Ram Heatspreaders on or off?

[shuRe]

I have some corsair Low latency 3200 TCCD rated at 2-3-2-6 200, and have them running at 260 2.5-3-3-7 2.9vdimm.

Im wondering whether i will get any higher gain in mhz if i remove the heatspreaders and actively cool them as the heatspreaders must be 50C or so :(

the reason i dont like removing the heat spreaders is cause a pretty strong sticky pad is used and when i tried to remove one of them i think i was pretty close to snapping the chip.

[easypanic]

I don't like heatspreaders a lot.

Naked IC's with a fan will be more effective.

[fatfreepork]

heatspreaders are blankets. they hold heat in.

[Special_K]

get a fan to blow across the heatspreaders and see if that makes a difference

[humeyboy]

To buy that ram and remove spreaders is dumb, its not the same as some cheap ram you buy then add some oem 3rd part spreaders.

The ram has thermal paste just like your cpu uses and tranfers the heat to the spreaders (cosair use tinned cooper on the normal ones and that bonded alu on the pros (been proven the bonded ones not cool so much but lets them add the led's), if the way they told you worked you could remove your cpu heatsink and blow a fan onto the die lol :banana: .

I would leave the ram as manu made it and a bit of air onto them aint gonna hurt if you find you need it in the 1st place.

I have corsair 3200XL and its rated 400-500mhz with 2.7v (takes 2.75v to get 500mhz) no issues

[viccyran]

Leave them on, put a fan over them.

Your results would be just the same as merely taking them off and putting a fan on them :]

[deff_ins]

my corsair (in sig) works stable 255(ddr510) 2.5-3-3-6 only when 12cm fan is blowing across the heatspreaders. when i turn off fan - i get bsod, so try some fresh air ;)

[HiJon89]

if the way they told you worked you could remove your cpu heatsink and blow a fan onto the die lol :banana:
Unfortunately, that's absurd. The major flaw with that logic lies in the huge difference between the heat output of a CPU and some sticks of RAM. If that logic made sense why is it that you can run RAM without active cooling? I'll tell you why, its because RAM puts out less than 1/10th the heat of a CPU. :stick: The cheap heatspreaders used by Kingston and Corsair are just for show and hurt cooling performance. Yes, they transfer heat from the RAM chips, but not efficiently. The heat would be dissipated from the RAM chips much faster and more efficiently without the heatspreaders.

[][nSaNe]

...are just for show and hurt cooling performance. Yes, they transfer heat from the RAM chips, but not efficiently. The heat would be dissipated from the RAM chips much faster and more efficiently without the heatspreaders.

agreed

[Navig]

I've run my g.skill at 2.9V and the ram chips definitely got pretty warm. Part of the reason I went with g.skill is that there is no heatspreader. Really, this is the best way to get any decent cooling:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v363/navig/Acrylic%20clean%20cabling/UFoldedcables.jpg

I don't think that any company will honor their warranty after removing the heatspreader, but if you want to keep them at a chill temp, you will have to.

navig

[gillll]

add heatsinks on the spreader on the modules it'll help

[SvL]

i have VITESTA 566 (TCCD) whidt alluminium +pad heatspreader ..
they work heavy "down"clocked and are however very hot ...the temperature decrease drammatically whidt fan near them.

[Rauf]

have tried with heatsinks on and off with a fan on a pair of old BH-5. didn't gain anything from removing the heatspreaders...

[humeyboy]

I DONT AGREE with the 2 peeps here telling you to remove the spreaders, it isnt for show, the spreaders on the corsair LL and XL is covering up thermal goo, i know as i have looked, the pro claims to be thermaly bonded although i dont think this is to great and more so its to let them fit led's as i said b4.

I dont understand why i read so much madness in forums every day, i run my pc at 40% o/c i dont remove spreaders or need a fan blowing on ram as my case has good airflow, the answers are on www.google.com for everything as sites that review have tried both methods, in here you will get told 2 many different things you need make your own mind up.

As i said before buying that ram aint the same as buying normal ram and popping on spreaders, even if you tried to fill void with thermal goo it probably wouldnt work fully and would be very hard to do correct.

Thats 3200LL does 500mhz + and you can always get ddr550 etc if you need more, but only ddr400(pc3200) is jdec official.

If you so worried about ram temps, buy that new pro one with the digital readouts, now thats for show im sure and it looks totally dumb and for kids.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Corsair_XL.html

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Corsair_65.html

EDIT: wow, calm down dude
-saaya

[shuRe]

wo calm down m8, im running mine at 100% stable o/c, and i have now removed the heat spreaders and put a fan over then and have got 5mhz more, with them being cooler.

Im happy

[humeyboy]

Im am calm and i find it hard to believe you couldnt get same with a fan blowing on spreaders, buy that ram and removing is a waste, by the corsair select with no spreaders in that case.

EDIT: removed another provoking remark
-saaya

[AKURA]

I get a much more stable ram clocking with the ram spreader on. W/WO a fan ontop :D and it responds much better with voltage increase compare to bare ram itself. It just throws a TON of errors......Screw it!! :toast:

[humeyboy]

Akura thanks for that , as i am same, i leave ram as i bought it with spreaders and thermal goo inplace, i dont need fan anyhow as 500mhz is kinda max i can take a amd mobile fsb (32bit)

[fordf250]

I just tested my 3200 rev2 tcc5 and I get 5mhz more with the spreaders on at 6-3-3-2.5 @ 267fsb.

[HiJon89]

I dont understand why i read so much madness in forums every day, i run my pc at 40% o/c i dont remove spreaders or need a fan blowing on ram as my case has good airflow, the answers are on www.google.com for everything as sites that review have tried both methods, in here you will get told 2 many different things you need make your own mind up.
What do you mean "the answers are on www.google.com"? Anyone can post anything on the internet, why should anyone trust a random site that pops up on a google search? People come here for reliable and informed computer information, something that google would certainly not give you and something you apparently don't want to give either. And if you wouldn't mind showing me these reviews you speak of comparing with heatspreaders on or off I would greatly appreciate it. The spreaders on the RAM are plastic, plastic is a very bad conductor of heat, it just traps the heat next to the RAM modules and prevents them from being cooled as well. Removing the heatspreaders stops this from happening and allows the air to directly reach the RAM chips. The reason CPU heatsinks have gotten bigger and bigger is because the more surface area they have, the more efficiently it will be able to dissipate the heat. On RAM, the chips are spaced so closely that the heat doesn't really have anywhere to spread to, and the heatspreaders are so thin and have such little surface area that they do not aid in the cooling process whatsoever.

If you so worried about ram temps, buy that new pro one with the digital readouts, now thats for show im sure and it looks totally dumb and for kids.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Corsair_XL.html
Why would you ever recommend anyone to buy that garbage RAM when even you yourself say the LED's are pointless? For the same price you could buy some GSkill TCCD and guarantee yourself much better clocks and you wouldn't have to deal with the silly heatspreaders.

[Navig]

Folks have definitely gotten better overclocks whilst keeping RAM cool. Of course this varies from situation to situation.

Ram spreaders that most companies use (ie those flat aluminum sheets) probably help a little, if applied with appropriate thermal transfer--after all the metal surface area is slightly increased, by filling in the gaps between the RAM chips etc. Many non-quality companies, inappropriately adding these spreaders without proper thermal goo, probably add heat to the RAM.

Finned heatsinks increase the metal surface area dramatically, thereby becoming much more efficient in disappating the heat. That is why if you look at my picture, I recommend the BEST cooling solution is to mount an individual finned heatsink to each RAM chip. Alright, you can do better than me by using thermalright epoxy, but I didn't want to void my warranty. Even with just tape, I know the sinks are working well, because as I mentioned, they get warm at 2.9V. I've run them as high as 3.2V on a IC7Max3, and they get very very warm. To the point where I personally would not recommend anything but finned heatsinks and active cooling.

Whether a person chooses flat ramspreaders because "They are good enough" is up to individual choice between performance, looks, and warranty maintenence. I'm not sure there is any particular long term data regarding whether RAM will die faster at 30c than 45c, but this is the xtremesys forums, generally cooler = better.

In answer the original question, my personal take is that I would not remove the Corsair ram spreaders because that'll void the warranty. I would personally active cool them for long use at 2.9V. I would NOT use them at >3.0V for risk of overheating unless I had some seriously low ambient temps.

navig

[humeyboy]

who claims i rec corsairs led heatspreader?
i dont really i only said if temps worry you, as you can see temps on read out, i dont claim and i said above the so called thermal bonded alu heatspreaders on th PRO range cool as well as the tinned copper LL or XL with the thermal goo, i for one dont advise removing spreaders for many reasons as ive stated added to warrenty, if you cant get ram to play fair there is something wrong with your cooling or your simply asking to much of the rams limits.

EDIT: flame and provoking comment removed
-saaya

[humeyboy]

Forums rarely are pleasant with all trolling and flamming, apart from 1 i know, all rest have the above, you wont get a deff answer to your Q here, you need do what i do and try it for yourself.