News - Corsair introduces low-profile Vengeance memory

[HEXUS]

Extra-large CPU cooler impeding your system memory? Corsair has the answer.

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[crossy]

Extra-large CPU cooler impeding your system memory? Corsair has the answer.

I had exactly this problem at Christmas time when I was putting together my new rig - old-style Vengeance+Noctua_NH-D14 wasn't a viable combination. Anyway what I did was very carefully use a screwdriver to open the metal tags holding the heatsink together and then very, very carefully lever off the heatsink (it's only held on with thermal tape). Then the modules fitted fine beneath the Noctua!

I've not run any special soak tests, nor overclocked the RAM, but MP3/MP4 ripping and gaming doesn't seem to have cooked the modules, so I guess there's enough cooling going on. Blame it on Hexus - I saw a good few articles/forum-posts debating the utility of these heatsinks, so I figured I was okay to do the "surgery".

Maybe I'll consider these new Vengeance modules for my new virtual-machine server - that needs to be mini-itx, so internal case space'll be at a premium. At least, it will be when I get enough money to be able to build it...

[this_is_gav]

Agreed with above - RAM heatsinks have always appeared to be completely useless in my experience, certainly at stock speeds.

If the layout of the recently covered Sandy Bridge Extreme motherboards are anything to go by, these low profile (read: normal profile) RAM sticks are going to be the norm for the next few years.

[aceuk]

This is what they should have been like in the first place!

@Crossy. I was going to do this too, until I found out removing the heatsinks voids your warranty. By using stupidly tall heatsinks on their Vengeance RAM, Corsair lost a sale from me.

[kalniel]

This is what they should have been like in the first place!

@Crossy. I was going to do this too, until I found out removing the heatsinks voids your warranty. By using stupidly tall heatsinks on their Vengeance RAM, Corsair lost a sale from me.

You could just go for the XMS3 1.5v edition instead.

[CK_1985]

These look good to me - especially the low-voltage set (although the colour wouldn't be my first choice...). If the pricing's right they're going straight to the top of the shortlist for my next build - that position is currently occupied by the standard 'vengeance' memory but I'd much rather avoid the inevitable hassle caused by giant (and pointless) heatsinks.

[aceuk]

You could just go for the XMS3 1.5v edition instead.

The XMS3 range doesn't have any 16GB kits from what I can tell. Also, would they be 1.5v @ 1600MHz?

[crossy]

@Crossy. I was going to do this too, until I found out removing the heatsinks voids your warranty. By using stupidly tall heatsinks on their Vengeance RAM, Corsair lost a sale from me.

Rightly, (or otherwise - I bow to the many, many expert Hexus citizens), I figure that it's unlikely that premium memory like this will fail badly later on, and so the major failure possibility is DOA. In which case, I was careful to use a stock heatsink to just fire up the unaltered memory and run a couple of memtest cycles. Once they were okay, it was then that I did the surgery to remove those over-tall heatsinks.
Of course the pragmatist in me was also of the opinion that if they failed after six months then chances are - with the rapidly evolving market in memory - that I'd be able to replace at a reasonable cost. Just checked and the kit I bought (2x4GB 1600 Vengeance black) has fallen about £40 in the intervening six months, (bought at Christmas time from Scan), so it's now about £75.
That said, I still agree with you that it was a risk - some "pucker factor" when I fired up the 'lightened' modules...

The XMS3 range doesn't have any 16GB kits from what I can tell.

No, you're correct, if you want a kit > 12GB then it's got to be a Vengeance one (or Dominator @ 24GB). Even the "Dominator" don't go to 16GB, although you can have a 24GB kit - which surprised me, (and yes, I know there's a 24GB Vengeance kit too).
Maybe I'm too "old school" but 16GB in a desktop still seems like a heck of a lot, (although I suppose if you're a major Photoshop'er or want to edit HD video then there's a justification). I only whacked 8GB in my rig because I was wanting to use it as a virtual machine host. That said, my main VM host only has 3.5GB and it's only just now starting to get a bit restrictive (running host OS, one Linux VM, one Windows and a Solaris is really stressing it).
I'm curious - are people slapping in 8, 12, 16GB (or more?) of memory for a technical reason, or simply because - at current prices - the large memory sizes aren't prohibitive? Or is it just for bragging rights?

[kalniel]

The XMS3 range doesn't have any 16GB kits from what I can tell. Also, would they be 1.5v @ 1600MHz?

Good point about 16gb kit. But otherwise yes, the 1.5v edition ones are 1.5v at 1600mhz.