Temperature Tests

With the TES 1326 Infrared Thermometer literally in hand we found ourselves getting real-world temperatures from the products we test at load (3D clock speeds).

There are two places we pull temperature from - the back of the card directly behind the core and if the card is dual slot and has an exhaust point we also pull a temperate from there, as seen in the picture.

The dual slot cooler does wonders for the temperatures of the card, bringing it way down compared to the single slot HD 4850. The GTX 200 series do come in cooler, but you have to remember that a shroud is covering the card, making it harder to get a realistic reading.

Sound Tests

Pulling out the TES 1350A Sound Level Meter we find ourselves quickly yelling into the top of it to see how loud we can be.

After five minutes of that we get a bit more serious and place the device two CM away from the fan on the card to find the maximum noise level of the card when idle (2D mode) and in load (3D mode).

Noise out of the dual slot cooler isn't anything out of the ordinary, coming in at the low 60dB range.