Do RAM-sinks actually work, or are they a waste of money?

[MichaelD]

I'm looking at these ram-sinks.

I will be purchasing a new videocard soon and have read that the memory chips get too hot to touch while overclocking. But of course, I'm going to overclock the snot out of it anyway...it's only hardware, right? :evil:

So I'm considering putting some of these ram-sinks on there with some good AS epoxy stuff. Is this a good idea or a waste of money?

 

[Peter D]

If you think its worth it to spend like $25 on RAM sinks and epoxy to get a few more MHz outta your video card, its worth it. IMHO, its not worth it though.

 

[Corporate Thug]

you can get dirt cheap ramsinks at allelectronics

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Vegetto
If you think its worth it to spend like $25 on RAM sinks and epoxy to get a few more MHz outta your video card, its worth it. IMHO, its not worth it though.

You know, I have two different trains of thought on this too:

1. Adding a HS = more surface area. More S.A. = better transfer of heat

but

1. Adding a HS introduces another layer of "insulation" b/t the top of the ram chip and the air...creating a "blanket" that traps heat in.

My Corsair ram has those clamped-on heat spreaders...I wonder how well they work?

 

[Soulkeeper]

they only work if they are affixed well (no stupid glue or cheesy thermal paste) and if you have good fans blowing near or at them
otherwise i've noticed they can be more of an insulator than anything else

 

[Blooz1]

Some say they work, some say they don't.....tough call.

I wouldn't drop that much money on ramsinks, but if you didn't use a permanent solution, there's cheaper sources and you could remove 'em if you didn't see any performance increase. I used a 1-1-1 mixture of Arctic Alumina/Ceramique on the sinks I put on the MOSFETS of my 8RDA+, which can be removed but also works well.

You can find some sinks that are just about the right size at WWW.Excess-Solutions.com for about a dime apiece! LINK (Look for item ES-2811)

 

[Soulkeeper]

i mounted an 80mm fan about .5" above my memory and took off my copper heatspreaders
even this can only help so much cause it is really hot in my house this time of year

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and links. I guess I'll wait and see how it overclocks first, then I'll buy the ram-sinks and see if that makes any difference. I have pretty good case cooling, so we'll see.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

for a vid card they work well. i may suggest just buying a kit like the vantec iceberg pro and re-equiping you gpu too. that way you have teh gpu fan distbuting air to them also. A case fan next to your vid card to blow cold air right onto you card will definatly help too.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: shady06
you can get dirt cheap ramsinks at allelectronics

These show up on eBay occasionally. I bought a bag of them about 2 years ago. I also got a box of assorted heatsinks - Pentium and 486 type heatsinks. I just slice them up with a bandsaw into the sizes I need, or I can just use the little black ones, depending on the size and shape of the component to be cooled, and whether or not I can actually figure out where the little black heatsinks are.

 

[huesmann]

I vote for "waste of money."

 

[beatle]

At 10 cents a pop, go for it! Don't waste your money on those Tweakmoster ramsinks. I never understood why they plated them in tin after putting in the money to make them all copper.

 

[render]

$0.10 here

ES2811
Heatsink black aluminum 1/2" X 1/2" X 1/2" with adhesive back

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Blooz1
Some say they work, some say they don't.....tough call.

I wouldn't drop that much money on ramsinks, but if you didn't use a permanent solution, there's cheaper sources and you could remove 'em if you didn't see any performance increase. I used a 1-1-1 mixture of Arctic Alumina/Ceramique on the sinks I put on the MOSFETS of my 8RDA+, which can be removed but also works well.

You can find some sinks that are just about the right size at <a href="http://www.Excess-Solutions.com">WWW.Excess-Solutions.com</A> for about a dime apiece! <a class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.excess-solutions.com/heatsink1.htm" target=blank>LINK</A> (Look for item ES-2811)

I wouldn't use the thermal tape that's on those things - that stuff's generally a) junk and b) bad at making contact with the entire surface of the RAM chip, because they're not always flat. I use Arctic Something in the middle of the chip, with regular epoxy around the outer edges. Just using thermal grease...well, it won't fall off with something as light as a RAMsink, at least probably not soon. But if you bump the card against things while it's being installed, the sinks could move.

 

[mt3580]

here is my personal experience and i hope it helps.

ATI stock cooling with OC: 310/280 before showing artifacts.
ATI w/ iceberq cooling with OC: 350/330 before showing artifacts.

IMO, it works, it has shown good results for me.