Sager 8760 and 8690 fan noise

I'm trying to compare the Sager 8760 to the 8690. I guess I assume they were similar in the cooling department. However the NBR reviews seems to indicate that they are somewhat different.

The NBR review for the 8760 calls the fan noisy ("Fan noise is pronounced even at idle").

The NBR review for the 8690 calls the fan quiet. ("The noise factor is surprisingly low as well; the fans are audible at idle but unnoticeable").

Has anyone used both and can comment on the noise level?

 

I'm very interested in this also

 

It'd be nice if reviews would post SPL numbers. There are free iPhone apps that let you measure it. As far as I'm concerned the fans are quiet (~40 dB @ 6" directly behind the rear vents).

 

For both models?

 

Sorry, just for the 8760.

 

I own an 8690 and the fans are horribly loud. (louder then my desktop computer and no other notebook I've ever owned or seen at a friends house comes anywhere close) After reading how silent the review model of NBR was, I'm probably gonna ask for a replacement notebook, caus this is not normal.

At idle the fans are already very audible, but I could live with that amount of sound. However, for some reason, even after putting the slightest amount of load on the machine, the fans spin up to 100% and stay that way untill ... I turn the power off.
(note: I left the 'sticker' on, but that shouldn't be the cause of the noise)

 

Prophex, that does sound odd. My 8690 is very quiet. My wife asked me more than once if I am sure my laptop is ok because it sounds too quiet. She says "Aren't there supposed to be fans in there or something?"

 

I gave the NP8760 low marks for quietness since it had a lot of fan motor noise, even at idle. From looking at the bottom of the notebook, it has one extra fan compared to the NP8690. The NP8690 on the other hand was noticeably quieter and did not have the obtrusive motor noise that the NP8760 did; the only real noise was the sound of air being pushed through the rear vents.

If you provide make/models of notebooks you used, I can perhaps give a comparison to the NP8690/NP8760 assuming I have experience with them.

 

Like I said in your review thread, the W870CU does not have three fans.

 

I always operate my 8660 (assuming its generally the same as the 8690) on silent mode when not gaming, because idle fan noise is indeed louder than it should be although it keeps the notebook temperatures very low. In silent mode the fans are completely off.

When gaming my fan noise is fine because I undervolted the CPU and bought a laptop cooler. Without the cooler/undervolt I would consider the noise too loud for me personally (although I was coming from a low powered computer). According to other high-performance notebook users the fan is actually quiet by comparison to other notebooks in its class.

 

Soviet is correct, although at a casual glance it may appear to have 3 due to the 3 vent holes in the bottom, however only 2 of these holes have fans behind them.

 

There does seem to be a lot of controversy over fan noise. I think it's too much to chalk up to personal tastes (?) or experience. When a professional, well-written review describes it as quiet but YouTube videos exist that sound like someone is vacuuming in the background also exist, it makes me wonder if a lot of these are shipping with defective fans.

As someone about ready to order (and choosing this over an ASUS for a variety of reasons, one being what I assumed to be superior cooling on the Sager), this worries me.

 

Again, Ultimate Ears app on the iPhone is free, and includes a SPL meter. Some actual data would be extremely useful here.

 

I'm also curious about this. If someone could take measurements and post them here it would be greatly appreciated by the community. Simple description might not be sufficient since considerations on fan noise are too opinionated.

Duane

 

Without actual data readings, I would take what people say and those youtube videos with a grain of salt.

One person might perceive the fans as loud and another might say they are quiet.

Also with those youtube videos, the type of camera mic was used and how close/far it was to the fans could make it appear to be louder/quieter then it might actually be.

just my .02

 

Using the Ultimate Ears app on my 3GS:

With Mozilla open (7 tabs), winamp (paused), MSN, uTorrent (active) - between 45-50db directly behind the laptop about 2-3 inches from either fan. 35db from where my head is in normal seating position.

Will update later with SPL after playing COD:MW2 and also while at rest with nothing active.

 

It would be awesome if other people could measure fan noise at rest, at normal applications, and then at heavy GPU/CPU load. I still wonder if there isn't variation between units. That YouTube video I heard had it making clicking noises and whining. I just don't think that's normal, especially not when the review model was just described as "whooshing" air.

I'm also going to have to look up some reference points for the measurements, as I have no idea how loud/quiet the above readings really are.

Edit: Here's a chart from a source that was not considering laptops (I don't imagine!) when compiling. Have to scroll down quite a bit through a bunch of stuff that would make me cry if I tried to read.
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/TableOfSoundPressureLevels.htm

But, the parts relevant to the above measurements...

60 dBA Noisy lawn mower at 10 m distance
55 dBA Low volume of radio or TV at 1 m distance, noisy vacuum cleaner at
10 m distance
50 dBA Refrigerator at 1 m distance, bird twitter outside at 15 m distance
45 dBA Noise of normal living; talking, or radio in the background
40 dBA Distraction when learning or concentration is possible
35 dBA Very quiet room fan at low speed at 1 m distance
25 dBA Sound of breathing at 1 m distance
0 dBA Auditory threshold

So, comparing these laptop fan readings to stuff in the world, it's relatively quiet at head distance.

This, of course, says nothing about comparing it to other laptops. It would be interesting to get readings of other laptops, too.

No, it wouldn't be a hyper-accurate, scientific test and will therefore probably be discarded by some as "worthless" (like some benchmarks have been), but it still gives us a good idea.

Thanks, destrukt!

 

Thanks for the measurements -- that's pretty much what I was getting on my 8760 when idle (40db behind laptop 6" from fan, 35db-ish from head position).

 

I'm really curious about what the maximum noise output is on these computers at average (since everyone's is probably a bit different).

 

Paused during a intense fight in COD:MW2:

55db a couple inches directly behind fan, 38-40db from my heads position.

 

Wow! Thank you again. I would classify that as "quiet," myself.

I would love to measure mine when it arrives (for my own peace of mind if nothing else), but I don't have any appropriate tools.

 

So after a restart and letting it sit for a few minutes, the SPL was just under 35db, though there are a couple things probably still active in the background (antivirus, etc.).

I've tried the silent mode button and it noticeably slows the fan a bit, maybe lowering the sound by a couple decibels at most.

 

I'm guessing many haven't read this review.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-mySN-XMG7-c-Notebook.22205.0.html

 

Meh, its all subjective really. If I'm not playing a game or watching a movie, then I'm usually listening to music while surfing the web or doing work. When I go to bed the laptop is never really at load so the fans aren't that audible at all.

If you're looking for something quiet as a whisper I don't suggest looking into these gaming laptop models. The trade-off for the performance you get is well worth it though.

 

Yeah, I've read that review, but I have a hard time thinking of that as particularly loud, especially at this performance level.