Thermaltake Volcano 9 Heatsink and Fan Review
Reviewed by: Bosco
Reviewed on: November 20, 2002
: Thermaltake
: GF City Computers
Price: $35 USD
Introduction
Thermaltake needs no introduction; almost everyone knows who they are and what they make. Not long ago I got a Volcano 7+ soon after once again Thermaltake comes out with a better product thus being the new Volcano 9. The noise was starting to bother me so I figured that a upgrade was needed. I have heard some great things about the V9 so how does it perform? Read on and we shall see.
Specifications
The cooler
As you can notice there is a size difference between the V7+ on the left versus the V9 on the right. The V7+ used a 70mm fan where as the V9 uses a 80MM.
There are three fan functions on the Volcano 9, you can either run it at full speed which is 4800RPM, or you can have it done by temputure control meaning that the fans speed adjusts to the tempuature of the CPU. The last way is manually choose the speed of the fan with the switch that is included with the V9. For most people they would benefit from temputure control or with the switch. Having the V9 run at full speed would only benefit computer users that overclock their CPU or if they have temputure problems.
This is where you would decide what type of fan fuction you are going to use.
There are detailed instructions included in case you are having trouble installing the V9.
A copper base on the bottom.
Thermaltake made a change to the V9 compared to the V7+ and that was that they inserted a round copper base. They didn't make the whole base copper, but only in the spot that the CPU sits, anytime you have a copper base cooling would benefit from this greatly.
The heatsink clip uses the three slot method.
Here we see that the clip for the heatsink uses three clips instead of one. This is good because now I don't have to worry that the one clip on my motherboard will break, rendering the entire board useless with my heatsink.
Testing
Test Rig:
Test method:
I let the computer idle for 30 mins, and then I ran SETI@Home, SiSoft Sandra's Burn-In Wizard and burned a CD.
Conclusion
Well once again Thermaltake has made an awesome product. It bigger, better and quieter then the V7+ and the cost is just right. The heatsink is pretty easy to install and cools very well. With all the new heatsinks that are coming out these days the V9 is sure to be at the top.
Pros
Cons