On Monday, the courier dropped off some new toys for me. I've been quite excited to install my new CPU fan-- the Volcano 9 by Thermaltake.

The only drawback to having a super fast computer is the noise. With all of that processing power, you need some heavy duty airflow inside the case. I almost envy my clients running an old Pentium, as they are so quiet compared to my beast. That is what prompted me to try the Volcano 9.

This product is designed to have a 3-speed fan with an auto sensor that will adjust the fan speed according to the heat level of the CPU. It's designed to have this capability, but I'm here to tell you that there is some serious flaw in the design!

I took my old CoolMaster heat sink/ fan off of my CPU, and following the directions, I applied some thermal paste to the CPU and put the sensor in place. Then I put on the new Volcano 9 fan and fired up the machine.

The fan started really quiet. I was delighted! Then, it started to roar like an airplane taking off. It was considerably louder than my old $6 CoolMaster fan. Then, the fan slowed down and got quiet again. At this point, less than a minute after I'd turned my computer on, the computer froze.

The long and the short of it is, the Volcano 9 fried my new MSI K7T Turbo2 motherboard, and my Athlon 1700+ processor. Unless Thermaltake wants to offer some recompense, I'm now the owner of hundreds dollars worth of junk.

My advice: do not buy any products from Thermaltake.