Thermaltake Volcano 7+

Date Reviewed: February 10, 2002
Reviewed By: Jason Rabel
Company: Thermaltake

Introduction:

Continuing on the fame of the Volcano 7 heatsink, Thermaltake takes it to the next level with the all copper Volcano 7+. Though they may share the same name, the two heatsinks are very different in design and performance. The heatsink itself comes in a really nice retail looking plastic package, and includes lots of extra goodies. On big distinguishing feature of the Volcano 7+ is that the heatsink includes clips for both P4 socket 478 & AMD socket 462 / Intel 370.

What's In The Box:

Included in the package is the Volcano 7+ heatsink, fan speed switch cable, metal clips and screws for both Intel & AMD application, instruction sheet, thermal compound, and a Thermaltake case badge. The fan itself has two connectors like the Volcano 7, one for the RPM sensor and the other is for the power.

The switch itself has 3 settings, High, Medium, and Low. By hooking up the RPM wire to the motherboard, and using Motherboard Monitor 5, I took an average of what each RPM was for each fan speed. Here is a comparison against what the speeds say on the box (rounded to the nearest hundred RPM):

As you can see I was getting a slightly higher RPM than the ratings. The High speed noise level is comparable to the 60mm 38CFM Delta fan, Medium is noticeably quieter, and Low is pretty much silent. Now people can adjust their fan speed without having to do any mods or spend money for a different fan.

The fan switch is nifty, it allows you to run the 3pin connector from the heat sink to a regular 4pin connector. However if you take a look at the side shot, you can see that it is wide open so you should be a little careful not to let any bare wires or other metal objects make contact inside the switch box.

While the switch is cool, you must realize that you will have to open up your case if you want to change the speed (vs. something like a baybus or rheobus). However at the same time it is essentially a freebie and very few other heatsinks on the market include a similar item. With a little cutting you could probably have the switch come out the back panel of a case, the only thing is you might need some longer screws that go through the switch.

The fan on the Volcano 7+ isn't an 80mm like the original Volcano 7, instead Thermaltake opted to go with a slightly smaller 70mm fan. The airflow ratings are 24CFM on the low speed, 37CFM on medium, and 49CFM on high. However since I was getting slightly higher RPMs it could be a couple more CFM above those figures. Thankfully there is no temp sensor on this fan, it spins at full speed (or slower if you use the included switch to reduce the power).

The Volcano 7+ fan uses what they call "Tiny Fin" technology, which you might of also heard it being called "Thin Fin" or even something else. Whatever buzzword you want to use is fine, but just so you know the actual term is called skiving. Skiving is where you take a solid block of metal, and the fins are shaved and bent up, thus producing a heatsink from one piece of metal. Earlier "thin fin" heatsinks would have a separate base and fins, and the fins would be soldered to the base, which didn't always yield the best results. Anyhow, the Volcano 7+ ends up with 36 of the "Tiny Fins" to give some serious heat dissipation.

Also, all you P4 people, the holes in the side of the base is where you mount the P4 clamps, all hardware is included.

Continue To Page 2 For The Rest -->