Heat spreaders on RAM?

[eccerr0r]

I'm still not DDR4-ized but do memory chips really need heat sinks/spreaders then or now?
They've never gotten hot except when something's really wrong... There may be localized heating but not much in the chip can change state at any one time so activity is quite low on average.

Why post? Well I should have added this to the "What Pisses You Off" thread. With the heatspreader on, it makes it that much harder to tell if a module is ECC or buffered, the latter being a huge problem.

Very odd that adding buffers makes the RAM module cheaper... I guess supply and demand has their ways.

[televizora]

Re: Heat spreaders on RAM?

Normally, RAM usually does not require heatsinks. But if you overclock and tend to increase voltages, this produces more heat and heatsunks are helpful. Because of the cpu integrated graphics, most mobos today die either because of caps or lack of heatsinks on their chipsets. I have observed relatively new mobos, where disk conttoller start to work on lower speeds because of lack of heatsink and obvious heating of the chipset, which damages in time. My rule of the thumb is that if I cant keep my finger on it, then it requires heatsink.

[Uranium-235]

Re: Heat spreaders on RAM?

My rule of the thumb is that if I cant keep my finger on it, then it requires heatsink.

so this would be actually a rule of finger?

[eccerr0r]

Re: Heat spreaders on RAM?

My DDR3 has heatspreaders on them, but thought they were for decoration/product differentiation because they didn't have fins and I've seen many modules without heatspreaders. One would think if it was necessary for one, it should be necessary for more than just one...

Didn't remove the heatspreader on my modules. Can't remove someone else's heatspreader in a photograph.

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: Heat spreaders on RAM?

this issue has been discussed before on the wayback machine way before from 2002 when they started having overclocking ram. the general trend around review websites was that they were just gimmicky and some heatspreaders even made the modules run hotter than bare because it obstructed airflow around and across the ram chips.

ocz also said that was why they came up with their xtc heatspreader design with honey comb grills. this permits airflow around and across the ram chips so they actually run cooler. some reviewers tested this using temperature probes and they agreed with ocz's statement as true and truthful.

some overclocking enthusiasts even ripped off the opaque heatspreaders off their modules for better overclocking since it ran cooler without them. lol! remember, the ram heatspreaders made the modules run hotter because they obstructed airflow across and around the ram chips.

so yes, the heatspreaders are just for gimmicks, decoration, aesthetics and telling apart overclocking ram from normal standard value ram.