Ramsinks, for better or worse?

[Jayczar]

I have heard mixed emotions on using heatsinks to cool the memory
on video cards when overclocking. Has anyone added ramsinks
and gotten better results? is it about the same? or is it worse?
I was considering it and wanted some input from folks that have
already tried it.

 

[AnAndAustin]

I haven't tried it but I have seen some reviews and heard from a few people who have. You're usually lucky to get 10-20mhz more from them, the limit tends to be nothing to do with heat and as such disipating it more efficiently is bound to return minimal results, I like to think of them as nothing more than window dressing, about all they'll do IMHO is invalidate your warranty. That said, they don't cost much either, so if you fancy it and aren't expecting tremendous increases then cool, go for it!

 

[TourGuide]

I think that WHEN they are effectively appllied (read - bonded appropriately to the chips) AND actively cooled, like with a card cooler, etc they seem to be effective. YMMV with the amount of difference you can squeeze out of them. When you look at the reviews (in total) and examine the OC results that cards get with and without them, it seems as though they come out on top with the sinks. That's my take.

 

[Rand]

IMHO ramsinks on a graphics card are virtually woprthless and heavily over-rated.
Even when clocked at 400MHz typical DDR SDRAM doesnt get nearly hot enough that heat would become a primary limitation in clockspeed scaling.
In my experience you'd be very lucky to even get 5MHz extra, and is all likelyhood your seldom going to manage even 2MHz more.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Well from the reviews I've seen RAM HS are little more than fancy decorations, even when they are properly applied which admittedly they often aren't. For example 4200-128MB cards often come with 4.0ns sporting a standard RAM clock of 444mhz. 4.0ns is technically certified to 500mhz but pretty much all 4.0ns 4200 cards hit between 520 and 560mhz which clearly demonstrates that heat dissipation isn't the limiting factor. Not only that but it seems the ns rating of the RAM makes all the diff in how far a card's RAM can o/c, 4200-64MB tend to use 3.6ns RAM technicaly certified to 555mhz but often reaching 600mhz+ (still no substitue for the extra RAM though). When you look at diff manus and diff cooling implimentation you tend to find the o/c'ing diff with the same ns RAM is very small and comes under the normal natural variance you'll get in any manu'ing process. This stands for other cards too, I just used 4200 cards as an example. As I said so long as you understand modding the card will void the warranty and don't expect great improvements then adding HS/HSF does no harm then it's a pretty cheap and easy thing to do, so if you fancy giving it a go cool!

Here's some gfx card roundups showing diff cooling designs:

Tech Report 4200 roundup (Gainward and PNY use RAM HS)
AnAndTech 4200 roundup (none use RAM HS)
TomsHW 4400/4600 roundup (Abit4400, Chain4600, Gain4600 and Lead-dualfan use RAM HS)

 

[Jayczar]

Hey guys I appreciate your detailed opinions, and I agree that
getting a ramsink to stick and get effective cooling is going to
require arctic silver/alumina which is a permanent fix. Although
I seldomly have defective parts I see no point in voiding my
warranty over a 15-20mhz increase. I am happy with the performance
of my card and was curious how others faired. Thanks!

 

[Mingon]

As others have said, overclocking with ramsinks gives perhaps 10-20mhz more. But I like to use them as it reduces the heat and should then increase the life span of the chips