how important are ram sinks on a video card?

[QueBert]

bought the Zalman VGA cooler for my X800, didn't remember to clean the ran before I attached the heat sinks. About 1/2 of the no longer stick, and right now I don't have any artic ceramic, or tape that I can use to put them back on. The PC is in a HOT garage, I have 2 120MM 1 80MM fan, and the Zalman cooler keeps the video cards temp nice. But I'm worried about running it without the ram sinks. I'm not OC'ing the card at all.

 

[GeeFizzleDizzle]

Well, some people will tell you they're important and others will tell you the opposite. It really all comes down to the fact that if you're uncomfortable running the card without ramsinks then just buy some new ramsinks and make sure you clean the ram off first the next time.

 

[QueBert]

I could care less if it only matters in cases on Overclocking, also I don't plan to keep the card forever, so if only having a few on shortens the card life a year even I don't mind. if I do buy more I will clean the ram first though

 

[GeeFizzleDizzle]

Since you're not overclocking I wouldn't worry too much about them then.

 

[Avalon]

Ramsinks don't do much at all for you unless you are overclocking. Even then, they will rarely help you gain much more of a memory overclock. Most GDDR1/2/3 doesn't run all that hot. Maybe 1600mhz GDDR3...

 

[JBT]

X800 and even X800XT's didn't come with ram sinks in the first place so no you don't need them.

 

[RampantAndroid]

I'd just run something like RTHDRIBL, and feel the RAM chips while its running...if they seem hot (if you burn yourself) or you start to see artifacts...you need RAMsinks...if not, you're fine.

 

[QueBert]

thanks for the info guys, apparently something else happened cos when I put the card back in and turned the pc on, it won't post. I'm not going to worry about the ram sinks, just gonna pick up a new MB today.

 

[TheRyuu]

Well, I would say I'm one of those people who just likes to have RAM sinks on a video card. You can get a pack of 8 for $10 or less which is reason enough to get them. Whether they help or not I'm not really sure.

The only thing that I know is that my RAM is now being properly cooled and that I shouldn't have any problems with it