Noise and Temperature Levels

Noise Levels

The above noise levels were taken with all fans turned to maximum so we could truly assess the Whispers’ audible properties. As you can see, noise levels with the Whisper were incredibly low, never going above 50 decibels. The Whisper certainly lives up to its namesake, keeping things nice and quiet. The Radeon X1800 fan alone can be a huge source of audible annoyances, but thanks to the dampening foam, it barely registered as more than a low hum. Vibration noises were also stemmed thanks to the solid construction and foam coated interior, as we never really heard any to report. Now that we know how quiet the Whisper operates, it’s time to take a look at how cool it operates.

Temperature Levels

Looking at the temperatures above, it becomes very obvious that noise dampening carries with it the cost of efficient cooling, especially where it’s needed the most. Idle temperatures were fine, however once everything was placed under load, we start to see some numbers that are not that attractive. With a decent overclock on our CPU, we saw temperatures in excess of 60 degrees Celsius. This may not be near the shutdown temperature as recommended by AMD, but it is still high enough to raise an eyebrow in concern.

The X1800 also got nice and toasty, as it consistently rested above 80 degrees. These higher than expected temperatures have a tendency to reduce the lifespan of components, causing premature failure. It looks like the lack of a fan pulling cool air over the motherboard and components hit the Whisper where it was weakest.