The Volcano 9 was tested in all configurations on the following test machine:
- Motherboard: Abit KX7-333R
- CPU: AMD Athlon XP1700+
- RAM: 512Mb Crucial PC2100 DDR CAS 2.5
- Power supply: Enermax EG365P-VE 350w
- Video Card: VisionTek GeForce 3 Ti 200
- Case: Antec 1030SX SOHO
- Sound card: SoundBlaster LIVE! 5.1
- OS: Windows XP Pro
After applying the correct amount of Arctic Silver III thermal paste, I installed the Volcano 9 without any difficulties and was even able to do so without removing the motherboard from the case. Although I highly recommend that you do attach any heat sink onto the motherboard when it is out of the case, the improved three-hole clip on the Volcano 9 made it very easy to attach while the mobo was still in the case.
Because of the various ways in which this heat sink can be set up, there is quite a lot of information here so that you can see how it reacts in each of its incarnations. I allowed the Arctic Silver III the minimum recommended 72 hours of break-in before starting the torture tests. The tests consisted of:
- 3DMark 2001SE (Graphics/CPU/Memory)
- PCMark 2002 (Graphics/CPU/Memory)
- SiSoft SANDRA Burn-in (Graphics/CPU/Memory/HDD)
- United Devices Distributed Computing (100% CPU load)
- Neverwinter Nights (Graphics/CPU/Memory)
- Overclocking the XP1700+ to XP1900+ (1.60GHz/FSB at 145x11) Vcore at 1.825v.
All temps are +/- 2*C and all fan speeds are +/- 50 RPM.
Here are the results:
Set-up 1 (normal) with settings at default w/ max fan speed (5625 RPM)
- Idle: 39*C
- 3DMark 2001 SE: 43*C
- PCMark 2002: 43*C
- SiSoft SANDRA: 43*C
- United Devices: 46*C
- Neverwinter Nights: 46*C
Set-up 1 while overclocking w/ max fan speed (5625 RPM)
- Idle: 43*C
- 3DMark 2001 SE: 48*C
- PCMark 2002: 47*C
- SiSoft SANDRA: 46*C
- United Devices: 50*C
- Neverwinter Nights: 49*C
Set-up 2 (adjustable switch) default settings w/ fan speed at lowest setting (1625 RPM)
- Idle: 49*C
- 3DMark 2001 SE: 53*C
- PCMark 2002: 52*C
- SiSoft SANDRA: 51*C
- United Devices: 57*C
- Neverwinter Nights: 56*C
Set-up 2 w/ fan speed at medium setting (3500 RPM)
- Idle: 41*C
- 3DMark 2001 SE: 46*C
- PCMark 2002: 47*C
- SiSoft SANDRA: 45*C
- United Devices: 48*C
- Neverwinter Nights: 49*C
Set-up 2 w/ fan speed at max setting (5625 RPM)
- Idle: 39*C
- 3DMark 2001 SE: 43*C
- PCMark 2002: 43*C
- SiSoft SANDRA: 43*C
- United Devices: 46*C
- Neverwinter Nights: 46*C
Set-up 2 while overclocking w/ fan at lowest setting (1625 RPM)
- Idle: 53*C
- 3DMark 2001 SE: 58*C
- PCMark 2002: 58*C
- SiSoft SANDRA: 57*C
- United Devices: 62*C
- Neverwinter Nights: 61*C
Set-up 2 while overclocking w/ fan at medium setting (3500 RPM)
- Idle: 48*C
- 3DMark 2001 SE: 52*C
- PCMark 2002: 53*C
- SiSoft SANDRA: 51*C
- United Devices: 56*C
- Neverwinter Nights: 56*C
Set-up 2 while overclocking w/ fan at high setting (5625 RPM)
- Idle: 43*C
- 3DMark 2001 SE: 48*C
- PCMark 2002: 47*C
- SiSoft SANDRA: 46*C
- United Devices: 50*C
- Neverwinter Nights: 49*C
Set-up 3 (thermal sensor) default settings and various fan speeds
- Idle: 42*C and 3100 RPM
- 3DMark 2001 SE: 47*C and 3500 RPM
- PCMark 2002: 47*C and 3500 RPM
- SiSoft SANDRA: 45*C and 3400 RPM
- United Devices: 49*C and 3700 RPM
- Neverwinter Nights: 49*C and 3600 RPM
Set-up 3 while overclocking w/ various fan speeds
- Idle: 45*C and 4800 RPM
- 3DMark 2001 SE: 50*C and 5100 RPM
- PCMark 2002: 50*C and 5100 RPM
- SiSoft SANDRA: 48*C and 4900 RPM
- United Devices: 52*C and 5400 RPM
- Neverwinter Nights: 51*C and 5200 RPM
