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View Full Version : [INFORMATIVE] ThermalTake Volcano 7+ Not so +


BBA
08-09-2002, 9:57 AM
I decided to splurge. Now I have to back track.

I have some heat sink issues to resolve...namely why the Thermaltake Volcano 7+ I just got is not cooling as well as the Intel stock heatsink.

This is what happenned: My stock Intel heatsink temp with radio shack compound was idle at about 40ºC and games at about 50-52º. When I put the volcano in, idle temp went UP to 47º and gaming went to 60º ( or at least my alarm went off, which is set at 60º.) I tried two types of silver compound ( arctic silver 2 and Stars 360 silver compound ) as well as the Dow/Corning compound ( came with the Thermaltake ) and, the new compound radio shack is selling ( it's better than the old compound they used to sale ).

I think the problem has a lot to do with the amount of overclocking I am doing along with the amount of airflow in my system case. The case airflow is actually restricted by the volcano fan assembly!!!

For the case, I have two 65 CFM 120VAC fans in a wind tunnel arrangement. The one fan blows directly onto the CPU, the other is in the upper area of the case exhausting air. I think the additive flow probably gives me about 100CFM through the case total.

The thermaltake fan, on high speed is rated at 48 CFM ( and sounds like a LARGE HAIRDRYER...YUK!!! ) in the closed area blowing on the fins inside a shroud. The reason Intel heatsink works better must simply due to having larger gaps between the heat sink fins which do NOT restrict any airflow from my case fans.

But, to be fair, maybe in a case with lesser airflow, the Thermaltake would cool better than a stock Intel, but not in my case. To see if this is tru, and to be fair to Thermaltake, I just gave it to a friend running the same setup with a regular case.

At present I ended up with the Intel fan/heatsink and the silver compound. ( the compounds made very little difference in general ).

My next step is to add a 1/8" copper plate between the Intel heatsink and the CPU. That seems to be what worked well for me in the past.

speedman
08-09-2002, 2:05 PM
Did you lap the heatsink?

I have made this SOP before I even bother putting any heatsink on a CPU as I have found none of them to be flat on the bottom.

I use Wet or Dry sand paper in 320, 600 and 1000 grit. Wet and rinse often to remove particles.

BBA
08-09-2002, 2:19 PM
I checked the heatsink with a flat edge steel rule. If anything, I think the Intel CPU is not flat.

From reading reviews, the Tt is doing what it is supposed to do...but the Intel works better for my purposes.

caddmannq
08-09-2002, 4:25 PM
Where is the thermocouple on your setup?

BBA
08-09-2002, 8:04 PM
The temp sensor is built into the CPU core ( P4 Northwood ).

MDS
08-09-2002, 11:30 PM
my Tt Volcano 7+ work great on my 1.3 tbird after I lapped it as it wasn't contacting the cpu very well and it drop the temp down almost 10c after I lapped it.

BBA
08-11-2002, 6:54 AM
MDS, I thought about lapping the P4, it's not very flat. The Tt was very flat, very well machined.

I will see what kind of results my friend has with it and I may try lapping it after all. It does seem odd that the stock Intel heatsink cools better.

BBA
08-13-2002, 7:41 AM
I found the problem. The side cover/fan adapter housing that holds the Thermaltake fan slightly interferes with the heatsink retention bracket. The heatsink attaches firmly to the bracket, but the heatsink has almost no pressure holding it to the CPU. The fix is to grind a little material off the fan bracket on four spots near the retention clips.

Now....as for performance, it's only about 1-2 degrees colder than the Intel heatsink with a 1/8" copper spacer plate at the fans highest speed. At the fans low speed, it's about the same.

All in all, I think the Intel P4 Northwood heatsink is pretty darn good, comparatively, except neither fan/heatsink is actually good enough for me. Looks like I'm going to be building a custom heatsink....it's room temp or BUST!

Kuasimodem
09-02-2002, 11:45 AM
Have you given any thought to chilling it with a water cooling system? You wouldn't need the wind tunnel, making the system much quieter, and if you added a TEC you could drop your CPU temp to "less than zero":D:D

bhess
09-16-2002, 9:48 AM
Have you tried turning off all the case fans to see how well it performs? If it does better then you can cut down on a lot of noise by loosing the case fans.

BBA
09-17-2002, 10:58 AM
If I turn off the case fans, the thing runs a lot hotter no matter which cooler is installed. Besides, the case fans are quieter than the Tt 7+ fan on it's low speed.

I am devising a way to custom make a cooler that has enough surface area to cool better than either of these coolers and not require an additional fan.