10. Noise Level: Loud Is OK, But Only From The Speakers, Please!

For a notebook that was specifically conceived for multimedia functionality, it is especially important that audio and video playback not be disrupted by noise from the ventilation systems or the drives. To ensure that this is the case, the cooling system should be designed so that the heat is removed from the housing with no fans, if possible, or at least with as few as possible.

In the W511A, the heat generated by the graphics card and CPU is transported by a heat pipe to two small copper coolers, which are situated within the air current of the system's ventilation.

Copper coolers: undersized design?

Unfortunately, it seems that Gigabyte's cooling system is somewhat undersized and/or the settings have "bad" parameters. When the CPU is under even the slightest load, the ventilation system automatically starts up, and is soon running at full speed. It only stays off when the W511A is in idle mode under Windows XP. In this case, the device is hardly noticeable when the hard drive is active running normal Office operations, with a noise-level of 34 dB(A). But when Office programs such as PowerPoint are run, the coolers power up every minute, and the noise level rises to between 38 dB(A) and 40 dB(A). When DVD videos are played, the fan operates at full speed and reaches 46 dB(A), which is simply too much to ignore.

System ventilator: too small and loud or just poorly set?

With optimal use of the power-saving functions of the graphics card driver, the fan stays off at first. The noise from the optical drive, at a level of about 36 db(A), is only noticeable during quiet moments in the film. However, sometimes it suddenly powers up and runs briefly at full speed, which can be annoying if this happens during a tense, dramatic scene in the film; the dramatic tension would be ruined by a noise level of up to 43dB(A). And anyone who thinks that the noise situation is improved by playing audio CDs will be sadly mistaken. In this case, your listening pleasure is sabotaged by the permanent operation of the optical drive running at full speed, putting out 42db(A), and the system fan, which goes on and off (another 46db(A).)

The noise situation is also not improved in the instant-on AV mode under Linux. Here it's obviously the GPU and CPU that are permanently running at maximum clock speed, which is why the fan turns at full speed and makes a great deal of noise.

Only when playing 3D shoot-'em-up games in Windows does the noise pattern produced by the system fan barely disturb gaming fun. After all, when you are firing off shots, you are making a lot of noise anyway.

All in all, little thought seems to have gone into the operation of the cooling system and/or the parameters for its settings. In our opinion this needs more work. Of course, there are ways to reduce the impact of this noise. A pair of headphones will block out most of the noise. Connection to a home AV system allows for placement of the W511A further away from the ears and for volume levels that drown out the noise.