Thermaltake Volcano 9 Heatsink / Smart Fan 2

Manufacturer: Thermaltake Technology
Supplied by: Thermaltake Technology
Price: TBA

By Dean Barker (7/12/2002)

Introduction 

Last October we had the pleasure of looking at the Thermaltake Volcano 7 heatsink.  At that time, the V7 was the first true active cooling solution available.  This was due to its having a sensor mounted to its fan that adjusted the fan speed depending on the temperatures it was reading.  The Volcano 7 was and still is a solid heatsink but its impediment was that the fan reacted to case temperature rather than CPU temperature.  Since its emergence several better ways of doing things have come about and it seems that Thermaltake has incorporated as many of these as possible into the Volcano 9.  The Volcano 9 is the next logical progression of the Volcano 7.  Logical except for its name.  It seems that the Volcano 7+ should have been called the Volcano 9 and vice-versa.  But hey, what's in a name?  We want to be sure to thank Thermaltake for providing us the first look at their newest cooling product.

The Volcano 7 showed itself as having two weak points over time; the clipping mechanism and the fan speed control sensor being on the fan as opposed to the point of heat generation.  Thermaltake has addressed these points directly with the V9.  Being that much of the improvement is due to the fan, we want to give proper credit.  The fan on the Tt Volcano 9 is the revision of Tt's Smart Fan, which is called, what else but Smart Fan II. 

What you get.

Here are both the Volcano 9 and the Smart Fan II.  Both packages come with numerous extras for the fan.  What you get in each is a silicon thermal goop pack, a one inch square of double sided thermal tape, a thermal probe with thin leads, a tiny rheostat, a three pin to four pin Molex adapter with RPM sensor cable, Smart Fan II, and the Volcano 9 (pending you have the V9 rather than the Smart Fan II.)

The Sink

Looking at the sink, we find it to be of a very familiar design.  If you say it looks like the Volcano 7 you would be right.  It is effectively the Volcano 7 except that the heatsink isn't blue.  We see the same 23 fins surrounded by a chrome louver.  The construction is aluminum with a copper insert running the height of the base in the sink's center.

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