Volcano Vs. Vantec - Volcano Vs. Vantec
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Ok, lets get on to the real guts of this review. I know you guys are dying to see some performance specs. So lets move on and see which one of these 2 HSF units came out on top. The chip we used for this test was the Celeron2 600Mhz chip. First, lets see the HSF performance at a mere 600Mhz default speed, also set at default Voltage core of the new stepping celeron's 1.70v.
| Cooler | Idle Temp | Load Temp |
| Volcano II | 75 | 86 |
| Vantec FCE | 75 | 89 |
Here's a pic of MBM on the desktop running prim95 putting the load on.
What's that? The Volcano II edging out the Vantec on Load Temperature? Hmm, honestly I did not expect this. But as usual, I did double and triple check my readings, and this is what I ended up with. Even though the Volcano II's fan is running a much slower RPM, it is still putting out nearly the same CFM (cubic feet per minute) airflow as the black label type fan see on the Vantec and Global Win fans. It also does it at 31db, as opposed to 46db of the Vantec fan. Honestly, the Volcano II's fan was very quiet comparitively. Ok, did you think I was gonna let you peeps go without pushing this chip to it's limit's in order to heat it up a bit? Hell no. Lets take a look what temperature's we see with the Celeron2 @950Mhz, at 1.85v.
| Cooler | Idle Temp | Load Temp |
| Volcano II | 76 | 98 |
| Vantec FCE | 76 | 100 |
Again, we see the Thermaltake Volcano II pulling ahead of the Vantec unit? How does it do it? Hell if I know, but again, I double and triple checked my readings and this is what I got. One thing I'd like to state is ambient room temp was within 1 degree with each test, and my actual case temp around 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Of course these readings have many different variables and could quite possibly differ from what others may get. Also note the Celeron core does not get NEARLY as hot as the new T-birds and with that, the results could quite possibly do a complete turn around. However, with the celeron, our best bet is the Volcano for temperature.
Lets finish this article by touching on the High's and Low's of each unit.
Volcano II
High's: Very cheap, $15!!
Very quiet
Smaller than most HSF units
Very respectable cooling
Low's: Screwdriver needed for installation (but then, most units require this also)
That's it for the Volcano. This unit comes Highly recommended and is currently on my chip, and will probably stay there for awhile as it cools very well and is very quiet.
Vantec FCE-62540D
High's: Also fairly priced, $19
Best clipping mechanism I have seen or used to date!!
Also respectable cooling for less than a $20 spot
Low's: Very loud! 46db!!
Did not cool quite as well as the Volcano II, but again, still respectable
As a final note for the Vantec. I would also recommend this unit to anyone. Yes it is big, it is loud, but again, the clipping mechanism is as good as it gets and makes for an easy installation of this unit.
All in all, I was very happy with both Heatsinks but I have to give the higher recommendation to Thermaltake's Volcano II unit. Way to go guys. A much better alternative over the Super Orb that cannot be used with a copper spacer. At least without modifications. As always, I would like to thank each and every one of you for checking out this OCA review and please send any flames, props or suggestions HERE. We would also like to thank Sidewinder Computers for providing us with the Vantec unit, as well as Thermaltake Technology Co., Ltd for providing the Volcano II.
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We have received quite a few emails questioning our results since the Volcano beat the Vantec on our Celeron2. What we did to cover all our bases is to put together an additional one page write up comparing these two coolers on a T-Bird CPU. Check it out below....
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After receiving a few inquiries about the results we achieved with our Vantec Vs. Volcano review (not to be confused with the flop Tom Hanks movie "Joe vs. the Volcano") we decided to give these coolers another spin. This time we threw them on our AMD T-bird 1Ghz cpu running at 1.2Ghz with 1.75 volts. And while we were at it we retested them on the original CeleronII test bed.
In the first review the ThermalTake VolcanoII out performed the Vantec FCE-645240D cooler slightly, and quite frankly, that surprised us a little bit. We decided to put this piece up to make certain that you had the complete picture. This is not intended to be a review, this is just an addition of sorts to the original article. I'm not going to waste you're time droning on, I'll just throw up the facts and we'll go from there.
(On the left is the FCE-645240D and the VolcanoII on the right. Pics shamelessly stolen from Sidewinder Computers.)
To come up with the following results, we overclocked our 1Ghz T-bird to a respectable 1.2Ghz, running at the default voltage of 1.75volts. We used the thermal sensor located within the socket on our Abit KT7-Raid motherboard. To achieve the "Load Temps" we ran Prime95, SiSoft Sandra's CPU burn in utility, and looped Quake3 at max settings for good measure. Once the CPU got as hot as it'd get, we recorded that temperature. For "Idle Temps" we simply let the system sit idle until the temperature would go no lower. Ambient temperature for all of the below testing was 73.9 +/- 1deg. On with the results.....
As you can see from above, the results we got with the AMD CPU were significantly different.. The Vantec FCE-645240D outperformed the ThermalTake VolcanoII by a rather large margin comparatively. Why you might ask? To be completely honest I don't really know. Yesterday Justifier and I reran the tests on the CeleronII system with both coolers and got the same results. Ambient temps were different when we reran them, but the differences in performance were right on par with where we were before. I cannot explain it, but while this cooler outperforms the TT VolcanoII on a high end AMD CPU, it simply falls behind the VolcanoII when tested on the budget Intel CeleronII CPU. While both provide excellent cooling, the facts are still the facts. We have discussed this with Sidewinder Computers and indirectly with Vantec, they have discussed the possibility of sending us a different sample to make sure that our unit was not defective, but with the outstanding performance of the Vantec on the AMD, I have to wonder just how defective our unit can be.
Our main goal in showing you this is just to make sure we get accurate information out to you on products we review. When I ran these tests the first time around I did everything twice to insure accuracy, so I'm rather baffled myself. That is why we tested these coolers on an AMD and retested them on the CeleronII. This just goes to show that there are a lot of variables that go into applying a heat sink and getting consistent results, there are so many variables that everyone is bound to get different results to a certain extent.
To show you where these heat sinks stand against the competition I've thrown together the following graph. These are only the load temps, as idle temps all remained very close to the same. I am going to compare these two with GlobalWin's most popular offerings.
So there ya have it. Really there's not a bad heat sink in this bunch, regardless of your CPU type. Personally, if I were to be in the market to buy one I would go with the Vantec FCE-645240D based on its superior clip design and it's very respectable performance, but that's an individual call. If noise is a concern for you, perhaps the VolcanoII is more up your alley. But in that same vain, To purchase the FOP38/32 and switch back and forth from the beastly 6800RPM Delta fan and the quieter 4200RPM fan depending on application purposes makes a lot of sense as well. Right now there is a more competitive market for CPU cooling than ever before in my opinion, so you need to decide what best fits your individual needs and go with that.
All of these fans can be purchased over at Sidewinder Computers for VERY competitive prices, and you simply will find no where on the net to get better service.
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