Consensus on Heat spreaders?

[borisvodofsky]

So, I've always had doubts about these thin and cheap memory heat spreaders.

What's the latest on this argument.. :sneaky:

 

[BrightCandle]

They don't do squat but look pretty.

 

[ShintaiDK]

They don't do squat but look pretty.

^^ This. Utter bling bling.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

They were more useful in DDR1 days when memory ran at 2.6 or more volts. Nowadays, memory runs very cool.

What is even more stupid is people with waterblocks for their memory.

 

[Blain]

What's the latest on this argument.

It's not really that much of a contentious issue. :\

 

[Gunbuster]

The final word is you buy the Samsung 20nm ram without a heatspreader that runs cool, is shorter than the retention clips (no heatsink interference), and overclocks with literally 0 effort.

 

[Coup27]

It's what happens when marketing people get involved.

 

[bryanl]

Even large, properly designed copper heatsinks are of no benefit since RAM gives off little heat but is rated for 85°C

 

[VirtualLarry]

I remember having a pair of 72-pin SIMMs, that had 32 or 36 chips on each of them, chips on each side. I was able to use one of them with my 486 rig, but when I got a Pentium rig, and plugged in both of them, they were so close to each other, they would overheat when doing something like a Memtest86+ on them. Back in those days, they could have used some sort of heatsink, but there was no room physically to put one on. If there were added layers of metal on them, they wouldn't have fit plugged in next to each other.

 

[Tsavo]

Heat spreaders were needed on RAMBUS ram. The active memory module would get quite hot, so it used IHS to spread the thermal load to other memory chips.

They serve no purpose on DDR_x chips...except for getting in the way of some CPU heat sinks.

 

[poohbear]

Heat spreaders were needed on RAMBUS ram. The active memory module would get quite hot, so it used IHS to spread the thermal load to other memory chips.

They serve no purpose on DDR_x chips...except for getting in the way of some CPU heat sinks.

This.

DDR RAM already spreads the heat, there has never been any need for heat spreaders on DDR RAM, especially with the much cooler running DDR3.

 

[BrightCandle]

RAM seems to mostly be cooled via the motherboard as far as I can tell. The design for the slots ensures a decent amount of the heat they produce goes into the motherboard and is spread out across it to increase the surface area.

When the heatspreaders are glued on you know they don't need them, which is why I have corsair blues, they fit my blue theme :-/

 

[cmdrdredd]

I always thought they put heat spreaders on the memory to hide the IC. Like if they were trying to sell DDR-2 1200 memory a few years ago everyone wanted a specific IC but the manufacturers would hide it with a heat spreader so you didn't know what models used what IC and they could sell you anything.

 

[corkyg]

Lots of good thoughts. They are easier to wipe clean on occasion. Do they provide any protection from casual contact static electricity? For sure they are 0r can be colorful. Laptop SODIMMs don't seem to have them.

 

[Blain]

Laptop SODIMMs don't seem to have them.

That's because you're using low-rent modules...

Sweet > Kingston > G.Skill

 

[taltamir]

I always thought they put heat spreaders on the memory to hide the IC. Like if they were trying to sell DDR-2 1200 memory a few years ago everyone wanted a specific IC but the manufacturers would hide it with a heat spreader so you didn't know what models used what IC and they could sell you anything.

yep... it facilitates bait and switch tactics.

 

[Makaveli]

yep... it facilitates bait and switch tactics.

Come on Taltamir we know they are too honest to do that ()

 

[corkyg]

That's because you're using low-rent modules...

I considered that possibility - but when I opened the memory compartment on my Lenovo T510, the SODIMMs were naked as jaybirds - there really isn't any room for spreaders.

 

[bryanl]

That's because you're using low-rent modules...

Why did you make your butler say that to me?

I always thought they put heat spreaders on the memory to hide the IC. Like if they were trying to sell DDR-2 1200 memory a few years ago everyone wanted a specific IC but the manufacturers would hide it with a heat spreader so you didn't know what models used what IC and they could sell you anything.

Winbond BH-5?

More recently, heat spreaders have typically been used to disguise ICs that are factory seconds or overclocked, as is the case with a certain major brand 2133 MHz module made from 1066 MHz ICs or some 2133 MHz modules rated faster than any 2133 MHz ICs in production. Fortunately XMS profiles are always trustworthy since they're derived only from the most rigorous testing regimes, right? Right? Anybody?

 

[cmdrdredd]

When in doubt, buy Samsung 30nm lol

 

[BrightCandle]

I have seen so many faulty RAM sticks its getting silly. Over the years it seems to be the number one fault with a brand new machine. Various companies are doing dodgy things and I have a lot of suspicions about Corsair especially.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I have seen so many faulty RAM sticks its getting silly. Over the years it seems to be the number one fault with a brand new machine. Various companies are doing dodgy things and I have a lot of suspicions about Corsair especially.

Corsair builds great memory but they bin heavily I think. So their low end stuff gets the ICs that can't do much over stock timings and frequency while they have some of the fastest higher end stuff that can take extra voltage and move up the frequency ladder. You just have to pay extra for that luxury. Thankfully anything more than DDR3-1600 these days isn't really going to help your performance in the real world.

So I wouldn't say faulty. I would say heavy binning causes some ICs to pass through the cracks and end up in a low end memory and doesn't play nice on some boards that have slight voltage fluctuations or something like that.