Despite the impressive performance outlined above, the Cheetah 15K.3's most astonishing attribute may be its idle noise floor. With a sound pressure measurement of just 45.1 dB/A at a distance of 18 millimeters, the 15K.3 finds itself among the idle noise generated by typical 7200 RPM ATA drives!
Seek noise also continues to decline. Just a few years ago top-end drives would churn away with a racket easily heard one room removed. The 15K.3, however, emits seek sounds more like that of quieter 7200 RPM SCSI units.
Since the X15's inception Seagate has repeatedly emphasized the importance of maintaining the series' power consumption (and thus heat generation) within the lines of 10K RPM drives. 15K RPM drives nonetheless seemed to run hotter than their 10K brethren? until now. At just 25.1 degrees Celsius above ambient, the 15K.3 lands itself squarely within the realm of 7200 RPM SCSI drives! It thus may be installed into any well-ventilated machine without requiring active cooling. 15K drives have finally reached a point where they may be unobtrusively integrated into a high-end desktop machine.