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Test Results: Radeon HD 3300 IGP
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System Measurements
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System State
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Idle
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CPU + GPU Load
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CPU Temp
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28°C
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45°C
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SB Temp
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31°C
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34°C
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HD Temp
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34°C
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35°C
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System Power (AC)
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47W
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153W
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SPL@1m
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21~22 dBA
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21~22 dBA
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CPU and system fans set to 100% speed.
Ambient temperature: 22°C.
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Our IGP test system measured a modest 21~22 dBA@1m with all the fans at full speed, whether it was idle or put on load. On load, the CPU temperature rose by 17°C while the Southbridge barely heated up at all.
As our chosen CPU and PSU fan have good acoustics, the overall sound quality
of the machine didn't change much with the system turned on. The hard drive
did produce a noticeable hum and while it passed some vibration on to the rest
of the case, the level was barely noticeable both physically and audibly.
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IGP Configuration Comparison (Load)
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Case
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NZXT H2
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Fractal Define R2
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CM Silencio 550
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BitFenix Ghost
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System Fans
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rear, fronts @low
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rear & front @12V
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rear, front @12V
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rear, front @12V
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CPU Temp
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51°C
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51°C
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51°C
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45°C
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SB Temp
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38°C
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38°C
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41°C
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34°C
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HD Temp
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37°C
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34°C
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31°C
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35°C
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SPL@1m
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19 dBA
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19~20 dBA
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19~20 dBA
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21~22 dBA
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CPU fan set to 100% speed.
Ambient temperature: 22°C.
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With our IGP test configuration, the Ghost produced significantly lower temperatures
than cases in the same class and price range but lost on the noise front by
2~3 dB. You could easily call it a wash between all four cases; it's hard to
distinguish case performance without higher power draw.
Test Results: Radeon HD 4870
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System Measurements (HD 4870)
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System State
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Idle
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CPU + GPU Load
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CPU Temp
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31°C
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48°C
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SB Temp
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43°C
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55°C
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HD Temp
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34°C
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34°C
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GPU Temp
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75°C
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87°C
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GPU Fan
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880 RPM
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2020 RPM
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System Power (AC)
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116W
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317W
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SPL@1m
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22 dBA
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29~30 dBA
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CPU and system fans set to 100% speed.
Ambient temperature: 22°C.
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Adding a HD 4870 (150W TDP) to our test system heated up the Southbridge substantially,
but the video card fan spun at only 880 RPM, so the system's idle noise level
was barely affected. Load heated up the system significantly, forcing the GPU
fan to increase to just a shade over 2000 RPM, drowning out every other component
inside and driving up the noise level to 29~30 dBA@1m..
Typically we find a case fan speed sweet spot on our IGP system and use that as a starting point for our discrete graphics configuration. We then continue playing with fan speeds to try to cool the machine down to the point where the video card fan doesn't have to work as hard but this wasn't possible with the Ghost as its fans were already very quiet at full speed. With higher speed fans we could have undoubtedly produced a better performance:noise ratio.
The noise generated by the HD 4870 stock cooler has a soft hissing character
than is more gentle on the ears than most of the top-down fans found on modern
graphics cards. In the BitFenix case, the quality of noise wasn't much changed,
and the level was still substantial.
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HD 4870 Configuration Comparison (Load)
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Case
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Fractal Define R2
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CM Silencio 550
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NZXT H2
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BitFenix Ghost
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System Fans
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rear, front, side @12V
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rear, front @12V
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rear, fronts @med
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rear, front @12V
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CPU Temp
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48°C
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57°C
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53°C
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48°C
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SB Temp
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45°C
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56°C
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52°C
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55°C
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HD Temp
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34°C
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31°C
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33°C
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34°C
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GPU Temp
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84°C
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88°C
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87°C
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87°C
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GPU Fan
Speed
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1710 RPM
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2330 RPM
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2110 RPM
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2020 RPM
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SPL@1m
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26~27 dBA
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27~28 dBA
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27~28 dBA
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29~30 dBA
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CPU fan set to 100% speed
All temperature results adjusted to 22°C ambient.
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Again, the Ghost was louder but noticeably cooler than the competition, except
for the Define R2 which beat it in almost every category. What's interesting
is the main noise contributor, the GPU fan, was spinning lower on the Ghost
than the Cooler Master Silencio 550 and NZXT H2 despite it having a higher overall
noise level.
As the Ghost's stock fans are very quiet and all the other components are the
same, it would appear the Ghost is an inherently louder case. Either the sound
dampening isn't as good or the case the exposed fan positions on the top panel
allow too much noise to escape — the top panels of the other cases in our
comparison are solid or blocked off. This would also explain why the Ghost enjoys
a sizable advantage in CPU temperature: The extra airflow enabled by the top
vent.
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