Introduction

Just last week we took at look at the Aeroflow from Vantec. The Aeroflow, along with many other coolers coming out these days, seem to cool more, and sound quieter. When I heard of the adjustable fan speed controls for the Volcano 11, I thought Thermaltake was following suit. Sadly, this was not the case.

When I first got the box out of the package, I was already surprised about how massive this heatsink is. When I took it out of the box, the size was confirmed. I have never before seen such a big heatsink. This thing packs an 80mm fan on it! It was pretty hefty too.


Included Items

Along with the heatsink and fan, this product comes with a fan speed adjustment knob that fits in a card slot in the back of your computer. There is also a 3-4pin converter. The fan used requires 8.4 watts of power, which your motherboard most likely can't provide. It is advisable that you get power from a 4pin molex. The Volcano 11 also comes with a temperature probe, a jumper, screw, thermal paste, thermal tape, and an instruction page.


The Heatsink

Taking a look at the heatsink, it is completely copper. This is an upgrade from the Volcano 9's copper core. The fins of the heatsink are very thin, which helps with heat dissipation, but they are soldered onto the plate. Sometimes when a heatsink is built this way, there are gaps between the fins and the plate. This usually results in below average cooling. Lets hope the Volcano 11 is built well.

Now for the bottom of the heatsink (the part that comes in contact with the CPU core). When I saw this, I knew Thermaltake could have done better. The lapping job on this heatsink is not very smooth at all, as you can tell by the foggy reflection.


The Fan

This fan is HUGE. Thermaltake popped a giant 80mm Smart Fan II on this sucker. The fan itself can reach up to 75 cfm. In addition to the fan's cool orange-on-black look, it packs a bunch of features. The fan has several connections to either run at a constant speed from a 4-pin molex, a variable speed from the included knob that mounts in a card slot, and even run at variable speeds automatically depending on the temperature of the CPU.


Installation

Installing this fan was a pain in the arse (yes arse, kids read this stuff too *wink*). This may not be due to the clip itself, but how it is not too compatible with my motherboard. There is a row of capacitors lining two sides of the socket. I have not had problems with other heatsinks, but with the Volcano 11, it was almost impossible to get the first clip over the socket prongs without breaking a few transistors off. But since I didn't want to destroy my motherboard at the time, I decided to stick a screwdriver in through the fan to push down on the clip to pop it over the prongs. Maybe Thermaltake should have thought this through a little more, or tested on a wider variety of motherboards. The final clip requires a screw driver, and installation was simple enough from here.

On a good note, the Volcano 11 uses all three prongs with each clip. This is almost necessary for such a large and heavy heatsink, but it is helpful in case you broke a prong, or if you move your case, so the Volcano doesn't snap off and wreak havoc on the innards of your computer.


Testing

To test the Volcano 11, we are going to shoot it out with the Vantec Aeroflow on an Athlon 1.4 ghz processor. Here are the system specs:

Test Rig Specs:

AMD Athlon 1.4 GHZ CPU
BIOSTAR M7VIG Motherboard
512 pc2100 DDR RAM
Geforce 3 Ti200
4 Thermaltake 80mm case fans @ 12 volts

All temperature readings were done with a thermal probe between the CPU and the motherboard. The test was done by running the CPU tests of 3dMark03 for 20 minutes each. Arctic Alumna thermal paste was used. The case temperature was at a steady 28 degrees Celsius throughout the entire test. The temperatures may seem a little high, but keep in mind, that this is in Texas (it's always hot here).

HSF Comparison
(Show All Graphs) (Collapse Graphs)

Idle

Load

Volcano 11 (High)

Volcano 11 (Medium)

Volcano 11 (Low)

Vantec Aeroflow

Case Ambient

44.6

46.5

50.3

40

28

0

Temperature ( °C )

100

 

 

Idle

Load

Volcano 11 (High)

Volcano 11 (Medium)

Volcano 11 (Low)

Vantec Aeroflow

Case Ambient

49

53

56

44.9

28

0

Temperature ( °C )

100

 

 

(Please note that no two systems are alike, and performance of either heatsink may vary in other computers and conditions)

Holy mother of cheese was the Volcano 11 loud. I almost fell out of my chair when my computer started up (you think I'm kidding). You can hear this thing on the other side of my house! This is, of course, when the fan is at full speed. The noise doesn't drop much until you hit half speed.

As you can tell from the graph, the Aeroflow beat the Volcano 11 at half speed. The Aeroflow's temperatures were lower, and the sound was about the same. At higher speeds (and a tornadic sound) the Volcano 11 was still on par with the Aeroflow. At lower speeds, the Volcano was quieter than the Aeroflow, but the temperatures were much higher than I would have liked. Of course, this isn't to say that the Volcano 11 isn't doing its job, as it is a fairly decent cooler, just not as good as I had expected from Thermaltake.

Conclusion

I hate to say this, although I really enjoy some of Thermaltake's other products, the Volcano 11 just doesn't cut it for me (not to say the same for everyone else). The Volcano 11's name suits it well though. It's as big as, as loud as, and as heavy as an actual volcano. But I can't completely give up on the Volcano 11, as it does have a butt load more features than any other CPU cooler I have ever seen. There are so many options that almost anyone can find a reason to have a Volcano in their computer. Despite the Volcano's average performance, I have to give it kudos for all the features.

Pros

All copper
Looks great
3 lug clip
Adjustable fan speed via temperature
Adjustable fan speed via rheostat
Features!
Features!!
Features!!!

Cons

Lapping could have been better
Big
Loud
Average performance