Volcano7+, disappointment (P4)

[Richard]

Word to the wise. Stick with the retail P4 heatsink.

I figured the Volcano7+ heatsink would be at least a little bit better than the stock P4 retail sink. Boy was I wrong!

Not only is this thing loud (even on medium settings) it is a barely adequate cooler. It performs no better - perhaps even slightly worse - than the retail P4 sink.

Yes, I applied Arctic Silver. Yes, I made sure everything was mounted correctly.

Perhaps, it's a better Socket A heatsink. I don't know. All I know is, it is a poor P4 sink. (Can't stress that enough.)

If you have intentions of getting a better P4 cooler, go water.

 

[Richard]

Little update.

The clip mechanism is part of the reason for the bad temps.

The P4 mounting brackets do not allow for good contact with the CPU. I don't know what rocket scientist designed them, but the standoffs don't allow for maximum clamping pressure.

I recommend bending the flanges up a little. It certainly helps. Although, I'm still not that impressed. I'll run a few more tests, and hopefully provide some numbers.

Another update:

After remounting the heatsink about 5 times, and bending the flanges on the thermaltake mounting bracket I have finally gotten a worthwhile reading.

Under full load @ 2308 MHz @ 1.6 volts I'm getting 50 degrees celsius. Before with the retail I was getting 52-54 C.

Another benefit is that the CPU doesn't appear to be clock throttling like it was before. (Prime95 iteration times fluctuate minimally. (.030 - .033 seconds)

My final impression of the Volcano7+ has potential to be a quite good heatsink, but it appears that the heatsink is hobbled by the clamp mechanism.

 

[alecela]

Richard,

Tx very much for the report...

I must admit I was surprised at your findings...

With C/W ratings at 0.30 for the V7+ and 0.46 for stock HSF, assuming around 56 watts I would expect close to 9C in difference. While there are margins of errors, I don't think you are getting what you deserve... By the same token, I'm surprised that Joe C didn't notice any problem w/ his sample retention clip...

Alpha is supposedly coming out w/ a new HS for socket 478 so with fingers crossed we'll finally get some decent socket 478 heatsink...

 

[alecela]

Richard,

Any luck on the Volcano 7+? I just came across one while I was in Singapore last week and couldn't resist the temption of buying one even w/ your comments... SUUUURELY your were right. The damn thing was barely touching my CPU by looking at the AS stuck on the heatsink... Arghhh..... I tried bending the retention clip as well as inserting some washers between the clip and the base attachment but no luck!!!

 

[alecela]

Got it!