Intro
Thermaltake made a big name for themselves during the 'orb' era.  The orb made a killing during those days because of its unique and different design.  But with the outbreak of Gigahertz cpu's also comes added heat.  And the orb line doesn't cut it anymore.  They introduced the Super Orb but it too didn't gain much popularity to the hardcore user.  Fitting it in your board even made it less popular as it is not guaranteed unless someone has already tried it in theirs.  Follow that with a not so cheap price tag, it didn't capture the market as they expected.

Knowing that with the present crop of processors, they needed to move away from the orb design.  So back they went to their drawing boards and introduced the VOLCANO II.

The Volcano II
Quite an odd way to name a heatsink from something that is very hot. hehe.  Anyway, the Volcano II's design looks very similar to the GlobalWin line of heatsinks.  Made of aluminum alloy, the Volcano II has the conventional fin type look common in most squared-based heatsink. Sporting a stock 4500 rpm fan, this heatsink is a very quiet performer.

It comes boxed together with the stock fan and a packet of generic silicon compound.  No instruction sheet included or printed in the box.  Do you need one for this type of heatsink?  The clip looks very simple.  Nothing new or fancy in it.

Installation
Installing the heatsink to the motherboard needs the services of a flathead screwdriver.  I'm sure by now you know how to use one.  Unless you have strong calloused hands, the screwdriver is a very good and civilized option.

It's not hard putting the clip to the socket.  I don't know if you can call it easy but I was able to attach mine in 1 go on a space constricted KT7A mobo without any huge effort.  The heatsink has an interface material for the cpu contact but of course I took that off and applied Arctic Silver instead.

Testing
For the testbed, to get a good comparison, I will use the same one as I used on the ThermoEngine review.  After testing with the stock fan, I will also replace it with a Papst typ 612 NGHH(6850 rpm) fan, and see the difference.

1 Ghz AMD T-Bird OC'ed to 1.2 Ghz @ 1.85v
Abit KT7A

Room Temp- 20C

Results

Conclusions
The Volcano II took the full heat of the Athlon T-Bird and was able to maintain it at manageable levels.  It didn't fare as good as the Thermoengine or the FOP-38 even with a Papst fan installed, but overall it is good.  Unlike the orbs, this new heatsink from thermaltake can have their fans upgraded.  In fact some stores are selling them in Turbo mode, meaning they have Delta Black label 7K fans fitted instead of the stock one.  But if you value peace more, the stock version is very good in maintaining that.  This fan's noise is almost unnoticeable.  Selling at US$12 here with the fan included, this is the best bang for your buck at the moment.  Especially if you want a bit of performance and power while on a budget.