How are the idle/full load noise levels of the Razer Blade compared to MSI/AW/Sager?

I was just wondering how the idle/full load noise levels of the Razer Blade 2015 compare to other laptops, specifically:

MSI GS60 2QE (Ghost Pro)
Alienware 15
Clevo P650SE (and rebranded equivalents e.g. Sager, XMG etc)
Aorus X3 Plus V3

I know that the Razer Blade is not a quiet machine under load, but is it *much* louder than these and is the noise unpleasant?

 

I tried the MSI GS60 066 model before I returned it and got the 2014 Blade 14.

The Ghost Pro has many more features than the Razer Blade in terms of ports and configurability, but I did not like how large the foot print was (there seemed to be so much bezel around the screen that they could have cut back on), and yes, the fan noise.

The fan noise wasn't incredibly bad, but it did seem to cut on more frequently than the Razer Blade and was not as silent as the Razer Blade in idle. The tone seems to be more noticeable on the Ghost Pro as well.

Both can get pretty loud, but the Ghost Pro gave me more of a this-airplane-is-taking-off feeling.

That being said, if the fan noise doesn't bother you, the Ghost Pro was still an amazing machine.

 

Thanks, I can't help feeling they could have made the GS60 smaller without the unnecessary numpad

 

Would the Sager/Clevo be any quieter? What about the Alienware 15? Both are obviously much larger and heavier than the Razer Blade, though

 

My P650SE isn't very loud at load but I can't compare it to the RB14 yet.

 

I had wondered if maybe the size wasn't to accomodate the num pad, but that maybe they added a num pad because they had the extra size. Considering there's a mechanical drive and two SSDs inside, they might need that extra space for the components.

 

I'd be interested to know how they compare

 

Usually the larger the chassis the quieter, due to being able to use larger and lower RPM fans to push the same amount of air.

For instance, my old Samsung Gamer 7 I could barely hear at full load, the Blade is loud.

 

I'm just wondering, as it would cost me about the same to keep my MacBook Air (for lightweight travelling) and also buy a Clevo/XMG/Sager (misy for home) with the same spec as a Razer Blade, as selling my MBA and buying a Razer Blade.

If the Clevo/Sager is going to be easier to live with at home (e.g. quieter), maybe that would be the better option. I would still want to be able to move around with my computer at home, so a desktop is not an option.

 

BTW the Clevo model I was thinking of is the 25mm thick / 2.6Kg P650SE with a 970M GPU

 

I have the P650SE right now so feel free to ask

 

Is that the 970M model? How loud is this on full load?

 

Yeah it is. I just played a little bit of crysis to test and it not loud at all. I mean, the fans are clearly audible but they're easily drowned out by the speakers. GPU stays very cool too. 59 degrees after half an hour of crysis.

 

Thanks, that's useful to know, I see you also have a MBA and a Surface Pro - I have a MBA currently and one option I was thinking of was keeping that for lightweight travelling, and using a P650SE clone for mostly home use - is this what you do?

 

That would be a solid setup. The MBA is a very good lightweight machine if you don't need too much power on the go. The reasons why I use the MBA is because xcode is only available on osx and the battery life of the MBA means I can use Linux on a VM for 6 to 7 hours. Not that the P650SE isn't portable, it fits on a tiny airplane table, but not as portable as the MBA and it doesn't have anywhere near the battery life.

 

The battery life is amazing on my MBA, and for a MBA is actually relatively powerful, as it's a maxed-out mid-2012 model (2Ghz i7 CPU / 8Gb RAM / 256Gb SSD), and I have it set to dual-boot into either Mac OS X 10.10 or Windows 7, so it's quite versatile. Obviously the Intel HD4000 graphics limits gaming potential, but it's still able to run some games okay.

I'm a bit torn between selling it and getting a 2015 Razer Blade, which is one of the few small gaming laptops with reasonable battery life, or keeping it and getting a cheap(ish) P650SE. I'm leaning towards the latter as am concerned the noise levels of the Razer Blade under load could be irritating after a while...

 

The Blade is definitely abrasively loud under full gaming load. I've played plenty of less demanding games without the fans ramping up all the way though. Depends on the game and how efficient it is. You can also try limiting fps to remove load, I do this sometimes.

 

How loud does it get playing something like Skyrim on high settings?

Seems a shame to limit FPS to remove load (although limiting to 60fps wouldn't be too bad)

 

I always use vsync because I hate tearing, so I'm at 60 Max at all times.

It's been forever since I've played Skyrim, but I would imagine that engine is demanding enough that 1600x900 at Max settings that it would be loud. I don't have it installed anymore, but I can tell you without a doubt other games do cause the cooling to get loud. I'll edit a list in here later.

 

Why playing at 1600x900 - because it's half the resolution of the 3200 x 1800 screen, so scales well?

 

Scaling still creates degradation, doesn't really matter if it's exactly half or not. I find it's a great mix between performance and quality.

So, for fan noise, I just let GeForce experience set to the optimal settings and then I just hit the wrench and set it to 1600x900.

Dragon Age: Origins: High level of noise
Elite: Dangerous: goes between medium and high depending on where I am
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag: one level below DA:O it sounded like, but still very audible
Fallout: New Vegas: Could barely hear it
Divinity: Original Sin: Medium noise, sometimes low, seems higher during battle, but might have just been the amount of time it was running.. shrug
Batman: Arkham Asylum: was surprised this was relatively low.

I seem to recall skyrim being loud, but can't recall. Just expect games that are somewhat demanding to cause it to ramp up to loud levels.

 

Thanks, am wondering how this would compare to a Clevo P650 SE - anyone?

 

Clevo P650 SE can be quite loud too. I don't have the machine, but I remember seeing this video when I was researching notebooks (I ended up with MSI GS60):



Basically, all these slim notebooks are pretty loud under the load. Surprisingly even many thick ones are still loud. The only quiet notebook with 970M / 980M I'm aware of is large 17" and thick Asus G751.

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NotebookCheck noise measurements are kinda all over the place (Clevo and MSI are louder idle, but more quiet under the load, Alienware and Gigabyte are more quiet idle, but louder under the load):

idle minimum:

Alienware 15 - 29.4 dB
Gigabyte P35X v3 - 29.4 dB
Clevo P650SG - 30.4 dB
MSI GS60 - 32.6 dB

idle average:

Alienware 15 - 30.7 dB
Gigabyte P35X v3 - 30.9 dB
Clevo P650SG - 33.6 dB
MSI GS60 - 34.8 dB

load average:

MSI GS60 - 43.4 dB
Clevo P650SG - 43.4 dB
Alienware 15 - 46.2 dB
Gigabyte P35X v3 - 54.3 dB

load maximum:

Clevo P650SG - 47.8 dB
MSI GS60 - 52 dB
Alienware 15 - 53 dB
Gigabyte P35X v3 - 54.6 dB

No exact numbers for Razer Blade and Aorus X3 Plus, but I got impression they are more like Gigabyte - more quiet idle but worse noise when under the load.

 

I don't have dB meter but can say that the Aorus is pretty quiet during gaming. compared to pretty much everything else. I have mine set to "Auto High" and it really isn't noticeable. You really shouldn't be using the built-in speakers for gaming anyway. A pair of iPhone 4S+ headphones do a better job than the built-in speakers on almost everything and then you can't hear the fans at all.

 

I'm not bothered about the noise myself, it's my wife...

 

I am in the exact same boat. Every time I am playing something and the fans ramp up she eventually looks over at me in the recliner and is like "THAT THING IS GETTING LOUD AGAIN..." and I end up having to switch games to something less demanding. I have to say I have found some fantastic indie games that I otherwise wouldn't have due to this.

It's 10x better than having that 9lb behemoth Samsung on my lapdesk though.

 

Haha! Yes, that sounds somewhat familiar. The point is, though, that I want to be able to play more demanding games without the missus complaining about excessive noise - she'll put up with a certain amount, but not jet-engine levels of noise. No point in having a lovely fast, but small laptop, if I can't make use of that power!

I still want something moderately portable, though, so was thinking something like the Clevo P650 SE might be a good compromise

 

My wife gets annoyed by that stuff pretty easily and never complained about my RB, it annoyed me more than her. She definitely didn't complain about the Aorus. Been playing The Wolf Among Us the last couple days and while not intensely demanding it still uses the GPU @ 3k 60fps goodness nom noms

 

Telltale games are not demanding at all.. I was playing walking dead with no complaints.

 

Is the noise generated by the Razer Blade and Aorus X3+ V3 more of a load woosh, or does it scream away at high pitch? I think my wife would find the former less annoying!

Also do the fans ramp up and down constantly, or sit mostly at a steady state?

 

More whoosh than high pitched on Aorus imo. More high pitch on RB, again, imo.

 

The Blade seems like it has 4 or 5 levels of fan speed. The first 2 are inaudible.. 3rd you can hear but still not very annoying.. 4 is kind of annoyng and 5 is crazy town..

One or two games I have noticed it going back and forth between two states if the load pattern puts it right on the edge of the temperature crossover. Normally it doesn't get to the louder load level unless the game is somewhat demanding. Some notebooks I've seen will ramp up to audible levels under the slightest provocation, Blade is forgiving there since it's lower fan levels are pretty quiet.