OCZ Gladiator 3 and Thermaltake Volcano 12 Heatsinks Review Author: Alan Wong Date Posted: December 26th, 2003 OCZ Gladiator 3 (Black Fan Version) SLRating: OCZ Gladiator 3 (LED Fan Version) SLRating: Thermaltake Volcano 12 Heatsinks SLRating: Bottom Line: With lots of cooling fans to choose from its important to get it right as CPU’s demand better cooling to keep up with the excess temperature from overclocking. We evaluated cooling fans from OCZ and Thermaltake, performance varied and so did noise, read on to discover what we found in our official review........ Article Navigation Introduction Thermaltake Volcano 12 OCZ Gladiator 3 Test Setup Performance Noise Conclusions Thermaltake Volcano 12 OCZ Gladiator 3 Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> Discuss This Article

Performance/Noise

As you can see, the Volcano 12 at its maximum fan speed managed to cool the best during both idle and load state. The only drawback was that the fan is VERY LOUD. The sound was a loud hum (which is always better than those loud screeching sounds other heatsinks make when set at maximum RPM) but nonetheless very annoying.

The Volcano 12 at 3500RPM provided the best noise/cooling ratio because it provided adequate cooling and at the same time was quiet. It performed on par with the OCZ Gladiator 3 with the LED fan. Unlike the LED fan version of the Gladiator 3, the high speed silent black fan version of the Gladiator 3 performed the poorest compared to the CoolerMaster Aero 7 Lite and the Thermaltake Volcano 12 (even at their lowest settings). The LED Gladiator 3 cooled much better than the Silent Black fan version of the Gladiator 3 and since the LED fan was almost as silent as the black fan, I recommend getting the version of the Gladiator 3 with the LED fan.

The Gladiator 3 (LED fan version) tied in second place with the Volcano 12 @ 3500RPM. Considering the fact that the Gladiator 3 costs almost half as much as the Volcano 12, the Gladiator 3 performed exceptionally well and should be considered for both overclockers and conventional users alike.

When at the lowest setting, the Volcano 12 was as silent but did drag behind cooling wise.

Conclusions

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Article Navigation Introduction Thermaltake Volcano 12 OCZ Gladiator 3 Test Setup Performance/Noise Conclusions

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