saiamne

Something I was curious about, so I started doing a little research!

We'll call this faq "Overclocking and your Ears...what every Enthusiast should know!"

First, a little background on noise levels. What is a Decibel? Well, just like watts, or degrees, it's a unit of measure, but for sound, as opposed to power or temperature (although not quite as scientific as I'll explain below). Because of the nature of sound and ones perceptions of it, a Decibel rating may seem louder or quieter to each individual based on the dynamics of their hearing. Different frequencies of sound will also seem louder or quieter from one person or another based on these dynamics. Before anyone else tells you differently, I'm telling you now - there is no absolute scientific, quantifiable, measurement or standard by which to rate things on the decibel scale. The scale is meant as a GUIDELINE. The frequency of the noise also has alot to do with things as well, higher frequency noises typically seem louder and will agitate a person more that a lower toned noise at the same aproximate volume. Companies rate their products with a dBA rating which is typically compared to a rough chart that I'll lay out further on in this guide. That means that a dBA reading that you see on a product may or may not be accurate. Because its a comparison made in different setting than your paticular application it will naturally be flawed from the very beginning. Some companies are more honest with their ratings than others. Be warned.

So then, nice and simple huh? 40 decibels is twice as loud as 20 decibels right? WRONG! It almost makes me wish there was a metric version of this because metric is always so much easier to understand. That said however, here's a basic run-down on how the system works. The actual measurement of noise levels is logarithmic. 40 decibels is not simply twice as loud as 20 decibels. In fact, 40 decibels is actually about nine times as loud as 20 decibels. Reason being is that loudness will increase approximately three times for every 10 decibels. So 30 decibels is aproximately three times as loud as 20. 40 decibels is three times louder than 30 decibels. In effect, 40 decibels equates to nine times the noise level of 20 decibels.

Now, I could bore you with further equasions and such to determine more accurate dBA levels when factoring in numerous fans and such, but for the sake of simplicity I'll just leave you with an aproximate chart of noise levels taken from familiar, referencable sounds.

Without further ado, here's a list of common sounds, and the Decibel rating they roughly equate to:

10dBA - Normal Breathing
20dBA - Mosquito or Rustling Leaves
30dBA - A Whisper
40dBA - A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator
50dBA - Normal Conversation
60dBA - Laugher
70dBA - Vaccuum Cleaner or Hairdryer
80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal
90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower

Hope this guide has given you some insight into the practical application of considering dBA ratings when examining fans or other potentially noisy components.

alpinesix

nice info that :)

aznchowboy650

55 dba is much louder than a conversation and a laughter esp when its a tornado

wareZwally

woulda rep'd ya if you told me how many Dba the evg fart was

SPHERE

u should go higher on the dba examples likte i think a jack hammer is like 100 or 110

Kipper

and the human ears cannot hear anything above 150dBAs or some part of the ear will absorb the shock and only ur head will hurt, no sound.......something like that.

MikeEnIke

wow really? Sweet.

Hollowman8904

Lets try it :)

Just like with different sound frequencies. 20kHz hurts your hears, but 25kHz you can't even pick up the sound.

J3r3my

LOL just imagine a fan at 90dB! It would be like lawmower running in your room! That would be one loud fan!

TrAncE XD

hmmm if something is so loud we can't hear it... why don't we make like 300 dba fans with like 400 cfm! It would be silent to us!.. however the desk might start shaking from the the sheer power :)