August '02 Socket-A Heat Sink Comparison

Date Reviewed: August 04, 2002
Reviewed By: Jason Rabel
Companies: Thermaltake, Heatsink Factory, Xtreme Tek Werkz, A.O.C. USA, Dynatron

What's on the platter?:

In this heatsink comparison we have 13 heatsinks battling it out head-to-head. They range from the budget aluminum heatsinks with small fans, to big solid hunks of copper with hurricane force cooling.

The actual lineup of coolers is as follows:

• Thermaltake Volcano 9

• Thermaltake Volcano 7+

• AOC D5-832

• AOC QSA-715

• AOC SBA-715

• Coolink U2P

• Coolink U2L

• Coolink U1P2

• Coolink U1L2

• Coolink H2T

• Coolink H1T

• Dynatron DY1206BH-625

• Alpha PAL8045

Thermaltake Volcano 9:

The Volcano 9 heatsink seems to be a direct descendent from the Volcano 7, coupled with the latest Thermaltake advances. The heatsink itself is identical to the Volcano 7 except for a different color. It is the same aluminum construction with the copper insert in the base. The 80mm fan is a new and improved design capable of outputting a maximum of 75 CFM of air. Speed can be controlled via a potentiometer so you can dial in the exact speed you want, or you can use an included probe that can fit UNDER your CPU which allows the fan RPM to increase as the CPU heat increases. Or if you always want maximum CFM you can use a jumper (like in the picture) to keep the fan running full throttle, this is how it comes out of the box. Lastly the clip has been improved to allow it to clamp on all 3 tabs on each side of the CPU socket. The new clip on the Volcano 9 seems to feel much more secure than the one on the Volcano 7.

Thermaltake Volcano 7+:

The Volcano 7+ fan uses what they call "Tiny Fin" technology, which you might of also heard it being called "Thin Fin" or even something else. Whatever buzzword you want to use is fine, but just so you know the actual term is called skiving. Skiving is where you take a solid block of metal, and the fins are shaved and bent up, thus producing a heatsink from one piece of metal. Earlier "thin fin" heatsinks would have a separate base and fins, and the fins would be soldered to the base, which didn't always yield the best results. Anyhow, the Volcano 7+ ends up with 36 of the "Tiny Fins" to give some serious heat dissipation. The fan is a 70mm 49CFM fan which Thermaltake includes a fan switch to change the speed to High, Medium, or Low (and CFM adjusts accordingly). The Volcano 7+ has a smaller footprint than the Volcano 9 which could be useful in tighter spaces, but also the Volcano 7+ also has hardware to make it compatible with P4 socket 478 boards.

AOC D5-832:

AOC's D5-832 is a micro forged one piece pure aluminum heatsink with an 80mm 53CFM Sanyo Denki fan. The clip hooks on to just a single tab, and has hooks so you can use a screwdriver to get it mounted. The base is very smooth and the overall design is very solid. However being an all aluminum heatsink should mean it would be less expensive than copper models, however it is going to have disadvantage over copper heatsinks which can conduct heat better.

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