Thermaltake Volcano 7 Heatsink/Fan

Lets take a closer look at the Volcano 7.  

The Volcano 7 is a bit smaller than the Alpha and the Swiftech.  Thermaltake choose to use a slightly smaller sink that is 10mm shorter in width and 12mm shorter in breadth than the 80mm fan it sports.  The overlap is hidden nicely by a shiny aluminum neck of sorts that tapers the fan to the sink to give it a cleaner look.  Tt must be on a 1950's kick with the chrome look.  Check out the fan's finger guard.

The sinks base was comprised of a copper insert in an aluminum base.  After we picked off the worthless thermal interface material we could see that the sink's base was reasonably smooth and flat.  A small amount of lapping wouldn't be uncalled for.  But the quality of the sink's base is definitely within the acceptable range.  

With the judicious use of aluminum the weight of the Volcano 7 is kept down and that is good news.  The clip on the Volcano 7 was a regular old clip that could for all likelihood come off a Volcano 5 or 6 which are significantly smaller sinks.  The clip has the standard catch to hook a screwdriver into so you can lift the clip on and off the mobo's socket catch.  I honestly expected a mount that would attach the sink directly to the mainboard.  Then again the Volcano 7 is lighter than most all copper heatsinks.  So, is the need really there?

While installation was not overly difficult, it was certainly not a tool-free affair.  The Volcano, like the Alpha and the Swiftech, needs to have its fan removed in order to get the proper angle to secure the clip to the socket catch.  In all fairness, the reason for the moderate difficulty in installing the Volcano was a combination of the mainboard's layout and the sink.  Our test bed is based on a ABIT KT7A with the heatsink catches on the top and bottom of the socket.  This type of layout is less accommodating for an oversized heatsink such as the Volcano.  The other mainboard here is a Soyo Dragon that has the sink catches on either side of the socket.  Installation and removal of the Volcano 7 on the Dragon would have been child's play because of all the lateral room.  With the ABIT however; when it came time to remove the sink, it was more difficult than the "slip, fuss and pop into place" the installation was.  We had to remove our PSU in order to get to the sinks catch.  While we can't blame these installation challenges entirely on Thermaltake, we do understand why the PAL8045 and the MC-462 uses the mainboard mounts to lash them on now.

In typical Overclocker Cafe' fashion we continued to strip the Volcano 7 down to its skivvies.

You can see here how the copper insert is the entire thickness of the base.  This give the Volcano plenty thermal conductivity from the copper and a matching amount of high surface areas of aluminum that dissipate heat quicker than copper.  Let's also not forget that this helps with the weight of the product as well.  Looks like the best of both worlds blended to me.

BACK                  NEXT

Legal Notice and Fine Print

All names and trademarks used herein are the properties of their respective owners.  The Overclocker Cafe™ and its staff accept no responsibility for any damages incurred from deviating from your computer's factory settings.  All forms of correspondence sent in are viewed as eligible for public view unless mutually agreed to previously as otherwise.  The name Overclocker Cafe', its images and site specific logos are the Trademark and Servicemark of the Overclocker Cafe' Company. Williamsburg, Virginia.

All rights reserved.  All pages Copyright © 2000 - 2008 by R. Dean Barker.

Graphics by Navin Amarasuriya
[ Privacy Policy ]