[Azzkiller]

Hi. I was wondering if anyone had experience with the above cooler? I can get it for 17 dollars at www.svcompucycle.com. The things about it that I like are that it has a 80mm fan which wont be as loud, which is very important, as my computer runs 24/7 and is located in my dorm room. Its also variable speed, so when I play games and the processor heats up, it will cool it better. Any opinions?

Also, I am running a 1.33ghz Tbird at stock speed with a Soyo Dragon motherboard and Enermax 431w power supply. Will the Volcano 7 have problems fitting on this board? Thanks!

[Tithulta]

I wouldn't expect any problems from it fitting and if you running stock speeds it should do quite well for that. Depending on how much vintilation your systems has will determine how effective it is. Some have reported prolems with the thermal sensor not boosting the speed accordingly due to the case temps never heating up enough for it to kick int he higher speed.

If you can find it you might consider the Volcano 7+....much better Heatsink design(solid copper) and it comes with a switch so you can run the fan at High,Medium, or Low.

Again though if your only running stock speeds so long as the dorm room isn't "hot" then most coolers should do well enough.

For instance my room stays around 22c(morning) to as warm as 30c(noontime til dark). My main system has a Dragon orb 3(7000rpm fan=LOUD) and typically kept the temps between 42c and 48c throughout the day. My secondary system was using a volcano 5...it ran hotter;but ran only 4550rpm=fairly quiet. It ranged from 46c to 52c. Both systems run 24/7 FOlding@home so they are always at full load, or very close to it.

[Arkaine23]

The volcano 7's pretty good for $20. I have one, now in my girlfriend's computer, and I liked it. It should help you stay in the low 40's given typical room temperatures.

There's a way to make the fan go full speed all the time, but you'll have to decide if it's too loud for you or not, and if you really need that much cooling. It doesn't whine like 60mm high speed fans, luckily.

For about $40 you could find the Volcano 7+ which has implemented numerous design improvements, and has been recieving high marks in reviews. Search for a thread or two about it here in the forums if interested.

[AarontheJC]

I picked up a V7 and it works well. It's big and pretty, and it fits my other Tt cooling in my case. That's the main reason I went with it. It cools my CPU fine. I was running about 32.5C when I had first applied compound, but since then, the temps down here (South) have risen and my ambient went up a couple of degrees so I'm a degree or two up again.

Overall, it does what it's supposed to, but it's fairly noisy, so if you're going for ultra quiet, look at some other options. Let me say that a different way. You can tell the difference between stock AMD and Volcano 7.

For me, it's great, though. Looks good and cools fine with a tolerable level of noise. Oh yeah, and at $17, you don't have to fret your decision so much if you decide that you wanted the SK6.

SVC is a good company too. I bought my V7 from them about two months ago and they delivered a day early with very decent prices on shipping.

Hope this helps.

Heatsink Roundup

This is a good article you should check out before buying.