Thermaltake Extreme Volcano 12

[SaguratuS]

The second review :happy:

Thermaltake Extreme Volcano 12

Lets start off with a few pictures.

Retail Package

The Noisemaker

Heatsink

Price: $27 (Pricewatch)

This is known to be one of the higher-end air cooling solutions, and when it comes to overclocking, it does the job.

Packaging

This heatsink comes with 3 different methods of speed control - Front panel dial, rear panel dial (fits in an expansion card slot), thermal sensor (fits in a 3.5" floppy bay).

The packaged thermal grease it comes with checked out to be a typical ceramic grease, which I would not recommend using if you plan to overclock. Arctic silver 5 will make this heatsink far more effective (~8F while idle - temps shown below are with AS5)

Speed Control

For ease of use, the thermal sensor is the way to go, and smoothly adjusts fanspeeds accordingly. Although I found that you must not place the thermal sensor directly on the back of certain CPUs due to differentiating temperatures which will result in the fan being locked onto a high speed. Unfortunately you can only have one controller connected to the fan, which leads for most users to take the front panel for ease of access. The front panel dial is extremely sensitive, and only a very small turn (about 40 degrees) will take the fan from it's lowest setting to it's highest. The rear dial however is constant from one end to the other.

Noise and the Rest

This is what I would consider to be the largest downside of this fan. When set to it's lowest setting, it is inaudible, but is only running around 2200 RPM, which is enough to keep the temperature (ath 3200 not OC'd) under 115F (46c) while idle, and 127 (53c) load. When you decide to crank the fan up, it might remind you of someone vacuuming in the room next to you. Thermaltake claims a maximum DB of 48db at their "max" RPM of 5500. In reality, when this fan is turned up all the way, it's running roughly 6200 RPM, and is significantly louder than 48db. Any setting inbetween minimum and maximum is noteably audible, but is by no means unbearable.

Overall, this is a great CPU cooler without taking the step up to watercooling. But due to the 3 blade design on the fin and a maximum RPM of 6200, this thing will chop off your finger, and does not come with a fanguard - I'd strongly suggest keeping the case sides inplace. Noisy when on maximum, but it gets the job done. If you're on a budget, this is a great way to go, but if you can spend a little bit more, I'd suggest looking into a watercooling system.

Pros:

Quiet cooling when not overclocking

Very effective for most overclocking

Automatic speed control

Handy front and rear speed dial

Very nice looking for windowed cases

Excellent performance vs cost ratio

Cons:

Very noisy when at maximum

Front Dial is not 360? responsive

Can only hook up one speed controller (Thermal, Back, or Front)

Packaged thermal grease is lacking in quality.

Sags Score: 7.0>

[SaguratuS]

Alright, I need some help choosing a next review - what's something you'd like to see?

Some of the stuff I can write up in ~15 minutes -

DVD Drives

CDr Drives

Cases

Temperature Monitors

Power Supplies

Food

Monitors

Sound Cards

Speakers

Hard Drives (Excluding SCSI/Raptor drives)

Stuff that'll take much longer (due to needed testing and detail writing)

CPUs

Video Cards

Mobos

Notebooks

Name Brand Comps

Software

Everything Else

I've dealt with a LOT of hardware, so I can write a review on quite a few things in these sections. I'd happily write a food recommendation review as well :shifty:

[dewy]

Food

[SaguratuS]

Food

Done and Done

well, just finished the P225f Review which was a tad longer, I'll try to get to food tonight :D

[matt74441]

I bought that heatsink a few months ago, and it works great. My only complaint is that its a little too loud.

[Oblivion]

Cool (Y)

[Bushrat]

I think my factory p4 cooloer doesn't do to well :\

[Pink Floyd Veteran]

very good fan

the one ive got

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=161969

for those interested

[Alex_is_Axel]

Cases

[SaguratuS]

I bought that heatsink a few months ago, and it works great. My only complaint is that its a little too loud.

If you take the fan off and place a few rubber/foam washers in, it does wonders for the noise. I'd strongly recommend not using the automatic temperature control however.

[Daniel F. Administrators]

congrats this made the front page Neowin Member reviews

[matt74441]

If you take the fan off and place a few rubber/foam washers in, it does wonders for the noise. I'd strongly recommend not using the automatic temperature control however.

I don't use the automatic temperature controller, but I should give the washer thing a try.