I read some reviews, and it sure seems as if it would be a good performer. Not so sure about that fan. It has a speed controller and a thermistor. It looks a little bling bling for my tastes, but I am just not getting the performance I need from the Zalman 6000Cu.

So what kind of results you getting with your current setup? Give us full details. IMHO, without having had my hands on it, the V9 looks mostly like gimmicks. If I were looking at Thermaltake, I'd have to say the 7+ looks like the best performer, except for early versions with 1 point clip. (Now 3-point)

I have:

Modded enermax with 1 80mm panaflo(removed the 92mm)
Single Panaflo 12v exhaust.
Zalman CNPS-6000Cu with Zalman 92mm at approx 2/3 dialed down.

Currently I am getting 60C-CPU 50C-Case at load and 55/45 idle.

What is the measurement you call "case" coming from? It sounds really high & I wonder what you are measuring. I agree 55C CPU at idle seems high, but even 60C is perfectly safe. (If the mobo is using the in-socket thermistor, 60C means the core temp is not higher than 75,C which is fine.) I've actually had my core temp up ~85C for 15 mins and longer (while I watched nervously with hand on the AC cord). Still running fine.

If you have a thermometer (any kind) & place it so it's a bit above the Zalman fan for the HSF, that will tell you what the real case temp is. Obviously need to keep the case closed while you're doing this.

Well, two things here...

1.) My mainboard has a sensor onboard and Gigabyte provides a monitoring tool that labels my second sensor input as "System". The other is CPU. I assumed this is the ambient temp of the case. I found the sensor and it seems to be fairly close to the CPU(Top left) The CPU temp is monitored from the AthlonXP using the thermal diode on the chip.

2.) I just noticed that while I was replacing my CPU, I neglected to reconnect the fan power connector for the PSU fan. That explains the high temps. Its a good thing I was watching those temps, or I might have let my PSU slowly burn for a few months That's the only problem with the Panaflo, no RPM monitoring :/ to stop fools like me.

I have watched the temps for about an hour now after reconnecting the PSU fan, temps are sliding back to 50/41 as I type this. Much better.

False alarm

I feel eerie sometimes too about my CPU temps like you do. I think my next CPU will be an Intel again even though they are more expensive. Also, they run cooler. My AMD Athlon XP 2000+ runs hot in my opinion. Some people swear that if the CPU temp is above 45C, it's too high! But since I have had my Zalman 6000AlCu, my idle temp is 43C and that's with CPUIldePro running. Without CPUIdle, it's about 50C idle. Pegged, the CPU runs 57-58C.

When I had a Jet Engine HSF, it would run about 38C idle and 52C pegged. But my system "appears" to be running stable. Once in a while, IE or the HP driver crashes but I'll bet money that Microsoft and HP have software bugs instead of the system running unstable because of the CPU =)

Lastly, it would be nice if someone gave us some personal experience on the noise from the Volcano 9.

IMO, it is better to think of the HS as separate from the fan. Aside from a very few units like the Orbs or the Millenium Glaciator, the fan is simply an add-on, NOT an integral part of the HS design.

The noise of the Volcano 9 and any other HS is almost entirely dependent on the fan used. Why would you want to restrict yourself to that? The HS reviews at www.overclockers.com and www.dansdata.com are the best, most consistent: Volcano 9 is only a middling-to-low performer in their books. That fan is also insanely loud at full tilt. OC says as loud as a Delta 38. It's rated for .2A to.7A, depending on the thermistor or manual control setting. Now, a Panaflo is rated for under 0.1A. Does that make you wonder? In my experience, a high power fan run slow is rarely as quiet as a lower power fan designed for low loise. The motor is just too big.

If you want excellent cooling and low noise, get the BEST cooling "engine" (HS) you can afford & a good quiet fan. The former might set you back a good chunk of cash, but the latter is cheap. Like $2 for that super quiet 80mm Mechatronics. My Swiftech MC462A, now well over a year old, cools a slightly undervolted XP1700 perfectly well with 5~7V from a Panaflo. It's basically inaudible with the case closed. I can't see how the V9 could get anywhere close. The 7+ is another story, though.

BTW, the obsession with low temps is encouraged by many HS, fan and other cooling device manufacturers. Your "eerie" feeling is the discomfort the industry programmed into you (and me and lots of others) with advertising, advertorials and silly reviews on hardware sites, the feeling that comes from knowing you're going against common "wisdom".

You probably would be astonished at the high temps of 386, 486 and other processors, including chipsets and other ICs. Most of these are cooled with fanless HS. My P-1 (bought ~1992) lived with a broken HS fan I never replaced for years. The HS was half the size of a credit card & almost as light. It was still going before I stripped it for odds & ends last year.

If you want low noise, unless you want to pay through the nose, get used to a bit higher temps. If your system is stable and you're not cooking anything in the system, why should you care whether it is 45C, 58C or 30C? You're not even going to own the thing in 2-3 years, right?

Ahhh! Good info Mike. I trust your opinion and feel more at ease. I'm very happy with the low noise my system emits. I'm glad I have Panaflos now. I haven't heard much about them until I started visiting this site a couple of months back.

I have a friend who put down a lot of cash for a water cooling solution. Even though it probably does a good job and appears cool to do (no pun intended), I don't think it can beat other lower cost solutions with having a stable running system with low noise (quiet fans and other HS solutions).

I have a volcano 9. The upside is that it was cheap, at 20 bucks. The downside is that it isnt the greatest performer in the world. It does keep my athlon xp 1600 at around 50C idle and 55C under full load. This is at lowest fan setting (1500RPM), which while not silent, is very quiet. Im thinking about trying a different fan on it sometime.

I guess I got it because it looked easy and I liked the basic simple design of it. I have to admit that other setups, particularly the thermalright sk-800 look alot better. I also really like the looks of that big alpha 80mm heatsink, but i do not like the idea of having to take off my motherboard to screw the dang thing in.

PS. Having just seen the thermalright AX7, I want one! Get that instead!

Update: AFter reading this thread (specifically MikeC's coment on more powerful fans being louder even when run slower) I became curious about the fan that comes on the V9. I should have been forewarned by its "interesting" orange color. This fan sucks. After taking a few fans out and comparing side by side I came to some conlusions. Not only is it louder (more motor noise) at lower speeds when compared to a Zalman 80mm fan and a regular old coolermaster, it doesnt even cool as well--my cpu is running 2C cooler idle with the coolermaster (slowed to 1500rpm) than with the thermaltake fan. My conclusion, get another HSF.

The Alpha 8045 HS is actually quite easily installed (once you unscrew the motherboard that is), I was surprised to tell the truth.
The manual that comes with the HS is simple and to the point (at least as far I'm concerned) and the installation takes just a matter of minutes to complete.
There's one potential problem though, when screwing the 'bolts' to the motherboard, you might want someone else to hold one side in place with a wrench, but other than that it's a pretty straight-forward procedure.

Also one of the problems with the Alpha PAL 8045 is that it doesn't fit into some motherboards, my mobo is in the list of boards it doesn't fit in
http://www.micforg.co.jp/en/mb_inf_pal8045e.html if u guys are thinking of getting one maybe it's worth your time checking this list, I think I COULD get the PAL 8045 to fit into my mobo with a touch from the angle grinder but I'm just going to go the AX-7 instead

My motherboard was on the list that was said to interfere with capacitors, or other things, but I managed to fit it without having to bend something.

Only thing might be that I'm unsure whether I can use DIMM1 or not, but since I normally don't use it, I don't worry about it.

Having bought an ax-7, I can finally compare my V9 with a pretty well known great heatsink (check out the new review at spcr for details). I noticed that both the sinks weigh about the same (I couldnt find the exact weight of the V9 on their website, so this is just an estimation). The V9 is taller that the ax-7.

So, in my system, there is virtually no difference in the temps im getting with abit temp sensor. Assuming that the Ax-7 is a better sink, this result could be becuase:

a) I bent the in-socket thermistor up a little to make sure it was making good contact with the cpu--maybe now the temps reported are more accurate and would have been higher had the thermistor been making better contact when I was using the V9.

b) Maybe the Arctic silver needs to settle in (as it says it needs 3 days to work fully).

c) Maybe the V9 is as good as the Ax-7.

I dont know. Either way, I though I'd report my findings. I'd also be glad to donate my V9 to SPCR if MikeC wants to add it to the excellent socket A HS roundup.

what fan were u running with the AX-7 the same fan? cause the thermal take fan can get pretty speedy when it's running in high temp mode, just a though check out http://www.dansdata.com/coolercomp.htm my favourite cooler comparision

I was using a Zalman 80mm fan at the same rotation speeds with both sinks. I must stress that this wasn't an experiment so to speak--I wasnt trying to control all other variables, so the results could be way off. For instance, I adjusted the thermistor to meet the bottom of the cpu with more force, whereas I dont know how well they met when I was using the V9 (see my web page to see what else I changed). Also, the article on heatsink testing well explains how the in socket thermistor isnt a good measure of cpu temp to start with.

These are just some casual observations--I'll leave it to SPCR to come up with some real results.

Update: 10.28.02 Per Thermalrights website instructions, and the testing methodolgy here at SPCR, I reversed the fans to blow instead of suck, and overall temps are about 4C cooler, not to mention quieter at higher voltag--Quite an improvement! However, the case temp has heated up a bit.

I'd second the noisy V9 fan. Dialed down, the level of sound it makes is quiet but the type is most annoying....sort of a growl. I replaced mine with a Panaflow low and even left at 12V the Panaflow is far quieter, and pushes more air. So if you need to replace the fan anyway, an AX-7 plus Panaflow from a place like Bigfoot is exactly the same price as a V9 plus Panaflow.