Biostar iDEQ 200T: Great Performance & Brilliant Design

Biostar iDEQ 200T: Noise Level

Higher performance normally brings more heat, the need for more cooling, and more noise. To test the quietness of the Biostar iDEQ 200T, we measured sound levels on a desk. Sound Level was measured on all 4 sides, 4" from the chassis. Our Sound Level meter is capable of measuring as low as 35db, using either A or C weighting with Fast or Slow Dynamic Response. Since A weighting and Fast response are most like we actually hear, these settings were used for measuring Sound Level.

The iDEQ 200Twas loaded as you might equip a top-level system. All sound level measurements were made on a 200T with a 3.0 P4, 1 Mb DDR400 memory, Liteon combo CD burner/DVD, a floppy drive, and a 120GB Maxtor Hard Drive. We removed the ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card for sound level measurements, since many will run the Biostar with on-board sound or a lesser video card without an added video card fan.

We measured noise from the middle of each one of the four sides, 4" from the chassis.




With the fan on its low setting, or Smart Fan, the Noise Level from the Biostar iDEQ 200T is certainly on par with the outstanding Shuttle SB65G2. This is not faint praise, because Smart Fan is the normal operation state for the Biostar. The Shuttle is one of the quietest systems ever tested, and Biostar has engineered their system to be as quiet as Shuttle in normal operation.




In high speed, with the Biostar fans as fast as they will run, the iDEQ 200T is quite a bit noisier than Shuttle on high speed. If not pushed to the point of high-speed kick-in, the Biostar will please you with its silence.

You may be hard-pressed to activate high-speed, since it never turned on even with the 3.0 Pentium 4, a loaded system, and overclocking.