I would have expected a little more noise from the Arkua 838T-7G, but as we can see it is pretty much middle ground in terms of noise. To listen to this heatsink for yourself, be sure to click on the little headphones icon below, and download the MP3 file.

FrostyTech Acoustic Sampling Chamber
Standard Waveform view of a 10 second recording. Click on the headphones to listen to an MP3 recording of this heatsink in operation.

Sound Level Measurements:

Listening to the actual noise a heatsink makes allows you to hear what pure numbers alone cannot get across. To further emphasize FrostyTech's reliance on cold hard facts when evaluating a heatsink, we also take Decibel readings with a sound level meter. These results may be higher than the manufacturer's listed specs, but then again these are real world measurements.

FrostyTech Sound Level Results
-	Manufacturer	Model	Noise Level	Scale
	Zalman	CNPS6500-AlCu	47.4/28.9 dB	quiet
	Intel	Socket 478	42.5 dB
	Arkua	848X-6B	49.3 dB
	Cho-Liang	CL-CB0094-1A	49.8 dB
	Cho-Liang	CL-CB00881	50.2 dB
	Taisol	CEP426151A	50.7 dB
	JMC	400094	50.8 dB
	Vantec	CCK-7025	51.4 dB
	Arkua	838T-7G	51.7 dB
	ChoLiang	CB0307Z17	52.9 dB
	Dynatron	DC1207BMW	53.0 dB
	Zalman	CNPS5700D-Cu	53.8 dB
	Globalwin	VA476	54.2 dB
	Dynatron	DC1206BMV	55.1 dB
	Glacialtech	Igloo 3300	55.4 dB
	ChoLiang	CB0309Z17	55.7 dB
	AVC	117140	56.1 dB
	NengTyi	NW6700	58.0 dB
	Coolermaster	IHC-H71	64.4 dB	louder

We always try to get a real world example of how noisy the heatsink really is, or isn't, so to accomplish this we hook up HSF's to a zero noise power supply (it has no fan) and take it for a test spin with our sound meter. The results for the Arkua 838T-7G are pretty good. At 51.7 dB, the heatsink is probably not going to standout much, if at all.