Any experience with the Volcano 7?

[samoth]

I intend to get a Volcano 7 for my XP 1600+ on a Gigabyte 7VTXH. Does anybody have any experience with this particular fan (as far as mounting, connecting etc. goes)...?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Arkaine23]

Welcome to the forums!

The Volcano 7 is big, so put it on extra carefully. The clamp is pretty tight and is hard to do by hand. Be careful using a screwdriver to get the clamp in place, you don't want to scratch your motherboard.

I feel this heatsink is only fairly decent. You have to remove the thermistor that controls the fan speed in order to get it to perform like it should. When I did that to mine, the fan's rpm went up from around 3300 to 5100, and cpu temp dropped 2 degrees. It helps to duct air from outside the case directly to the fan. But I'm not unhappy with my temperatures...

[samoth]

thanks for the tip, Arkaine...

could you explain the thermistor-thing slightly more detailed please? Do I HAVE TO remove it, or is that only a suggestion? What if you don't remove it? Does removing mean, the fan always rotates at max rpm?

thanks in advance... ;)
samoth

[Hoot]

I recently benchmarked one on an XP-1800 using the internal Thermal Diode for reading the temperature and a surprisingly quiet 80mm 3500RPM fan. Here is what I got:

12x133 (1600 Mhz) @ 1.850Vcore Air=23C Core=46C 77W .30c/w
12x140 (1680 Mhz) @ 1.925Vcore Air=23C Core=50C 88W .31c/w
12x145 (1740 Mhz) @ 2.000Vcore Air=24C Core=54C 98W .31c/w

Hope this helps.

Hoot

[flounder43]

Originally posted by samoth
I intend to get a Volcano 7 for my XP 1600+ on a Gigabyte 7VTXH. Does anybody have any experience with this particular fan (as far as mounting, connecting etc. goes)...?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I like the reviews I have read about the 7, but just so you know, there is a new 7+ on the thermaltake website...It is copper.

[Yodums]

The heatsink didn't really impress me really. I'd go for something more extreme like the Millennium Glaciator or the CoolerMaster Heatpipe one, ThermalRight is coming out with a new heatsink too forgot what its called but damn it looks ugly but I wonder how it preforms.

Yodums

[Hoot]

I found in my notes a test run with the Volcano 7 where I paired it up with the Delta 68cfm (loud) fan that the MC-462A uses. With that setup I got the following:

12x133 (1600 Mhz) @ 1.850Vcore Air=23C Core=42C 77W .25c/w
12x140 (1680 Mhz) @ 1.925Vcore Air=23C Core=45C 88W .25c/w
12x144 (1740 Mhz) @ 2.000Vcore Air=23C Core=49C 98W .26c/w

This performance puts it close to the Cooler Master HHC-001.

More airflow, though louder, has its rewards:D

Hoot

[Tithulta]

the volcano 7+ is all copper and instead of the thermo control it has a switch for H, M , L rpm settings. It's a 70x70mm fan with an appearant 6000rpm max speed. It "looks" to be a decent performer, but I'd really like to see some test run on it. The mounting hardware looks questionable to me though. Looked to me as if it only had two on the outside with nothing in the middle.

[samoth]

thanks, guys.

another question: my current fan cooles the XP to 53 C idle and about 62 C under load. Seems quite hot to me, compared to what you guys come up with. Is this still in the limits?

[Arkaine23]

There is a little green knob sticking off the volcano 7's fan. You cut the 2 wires and remove this thermistor, then twist the wires back together. This forces the fan to be at full speed all the time. It's a little louder, but still not too bad.

The volcano 7+ has a switch for fan speed so this is not necessary. It is all copper instead of copper/aluminum. The fan is smaller but it spins faster. I haven't seen any reviews yet.

You want to stay below 50 C at load if possible. Low 40's would be better. Software temp monitors are not very accurate. I bet my temps are at least 3 or 4 degrees higher than what MBM shows.

[John1975]

I have the volcano 7, just got it today, so far I love it. It is quieter than my volcano 6cu was and seems to do a better job too. I have not heard it on the fast setting yet though.

I have a 1.2 celly at 1.5 and it is 43-44 degree under load. Also I have done the vid-pin mod on the cpu.

[samoth]

oh great, John, I'll get back to you in case my Volcano should cause any problems. Think I'll order it today, but I'm on holiday next week so any reviews will follow after 02/18...