Techaddicts.net-ThermalTake Volcano 11+ Heat Sink Review

Review by: Daniel

Date: 5/12/03

Provided by: ThermalTake

The Volcano 11+ is the latest model in the continuing series of Volcano heatsinks. ThermalTake has improved their Volcano series of heat sinks dramatically. From an all aluminum design, to a copper insert, and finally to all copper, which the Volcano 11 + features. They also have added some useful items to the Volcano, such as speed control options, and temperature controlled fan speed. With the Volcano 11+ all copper design, this heat sink will handle all AMD Duron, Athlon, and Athlon XP processors up to 3200+

Fan grills are new to the Volcano series. ThermalTake added fan grills beginning with the Volcano 7. They add a really nice look to the entire fan. Notice that the fan grill with the large gaping holes will not protect your finger from going too close to the high speed fan. This can really hurt you if you are not careful. The grill is just for looks.

On the bottom of the box, it states that this heat sink is equipped with Opti-fin technology, which basically means that the fins are very dense, creating the perfect environment for maximum heat dissipation. There are 40 fins on each side of the heat sink. Making a total of 80 fins. Having 80 fins total will ensure great performance, even though the fan is at a minimum rpm.

These are all the contents of the box. From left to right, there is the 5 1/4" bay speed control dial, the PCI slot speed dial control, a 3 to 4 pin power adapter, manual, the Volcano 11+, thermal probe, thermal paste, thermal tape, a jumper for the fan, and some screws. The manual is unfolded into a step-by-step picture guided manual, which makes the installation very easy for everybody.

Speed Control options are becoming more popular in heat sink solutions today. With the option to quiet down a noisy fan when it is not needed, users are beginning to buy more products with this option. The ThermalTake Volcano 11+ comes with two options. Either to have the dial on the 5 1/4" bay and the PCI slot control the fan speed which can be anywhere from 1300 rpms to 4800 rpms, or have an external diode control the fan speed, which also can be anywhere from 1300 to 4800 rpms. There is also an option to have the fan spin at a full 4800rpms all the time, which is fairly noisy, especially if you are sitting next to it for long periods of time. Keep in mind that you can only use one of these options at a time.

On the fan, there is one connector for the 5 1/4" bay speed control, and the PCI slot speed control unit. And the second connector is for a thermal probe for automatic speed adjustment. You can also put a jumper in the first connecter to have the fan spin at 4800 rpms permanently. The best option in my opinion is the thermal probe, which automatically adjusts the fan speed according to the temperature. You can place the thermal probe just about anywhere, with the included thermal tape. The instructions recommend that you place the probe on the bottom of you CPU for accurate temperature adjustment and fan speed.

The Volcano 11+ features an orange colored fan that looks great along with the silver fan grill.

If you take a look at the sides of the heat sink, you will notice the Opti-Fin technology that I mentioned before. There are 40 fins on each side, making a total of 80 fins, which is great for heat dissipation. The dimensions of the heat sink are 70x66x30.8mm which is fairly large for an all copper heat sink. Notice that there is a small adapter for the fan to heat sink connection. It is a standard sized 80mm fan. (80x80x25mm)

From the two pictures above, you can see that the fins on the heat sink are very dense.

The bottom of the heat is polished off, but not the shiniest I have seen in copper heat sinks. This heat sink uses a clip design which has 3 clips on each side, which should give the heat sink a more secure hold on the socket and CPU.

Comparing the Volcano 11+(left) against the Cooler Master HHC-001 heat pipe heat sink (right), the bottom of the HHC-001 is more polished and gives a better mirror look. In some cases, you may get better results if you polish the heat sink, because you are getting rid of some microscopic gaps in the heat sink. Getting rid of the microscopic gaps in the heat sink will enable better heat sink to CPU contact. The Arctic Silver series of thermal paste also claim to help get rid of the gaps by filling them in.

I will be comparing the two heat sinks on both sides of the Volcano 11+. They are the Cooler Master HHC-001 and the Cooler Master X-Dream. Not shown is the Retail AMD heat sink. Both of the Cooler Master heat sinks are a bit taller than the Volcano 11+ The HHC-001(left of Volcano 11+) features heat pipe technology, which has been awarded many times by review sites, including Techaddicts. It has been awarded for the awesome temperature results. The downside to the HHC-001 is the noise. The Cooler Master X-Dream is very similar to the Volcano 11+. It looks as if ThermalTake was trying to compete with Cooler Master, in terms of speed adjustable heat sinks. The X-Dream features an aluminum heat sink with a copper insert in the middle. The copper insert takes away the heat from the core of the CPU, and the aluminum fins dissipate the heat. Notice that both the Volcano 11+ and the X-Dream have a colored fan, and an "X style" fan grill.

These are the heat sinks by themselves (the 2 above). You can really see how dense and thin the Volcano 11+ fins are. The HHC-001 still has some thin fins, but not as dense. The X-Dream fins are big and sparse.

The bottom of the heat sinks is interesting, both of the Cooler Master bases are still very shiny when compared to the Volcano 11+ base. Again, the performance of the heat sink can vary very little if the base is polished or not. The X-Dream has a very large base too, at 80x69x45mm, which is a bit bigger than the 70x66x30.8mm dimensions of the Volcano 11+.

This is the fan by itself from the Volcano 11+, which features a very unique blade color.

Very similar fans from the Cooler Master X-Dream and Volcano 11+, Cooler Master's X-Dream SE has a orange-gold colored fan. Is there some copying going on here, or some extreme competition. The only difference is that the Volcano 11+ fan features a thermal probe. Here is what I think happened, Cooler Master came out with the X-Dream, then ThermalTake comes out with the Volcano 11 series with the orange fan to compete. The Volcano 11 series of fans are better than the X-Dream in performance though as you will see in the test.

Both of these heat sinks also feature the "X" grill design. The X-Dream's is plastic though. It also looks as if the Volcano 11+ grill is limiting more air than the X-Dream, potentially causing more noise.

They both use the triple clip design for a better hold on the socket and CPU. The clip design is better on the X-Dream though, because it is tool-less, and only needs your thumb to push down to lock it into place. The X-Dream also has a slightly taller base.

Both the Volcano 11+ and X-Dream have a speed dial for the PCI slot, allow the user to change the speed from the back. The Volcano 1!+ is a little bit more high quality and fancy than the X-Dream. But I feel that ThermalTake is just improving on what Cooler Master had before they came up with the Volcano 11.

Installation of the heat sink was fairly easy, except that the clip needed a screwdriver and excessive force. The screwdriver slipped once for me, so be careful when installing. As you can see from the picture above, the fan looks great along with the motherboard color.

The temperature results are from running the SiSoft Sandra 2003 CPU burn-in test for 6 times. This is a pretty intensive CPU test. The results for the Volcano 11+ are promising. With the AMD Retail Heat Sink, you would get some pretty high temperature results. The results were 127F/38C, which is pretty hot and you shouldn't have the CPU running at that temperature. The X-Dream does not do too good at low RPM(1600rpm), getting a result of 116F/32C. With a balanced rpm (2750rpm), it gets a temperature of 108F/27C, which is not bad, but it could do better. At Maximum rpms (4700rpm) the X-Dream does OK with temperatures of 102F/24C. The Volcano 7 original gets temperatures similar to the X-Dream running at Low rpm. The CoolerMaster HHC-001 Heatpipe is very good at keeping a low temperature (98F/22C), but operates at 7000rpms, which is very loud. The Volcano 11+ results are great at all rpms, from Low (1500rpm), scoring 110F/28C, Balanced (2700rpm) it gets 102F, which is the same temperature as the X-Dream at its maximum RPM. And at Max. speed(4600rpms), the Volcano 11+ gets a very low temperature of (97F/21C). So, at Max. Speed, the Volcano 11+ gets the same results as the Cooler Master heat pipe. This is a great step for ThermalTake. You get about the same amount of noise from the 4600rpm 80mm Volcano11+ fan, and the Cooler Master HHC-001. The HHC-001 seems to have a slightly higher pitch sound though.

So, as you have seen, the ThermalTake Volcano 11+ features great performance at all the speeds I have tested it against. For about 45 dollars on Price Watch, it is a little expensive. The Cooler Master X-Dream is very affordable at around 20 dollars. The Cooler Master HHC-001 Heat pipe is about 30 dollars. If you don't need the adjustable fan, thermal diode, and a noisy 7000 rpm fan, then I would get the HHC-001 from Cooler Master. But if you like the good looks, along with great performance at all variable speeds, then buy Volcano 11+.

Techaddicts.net would like to give the ThermalTake Volcano 11+ a 9 out of 10