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Introduction
Not too long ago I ran the Thermaltake Volcano 5 all aluminum cooler thru the torture chamber here at my place, and, well, I was less than thrilled by the under whelming performance from it, when it was beat out by other aluminum heat sinks that were several months older than it. However, along with the Volcano 5, Thermaltake also released 2 other heat sinks simultaneously; the Volcano 6Cu and the Volcano 6Cu+. Given Thermaltake's pretty well respected history in the heat sink world, I had some pretty high hopes riding on the 6's they sent me, now lets see if they held up to them or not.
Packaging and Construction
The Volcano 6's are a very, very similar design to the volcano 5 that we just covered. When placed side by side, you can't really tell the difference between the 2 heat sinks from a side view:
The only physical difference between the Volcano 5 and 6's is a relatively large copper insert on the bottom of the 6Cu series. It kinda looks like they took a very large copper coin and popped it into the base of the 5.
While I've seen cleaner heat sink bottoms before, the volcano 6's base looks pretty nifty. The copper insert is obviously the point of contact for the core, and it cones to you clean and very smooth. I saw no reason to lap the bottom of this heat sink, which is a major bonus in my book. As I have mentioned before, they sent me 2 heat sinks for the 6. One was the 6Cu while the other was the 6Cu+. Physically they're identical designs, with the difference being which fan they used on the cooler. The Volcano 6Cu uses a lower power fan; identical to the one used on the 5, while the 6 uses a higher power unit closer to the infamous delta black label fans. So they obviously made the 2 different ones for people either want a cooler that is quiet and efficient as opposed to those who aren't worried about noise and want something effective. Here are the fans with some more hard numbers on them:
Volcano 6Cu fan:
| Fan Dimension |
60x60x25 mm |
| Rated Voltage |
12VDC |
| Started Voltage |
7VDC |
| Power Input |
2.04W |
| FAN Speed |
4550±10% RPM |
| Max. Air Flow |
32 CFM |
| Noise |
31dBA |
| Current |
0.17AMP |
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Volcano 6Cu+ fan:
| Fan Dimension |
60x60x25 mm |
| Rated Voltage |
12VDC |
| Started Voltage |
7VDC |
| Power Input |
4.44W |
| FAN Speed |
7000±10% RPM |
| Max. Air Flow |
38 CFM |
| Noise |
39dBA |
| Current |
0.37AMP |
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The only interesting thing I note here is that on Thermaltake's site, the fan specs they list are notably lower in power draw than the actual fans say, by about 10%. Why is this? I can't exactly say, but the other specs seem to match up pretty well. One thing you might notice up there is that the CFM and dBA ratings on the fans are VERY friendly. 32cfm at 31dBA and 38cfm at 39dBA WOW! Those are great numbers, when you look at some other common fan specs. I.e. 38cfm at 48dBA or 26cfm at 31 dBA. The Thermaltake fans show up as very nice options to use.
The sink itself is packaged in a nicely designed cardboard box that the unit fits in snugly, which helps it avoid jostling during shipping. Nothing fancy, but nothing really lacking in that either. The one thing that isn't really present in with either of the 6's is a 3 to 4 pin adapter for power. While the 6Cu doesn't really need one due to the low power consumption, the 6Cu+ pulls about 5W of power, which not all motherboards can put out safely, and would be better off using the PSU over the motherboard for power.
Packaging and design:
Volcano 6Cu: 2/2
Volcano 6Cu+: 1.75/2
>> Installation/Test
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