Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 CPU Cooler Review

While situated in a room where background noise was kept to a minimum, we placed the sound level meter equal distances from our test system to measure the total noise output by the complete test system for each cooling configuration at 100% fan speed.

Low noise operation is definitely a strong point of the Gaia SD1283. At just 44dbA of system noise output with the Gaia’s stock configuration, it proves to be one of the quietest solutions we have tested to date. Xigmatek’s Gaia is just over 15.5% quieter than its bigger brother, the Aegir, which may be of more use to some people than the performance benefits the latter offers. The Cooler Master Hyper 612S still remains the quietest solution we have tested to date and is just under 6% quieter than the Gaia SD1283. One weapon that the Gaia’s fan does have in its arsenal which the Hyper 612S’ doesn’t, is, a PWM function. Set the fan to work on a PWM setting and allow it to spin down to its minimum speed of 800 RPM and you will have an extremely quiet solution which even the low-noise orientated Hyper 612S can’t match.