Spectral analysis of noise
I probably don’t need to introduce EK Water Blocks here. It produces high-end components for water loops and for the last few years it has been using its experience in this field in designing AIO coolers as well. The EK-Nucleus CR360 Lux represents the top of the current range and will impress you above all with its clean and elegant design. With good test results, one can expect an attractive ratio of price, quality and efficiency, considering its price.
Spectral analysis of noise
Spectral noise analysis cannot be missing either. This is a simple analysis at noise levels of 39 dBA, 45 dBA and at maximum speed of the cooler. For the analysis I use the UMIK-1 microphone from miniDPS in conjunction with True Audio’s TrueRTA application. The resolution of the analysis is 1/24 of an octave and the shape of the spectrogram is an average of 100 samples acquired over 20–30 seconds.
Out of interest, I also added spectrograms of the cooler in combination with a trio of Noctua NF-A12x25 chromax.black fans, with which I ran a second set of tests with the cooler at 210 W TDP, because I was a bit disappointed with the acoustics of the supplied fans. With the high-end “sterrox” fans there was not only an improvement in the sound of the cooler, but logically also better results at normalized noise levels. The supplied EK-Loop FPT 120 D-RGB fans do achieve high static pressure and high flow of volume of air per unit of time, but this is at the expense of acoustic optimization, making the fans quite noisy in the upper speed range.
- Contents
- Key Features
- Measurement methodology
- Results – 39 dBA
- Results – 42 dBA
- Results – 45 dBA
- Results – 48 dBA
- Results – maximum speed
- Spectral analysis of noise
- Conclusion and evaluation
