Well as you may have guessed the competition between the two Thermaltake's is a close one. At first glance the SuperOrb does seem to have the upper hand. There are some rules here that need to be explained to fully understand the results of this comparison. The Volcano II is specifically designed for AMD's socket 462 chips, and not for older Celeron-like processors. Naturally it will fit on either chip, but being designed for the up-to-1.5GHz processor means that several design issues have been optimized for that type of chip.

The main aspect of the Volcano II's design is the thick aluminum base. While the Orb is obviously much thicker, the depth of the base plate on the volcano II has no-doubt been optimized for the range of heat produced by AMD's chips. Hence the comparison on the larger copper die template is a little bit skewed - being that the heatsink was never really intended to be used on this line of processors.

What you will notice is that the fluctuation between the two tests is only about 2 degrees. Whereas on the SuperOrb the temperature differs by about 10 degrees between the small copper die template and the larger copper die template. So all around it appears as though, even not specifically designed for older Celeron-type processors, the Volcano II can still hold its ground quite well.

When we first looked at this heatsink we were unsure it would be able to compete with its fellow Orb, but with all the testing done, the numbers clearly show the results. The Volcano II, while being designed for socket-462 processors of up to 1.5GHz, will also work fairly well with existing processors. It's definitely been optimized for the latter, but if you happen to still have a Celeron 366@500 kicking around you may want to consider this heatsink for it.

The clip is a bit stiff, and unfortunately of the sort where a screw driver is needed to manipulate it.... but the base is nice and flat, which is a testament to the guys at Thermaltake, especially considering it is extrusion-raw.

Probably the best part is that this is a relatively quiet heatsink, and not nearly as tall as the SuperOrb is. Definitely a good buy if you're in the market.