I have to go by memory right now: IIRC AfterBurner read around 1000rpm.

Well then we have different thresholds. My Sapphire 7950 is right around there at idle - GPU-Z reports about 1100 rpm at idle and I find it decent but not quiet enough.

Sorry, I have not understood: thresholds of what?

Different thresholds as to what constitutes acceptably quiet.

Indeed: there are thresholds you can appreciate on paper, and others which can be appreciated through the air.

Yes, it's called listening. What is quiet to the ears of one person is not necessarily quiet to the ears of another person.

Indeed: but you are able to know how loud a cooler *is* immediately, without having never listen to it, just by reading some data about rpm.

First, let's get the facts straight. I know what a pair of 92mm fans rotating at 1,100 rpm sounds like since I have a Sapphire 7950 OC, a card with the exact same cooling set up as the Asus.

Second, even if I did not have the Sapphire, I know from experience that a 92mm fan that rotates at 1,100 rpm (much less two of them) is not going to be quiet enough by *my* standards.

fwiw, I really don't understand what you are objecting to. If it's quiet enough for you, be happy that you aren't more sensitive and enjoy the card, but don't try to determine on my behalf that it is quiet.

Just that I didn't like your previous attitude.
Just that any fan is different, and that - as SPCR pointed out several times - small rpm deltas make more noticeable SPL deltas.
So, some rotational figures may give us some clues, but I think nothing more definitive (without any further verifications).
I would add that if the SPCR noise floor level (10-11dBA) isn't enough quiet for you, more probably that not anything currently can be (any piece of equipment tested here scored above): but it's not the main point.

Eventually, even if I can never tell to anyone "how", or "how much" to ear, I may legitimately ask for some more caution, prudence, when writing down judgements/appreciations about equipment never experienced, in order to not unnecessarily decrease the SPCR S/N ratio (just for the sake of future readers of such words).

Last but not least, the Sapphire card should emit about 4dBA higher than the ASUS at idle, IIRC.
In case, not a huge difference, but neither a negligible one, I mean.

I hope I've been much more understandable now, thanks for your patience.

There's a simple reason why SPCR couldn't measure lower than 11dba. AFAIK that's the noise floor of their anechoic chamber. What this means is that it's extremely unlikely that any "normal" room can come anywhere close to that.

It's now clear where you lost me, the magic Asus fans. We will just have to agree to disagree. As an aside, I have no idea how anyone can determine dba by ear.

I have no idea just about whether or not your Shalman runs fanless (and in case which are the relevant temps).

I have the Asus 670 DCII and can report that it's quieter at idle than Nexus 120s at 7v. Subjective assessment, of course.

Well, another "under 12dBA" guessestimate by ears, for that ASUS GTX670...
...even if subjective (as mine), thanks for sharing your experience.