W3v fan noise - facts and figures...

OK... at least I remembered to run these today..... Now remember, I can test anything and now that I've located all my tools.. it's not really a problem.

Noise and the W3v:

When the unit is in super performance mode (1.86ghz))..... the fan is on and at a constant high spin rate... the sound meter reads 79db at the exhaust fan (that would be like putting your ear up to the fan).

When the unit is on battery and on email mode (800mhz) it reads 69db.

For reference... 60db is an office environment; 70db is normal speech at 1' away; 80db is a vacuum cleaner at 10' away....

Again, keep in mind these numbers are directly at the exhaust fan. At ear distance while typing, those same numbers range from about 61db to 66db

 

Pardon me --- I had my sound weighting set for electrical equiptment... that weighting is different than the reference numbers I gave above. "A" weighting acts like the human ear and is what OSHA tests with and where those reference numbers come from. "C" weighting is for a flat response which is used for the testing of machines, etc...

I figured since all of the reference numbers were in "A", regardless of what I should be doing, I figured I should redo the tests with that weighting so the comparisons would be more accurate. When I did this, all the tests basically dropped exactly 10db. This helps explain a few things....
1. A normal office environment is basically the little sound computers put off, mixed with background noises.
2. Under full blast, when your ear to the fan, the sound level is about equal to normal speech at 1'
3. I would then hear about 51-56db while actually using my W3v.... That is in the "moderate" range which composes of - conversation, quiet radio, office, noisy home.

 

Justin, Thanks for the info. This is just what I was looking for. I've been looking for these type of #'s but for the z70va. If you can, can you do the same test for the z70va? I've been reading about fan noise with this unit and was just curious about exactly how loud it is. Now I haven't ordered teh va yet (still comparing prices) but I just want to see what it is like compared to my destop. I use "c" weight and "slow" response to measure. So just wondering if you could posibly post va #'s while having the sound level meter at the front of your nose pointed towards the z70va? I know there have been many people worried or questioning the fan noise on these units but I'm sure its not that bad but I would just like to know in advance before paying out $$$ for the laptop. Thanks again for the info on the W3v.

 

I hear you--- I'll try to do that this weekend if I can steal away one of our customers systems during testing (and do some sound tests)... I know what you're looking for and it's exactly why I decided to stop letting people go back and forth and complain.. and get proactive and give people something to actually talk about.

 

Thanks for the data, Justin.

Is it possible to control fan speed using a program like SpeedFan? I've tried to use the 4.25 version but it does not appear to detect the controller.

Undervolted and running at 800Mhz there's really no need to have the fan running at even half speed. Perhaps an updated BIOS will tweak the thermal policy a bit more.

 

I haven't used speedfan on my w3, but I have on other sonoma models I've got.... Did you try the latest version yet?

 

You have to install and run Everest Home Edition before Speedfan will pick up the sensors...

 

even with everest and speedfan i still cna't control the fans settings on my w3v

 

Question to DownByFive: When you said below that you needed to run the Everest software before SpeedFan would pick up the sensors, what exactly did you mean? Everest is just a diagnostics tool that shows a detailed list of hardware etc., isnt't it? Or does it do something else that we don't know about? Did you do anything special within Everest before SpeedFan started to work?

Thanks for any details.. Trying to get SpeedFan to work on my W2V as well here, so far unsuccessfully..

 

I'm not sure exactly what Everest does, but I know that I (along with others) have to run that program first, and then Speedfan will work. But reading some other posts, it looks like maybe Speedfan just won't work with the W2V...

 

I've tried to use Everest on my W3V as well. It does not appear to cause any changes within SpeedFan. Does it have to be running at the same time? Is there a service that needs to be started, or a script run at startup?

Having underclocked and undervolted my machine, it would be great to further diminish fan noise. I welcome any further suggestions, DownByFive and Justin.