out of this I Highly doubt you will find anything better. One note i would like to add is that this is a bit different then the model I reviewed. Most likely because the model I reviewed sat on my desk at work not in a sound deprived basement. Just now the vga fan went off. Its going to stay off for a while then go back on. The laptop is still not silent. Now that the fans are off i noticed a hi pitch sound comming out of the laptop most likely the drive and capactors, only reason I can hear it is becuase the fans are off. 5 minutes later the vga fan still off and so is the cpu fan for that matter. I cant really get any stable fan activity out of this thing. Right now typing in the forum its off and I dont know when its comming back on. It just did 7 minutes later(vga fan). The conclusion is that the vga fan makes an audible sound just like the cpu fans from the previous 2 laptops. My advice is if you cant deal with it try one of the following
1. Dont buy a new laptop Hi- end laptop with a hi end video card they need to be cooled
2. Dont sit in a completely sound deprived room or any fan noise from pretty much any new laptop will drive you insane.
3. If you cant take 61Dbc out of an exaust vent less then 1" away from a laptop you CAN NOT use a laptop in a silent room.
By the way if you are sitting in a library you cant hear this thing becuase libraries are not silent. Even the best central cooling units in the world will drown out the fan noise here. The vga fan just turned off again. I can hear my dog breathing now. I cant believe i was "forced" into doing this. Ridiculous.

5. Clevo 4881
Main fan low load @ off?
VGA fan low load @ off?
Main fan medium load @65Dbc
Main fan 3dmark @ 71Dbc
VGA fan 3dmark @ 65Dbc
Main fan low battery @off?
12" Away medium load @ 50Dbc

This is pretty surprising. Though this is a beast of a machine and it gets fairly loud on full throttle its pretty silent on low load because the fans are off. Only thing i can hear is the drive clicking away. I guess the moral of the story is if you want a workhorse of a laptop combined with great quality, thin, light-weight, plenty physical appeal and all the good things you have come to expect from asus you are going to have to accept the fact that there is no such thing as a perfect silent laptop but asus comes much closer then anyone else for the money.

4. Asus A6U
Main fan low load @ 61Dbc
Main fan medium load @ 66Dbc
Main Fan low battery @61Dbc
Main Fan low battery fan off @No reading below 50Dbc
12" Away medium load @ No reading below 50Dbc

 

Nice Eddie. The fan noise is not bugging me, and I know yours and other member's frustration towards the complaints.

Time and time again, We have to remind them what video card is in what chassis, and how high their expectations are..

 

I was actually surprised by the clevo unit. Its pretty silent on low end use. I guess its the price you pay for higher quality, lighter and thinner notebooks. I am refering to asus now. The other good thing i noticed about clevo is they are actually using modular video card that are the size of a harddrive. Actually even look like harddrives. But the fans are heck of alot louder once its full speed ahead. They are also way biger and the lapto is a good deal thicker and heavier. Perhaps people would not complain about fans if asus added a few extra pounds and inches to their laptops all to scrifice some fan noise that dont even bother most of us.

 

Ok, I am getting a Z70v refreshed this weekend and the noise thing well hey like you said if I cant handle it don't buy it. Compared to my old laptop, a 6 year old IBM, this thing is probably as quite as a tree falling in the woods with no one around. Anyway, my question. If I want can I replace the fans (GPU/CPU etc) and if so where can I purchase these.

Thanks

 

Great job Eddie... people are just WAAY too picky these days.
I'm sure this will ease a lot of people into buying the Z70V(a) for sure.

 

people should be picky its money

 

Nobody said people shouldnt be picky. I just want to give clear representation of how this laptop compares to some others. Time and time again i see the same scenario. People wait a half a year to get a laptop. Build up their expectations and then are disheartened by something that most people dont even pay attention to. I am glad a majority of our customers are not avid forum readers and posters otherwise we would have to increase prices. The way a single poster affects my work day drives me to these desperate measures.

 

Cookie you should consider returning the laptop and seeking other brands. I know from personal experience and this only happen like a dozen times. People who return a laptop for an exchange of another usually return the second one for a refund for a whole different reasons. If size and weight is not an issue go with a manufacturer who does not pay as much attention to aesthetics. There is a fair chance the heatsinks will be much bigger thus the fan can stay off longer. As for a replacement for the z70va in the same class i dont know if you will be able to find anything much quiter. Your other hope is to hold out for maybee a bios update or something who knows maybee they will make the max temp on vga core higher thus allowing the fan to stay off longer.

 

There has to be a balance between "too picky" and "realistic" though... as much as people want the perfect notebook, it just won't happen - but manufacturers try their best to make them...

 

You know what the funny thing is? The fan noise never really attracted my attention until I started reading comments about it from people in forums.............

 

Recently I was one of those complaining about fan noise on W2V. I guess I should clarify myself. I don't think the fan is loud - it's a perfectly normal, quiet enough fan. What I couldn't live with is that it's on permanently - regardless of CPU load and how underclocked the processor is. In fact the fan in my notebook remains on even in fully underclocked mode (800Mhz, 0.7V) with no CPU load and CPU temp under 40C. I guess of a Centrino notebook I expected no noise at all while it's not in use..

 

Does using Speedfan help at all?

 

Yeah, same with the w3v. No matter what i do the fan is on permanently. I just hate it when you are just surfing the web doing nothing intense and the fan is on.

 

Unfortunately, on W2V, SpeedFan doesn't seem to detect the thermal control chip. This one forum member _Lucky_ apparently is having *occasional* success with SpeedFan on his system, but other W2V people including myself are not..

 

Another one...

I agree with you guys. I think that there's no need to have the fan turned on when you are surfing a website...

I have sent an e-mail to ASUS asking them a solution (only a BIOS update can solve this...).

When I'm in AC mode, I don't care about the fan but when I'm in DC mode I DO care about care because it's wasting battery that, if I'm typing a stupid document in LaTeX I could use to type more, but fan wastes battery so battery time is reduced...

And... a mobile theater shouldn't have a... "lovely" fan noise when you're watching a movie...

I have suggested them this:
CPU Temperature <=45º-50ºC => Fan is turned off (or they can let the user choose the rpm's of the fan, but a very low rpm's)
CPU Temperature =>45º-50ºC => Fan turns on (RPM's are set by ASUS but if temperature doesn't drop RPM's could by maximum) until CPU Temperature reaches == 35º-40ºC => Fan turns off

I don't think this will harm the CPU or the notebook... ASUS: Could you please, at least, try to think about this...? Thanks in advance

 

I don't think they will do anything unless more people start to complain

 

interesting

 

I would like to make something clear if you guys haven't grasped the concept of making your voice heard. Asus does not read online forums for the most part. If they do they probably will not remember your name or what you said. The only way you get their attention is if your cause is a popular one and its constantly buzzing in someones ear. Please dont ask me to clarify. Everyone knows that asus has been very concervative in the past with their fan speeds and bios revs to control temps. If they stop being concervative they will have an increase of heat complaints. You have to keep in mind you are buying a sleek ferarri vs a 8 cyl briefcase( :gateway: ). Though in the world of cars the 8 cyl is probably much more loud at idle and is super hott it may sometimes be the opposite with laptops.

 

I can help settle the issue of whether the fan is too loud or whether people are being picky. I have recieved TWO z70v notebooks from ISTNC. The GPU fan is noise level is VERY different between the two. The one that is louder was sent to me last week (around 9/22).

I have already sent my z70v back because of problems with the touchpad, so I am hesitant to send it back again for the GPU fan problem. I wish there was a way to solve the problem myself. I changed the fan speed with speedfan, but it has to be done everytime I boot the computer (and I fear that I am overheating the GPU).

 

Its pretty strange. We dont get nowhere near the ammount of complaints as they do about this stuff but then again we just started shipping the bluetooth version which i am hoping is the same as the non bt version which we have been shipping for almost a month and so far so good. This may have something to do with the fact that most of their customers are active forum members and most of ours are NOT

 

I don't mind the noise from my fan at all, but I will mention that I bought a Targus Chill Mat, and wow, I'm amazed at how much difference it makes with the GPU fan....It hardly comes on at all now. As a bonus, my HD temps are waaay lower too.

 

fan noise on DC is an absolutely unacceptable. Granted, the fan does come on rearly, but still.

On AC, it's also hella annoying, namely because of the hint of high pitch. This doesn't happen with much more powerful dells, so "well this is a powerful machine" isn't an excuse. Regarding the statements that this can not be heard in a library... That's also not true, as i tried.

 

Dima
I dont know what library you went to, but you must have hearing comparable to that of a bat if this bothers you in a library. Again i stress this point. You will have to make a sacrifice when you buy a laptop. You can buy a dell and their pos support. For the most part their products do not appeal to anyone with a taste for style. The xps is basically clevo tricked out. You are comparing a 12 pound monster to a 6 pound riceburner. How are you able to make that comparison? Its like comparing the muffler noise from 1978 GTo vs a 2005 prelude vtec with flowmasters. I cant stand the sound that comes out of honda v4's but i love the all muscle power of american v8's. A 6 pound z70v has 3 times less weight to its heatsinks, 3 times less fan volume and 3 times less storage for its fans when compared to the dtr clevos. On a side note you try playing doom3 on an xps and tell me how much noise it makes on full throttle. Again Ii would like to stress this as people are not listening. I am all for increasing the trigger temp for the vga cooler on the z70v. Ranting about how you dont like it in a forum over and over again does not make it happen. There is only one way to make it happen and thats to talk to the right people. When U speak i do it for the majority. I am not overly picky when it comes to fan noise, but i have had to relace fans in many of my systems. Namely the m5n which now has a z33 fan. The z70v does not need a new fan but i would not object if asus increased the trigger temp for the vga fan.