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Thread: Are ram heat spreaders worthe it?

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    Are ram heat spreaders worthe it?

    I am considering buying heatspreaders for my ram, will they be worth it?
    not that concered about them increasing overclock as i use a divider anyway. But will they make the ram last longer and any other advantages/dissadvantages to them?

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    Senior Member FatalSaviour's Avatar
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    IMO, unless you're putting a hell of a voltage through them, there's no real cooling advantage to them.
    What I do find them useful for though is installing and uninstalling modules...it gives you something to hold onto, and I'm slightly less concerned about static.

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    I read somewhere that they actually make cooling worse. Good point about installation though

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    They can make cooling worse, depending on certain things. Mainly this is because if they're designed poorly, or applied incorrectly, they can obstruct airflow that would usually be going over the PCB and trap heat in them. I've never had a problem with them personally, but just a tip...you sometimes need to be very careful removing the heatspreaders if you use the thermal tape that's sometimes provided....I once halved the memory on one of my graphics card by letting the tape cool down too much before removing the damn thing...Was only a disposable TNT2 PCI job though .

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    The top-end ram from OCZ comes with some massive heatspreadders. They are very heavy and look top-quality. There's no separation between the PCB and the spreaders, which is ideal for thermal transfer, versus spreaders from other companies that look like thin pieces of metal surrounding the PCB, keeping in the heat...

    Each stick weighed more than my harmonica and were almost twice as heavy as the other onces I got from corsair.

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    Can't remember where i saw it, there is absolutely no advantage to be gained by heat spreaders.

    Manufacturers admit off the record as just another way to make more money for nothing. If you like the bling factor go for it, performance wise zilch gain.
    Deo Adjuvante non Timendum

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    Quote Originally Posted by vicar
    Can't remember where i saw it, there is absolutely no advantage to be gained by heat spreaders.

    Manufacturers admit off the record as just another way to make more money for nothing. If you like the bling factor go for it, performance wise zilch gain.
    The advantage isnt huge, but there is some (provided they are "proper" ones, and not poorly el-cheapo ones for the bling factor )
    OCZ really do a good job at heatspreaders (the "honeycomb" ones are quite good)
    Last edited by Agent; 13-05-2006 at 12:26 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen View Post
    And by trying to force me to like small pants, they've alienated me.

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    Senior Member Dark Horse's Avatar
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    Think corsair did a bit of a review on them, didn't really make much odds at all.

    G.skill didn't put heatspreaders on memory until recently and they make by far the best overclocking ram around, especially tccd. I think they only recently started putting heatspreaders on for cosmetic reasons, much like IHS's for Athlon 64s just to keep up with intel.

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    They also make it look awesome, so that has to count for something...

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    i have never had a problem with heat spreaders but you cant beat active cooling try rigging up a silent fan to blow over the modules!


    PSN ID = leeglf

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Horse
    Think corsair did a bit of a review on them, didn't really make much odds at all.

    G.skill didn't put heatspreaders on memory until recently and they make by far the best overclocking ram around, especially tccd. I think they only recently started putting heatspreaders on for cosmetic reasons, much like IHS's for Athlon 64s just to keep up with intel.
    Agreed on the GSkill.

    IHS's do make CPU installation a hell of a lot easier though. So much less chance of a cracked CPU core

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    Quote Originally Posted by FatalSaviour
    IMO, unless you're putting a hell of a voltage through them, there's no real cooling advantage to them.
    What I do find them useful for though is installing and uninstalling modules...it gives you something to hold onto, and I'm slightly less concerned about static.

    I agree it is easier to handling when they have them on. Only reason I use them.

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    i think i might have heard somewhere that there biggist pro is that they stop dust from getting on the graphics cards, is that partially true?
    edit, also sorry about spelling worth wrong

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    Sorry, I'm really confused now...are we still talking about the same thing?
    I can't see how this would help at all :S

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    they help to cool (maybee) but woud they also stop dust from settleing on the memory chips and shortening life?

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