Thermaltake Volcano9

[Buck]

Has anyone used this product before? I just received a few of these and hooked up one to a Athlon XP2100+. The CPU utilization is at 100% folding@home. I can't get the CPU to go above 55-degrees Celsius with the fan spinng at 1,671-rpm. The fan it supposed to automatically increase as the temperature increases; up to 4,800-rpm.

 

[CougTek]

Never tried it, but I have two Volcano 7 which share almost the same heatsink design. They are ok as far as cooling performance goes, although not exceptional. They have become noisy with the time too (one year and a half). I would have bought something else (Volcano 6Cu) at the time if I had known.

I don't know what's the problem limiting the rotational speed of your fan. At 55C, it should spin faster than 1600rpm and it should be close to full speed. Is 1600rpm the speed that your BIOS/monitoring software reporting you? Does it seems ok from the noise the fan emits? If the fan is reatively noisy, then I suspect a misreading by the monitoring software.

 

[Jan Kivar]

Do You have the sensor installed properly, beneath the heat sink? Do You have the fan speed controller installed? I think You can't have them both installed at the same time.

Cheers,

Jan

 

[Buck]

Coug,

The motherboard monitoring software reports the fan speed. The fan has a one-wire connector for the CPU fan header so that the BIOS can read its speed. The speed fluctuated between 1,654-rpm and 1,671-rpm. The case temperature did not exceed 27-degrees Celsius (panels attached) and the CPU temperature did not exceed 55-degrees Celsius. The ambient air temperature outside the case fluctuated between 10 and 15-degrees Celsius. The case also has a 80-mm exhaust fan at the rear running at about 3,500-rpm.

The CPU fan noise was relatively quiet and seemed to match the reported speed.

Jan,

The sensor is installed as described and photographically outlined by Thermaltake - on the underside of the CPU; adhered with a small piece of thermal tape. The fan speed controller is not connected.

I need to get the product into a wamer environment so that I can do some better analysis. Thanks for your input Jan and Coug.

PS: Please keep in mind that the above temperature data was recorded while the CPU was under full load and had maintained this load for a minimum of 8 hours.

 

[Buck]

Update on these Thermaltake contraptions I bought. I disconnected the automatic sensing, connected the rheostat and adjusted the fan speed accordingly. With this type of control over the fan combined with the decent heatsink, they should work fine.

 

[blakerwry]

buggy thermister perhaps? Dont thermisters need to be plugged in with the correct polarity (I'm pretty sure of this one) or they read the wrong temp?


hmm 1,660 is a bit above the spec'd min (1,300)... almost 30% faster. I wonder if the one you got is "lazy" so to speak, and doesn't increase RMP's enough... or if it's just supposed to keep the temps at ~55C, which are a little high, but not dangerous.

 

[jtr1962]

buggy thermister perhaps? Dont thermisters need to be plugged in with the correct polarity (I'm pretty sure of this one) or they read the wrong temp?

A thermistor is just a resistor whose resistance varies with temperature. There is no polarity. If the fan is using a transistor junction or other electronic temperature sensor then the wrong polarity will definitely cause a problem.

As for the components that do have polarity, we have batteries, diodes, LEDs, transistors, ICs, thermoelectric modules, and some types of capacitors(electrolytic, tantalum).

 

[blakerwry]

well.. i was thinking the same thing.. a thermister is a resister.. and as such has no polarity requirements..

however I remember my old Abit mobo (my 1st mobo to have temp sensoring via a thermister)... well I found out that for some reason if you plug in the thermister backwards it would give you the wrong temp. I think it was 32F.. maybe not.. it's been awhile.

 

[Jake the Dog]

I have a V9 and have found it to work great. with the fan speed set to low it's quiet and and effective certainly effective.

what does help I must admit is that I lapped the HS. I'd never lapped a HS before this one and whilst I didn't think lit would present much of a challenge, I must admit that I was a surprised just how easy it was. the copper slugs in V9's must be fairly of a very purity as it's very soft.

since this was a HSF I've never used before I can't make a comparison with how effective my lapping effort was. what I do know is that previously my CPU ran 65C @1875MHz on full load using a Black Thermoengine HS and Sunon 5500rpm 60mm fan which in itself is a decent combo, this new lapped V9 and with 80mm SmartFan running @ 3600rpm runs keeps my CPU 12C cooler under the same speed and load.

pictured below is my 1st ever effort at lapping a HSF:

it took me all of 20mins to do. 10mins lapping with 600 wet'n'dry, 5mins polishing with Autosol Metal Polish and 5mins removing all residue with an acetone-free alcohol based solvent. for the paper, I used an aluminium-oxide wet'n'dry paper (kindly borrowed form slo crostic). aluminium-oxide wet'n'dry is designed for two-pack paints instead of the more common, and cheaper, silicon-oxide papers (gray-black). it's my belief that aluminium-oxide paper is better suited to lapping as the grit is more uniformly placed on the paper when compared to silicon-oxide papers. in the case of lapping, even sanding is of the utmost importance and aluminium-oxide paper will sand metal that little bit more evenly.

 

[Jake the Dog]

grrr there's a few typos in my last post but I have to fix this one:

the copper slugs in V9's must be fairly of a very purity as it's very soft.

please read "must be of a very high purity"

 

[Tea]

I have a V9.

Wow! Cleveland? Or Windsor? I take it, then, that you are no longer calling yourzelf "V-8 Gent"?

 

[Tannin]

Jake wouldn't drive a Ford, you fool. Undoubtedly a Chevvy.

 

[Jake the Dog]

aha! you know me too well GM all the way for me. I'd have most Chrysler muscle cars too but very few Fords.

V8gent actually is my nick everywhere else on the web, only here am I known as JtD. it's actually pronounced: Vee-agent and comes from 'V8' and 'Agent Orange'. not that you wanted to know, but I wanted to tell you anyway...

 

[Tea]

Not that you wanted to know, but I wanted to tell you anyway.

Hmm.... I must make a note of that phrase. Could come in handy.

 

[Ekaf-Ami]

Excuse me for pointing out obvious item, Miss Tea, but is not needful that you should be saying Not that you wanted to know, but I wanted to tell you anyway inclusive in your conversations at any time. Not being complete numbskull fool-persons, many of Storage Forum readers make own observations and conclusions and know of you this thing already.

 

[Buck]

Beautiful job on the heatsink V8agent.

The fan is presently spinning at 2,992-rpm (manually set) and keeps the CPU at 59-degrees Celsius under full load with a case temperature of 36-degrees Celsius and an ambient room temperature of 24-degrees Celsius.

 

[CougTek]

Beautiful job on the heatsink V8agent.

Indeed. I'll have to remember how you did it next time I lap a heatsink. I've never had such a miror-like finish before. Impressive.

 

[Buck]

Maybe I'll just send all of my heatsinks to V8agent first.