Crucial BL Tracers...Run them Naked?

[Cptn Vortex]

I have 4 sticks of Ballistix Tracer RAM 800MHZ running at 900. They get warm, and mine have the crappy heatsinks that only touch half the chips because they are warped. I also use a OCZ Memcooler, works great. Would I be better off removing the Heatspreaders on the RAM? I would think this would give more direct airflow over the chips. Thoughts?

[Waymon3X6]

How about adding a OCZ ram cooler?

[xMrBunglex]

are the heat spreaders glued to the chips? you always run the risk of pulling the chips off the PCB when you pull a heat spreader off. i'd leave them there. DDR2 doesn't get very hot anyway. i'm sure you're fine at DDR 900, especially with a fan blowing directly on them.

[Cptn Vortex]

Yes I have the RAM cooler installed, but they still generate quite a bit of heat. Plus, the ramsinks are terrible, and hardly contacting the rAm chips at all. I would think these heatspreaders are BLOCKING the airflow rather than helping. I am just wondering if anyone here is doing this?

[Modzilla]

you need solid contact for efficient heat transfer, and without it you would probably be better off removing the ramsinks and placing a fan(s) directly over the ram.

[cadaveca]

Yes I have the RAM cooler installed, but they still generate quite a bit of heat. Plus, the ramsinks are terrible, and hardly contacting the rAm chips at all. I would think these heatspreaders are BLOCKING the airflow rather than helping. I am just wondering if anyone here is doing this?

Okay, so over holiday season I go the chance to build about 100 pc's for a local retailer for thier "christmas/new years" systems sales. I used ballistix on about half the builds. Every single set had the heatspreaders pulling away from the ram.

Being the guy I am, I called up crucial, and asked whther the heatspreaders should come like this out of the shipping box from them. I was advised that they should not do this, but that a lack of coolling from improper contact should not affect the longevity of the product.


:ROTF:

Gotta love "tech-support guy/gal" answers.


so yeah, thinking about this...heatspreaders are jsut that...to spread the heat, not too cool effectively. having one IC cooler, or hotter, than the one next to it can cause all sorts of havoc to stability.

With that in mind, I know the heatspreaders come off easily, especially if they have begun to pull away from the ram. puul 'em off, toss a higher-flow fan over them(that OCZ cooler is ok, but not the best option), and call it done. I personally noticed about 4c less for outside IC temps, using a thermal probe.

[Cptn Vortex]

Thanks, I might just end up doing that tonight. They are such crummy heatspreaders! Look cool, yes, perform, no.

[ziddey]

still be careful. I think people have pulled off the bga's from ballistix? at least nontracers

[xMrBunglex]

DDR2 doesn't get hot. heat spreaders on RAM are mostly to cover the IC's so we can't see what brand they are. it isn't uncommon for a company to release new RAM with good Micron chips, then start selling that RAM with cheap IC's shortly after, after all the rave reviews have been written. the heat spreaders cover the marking up so you can't see what kind of chips are in there.

if you're running your memory at 2.2V or lower, i don't see how heat could possibly be a problem.

[ziddey]

sharp generalization. run ram at 2.2v without proper airflow and you'll be in trouble for sure.. sooner or later

[newls1]

sharp generalization. run ram at 2.2v without proper airflow and you'll be in trouble for sure.. sooner or later

Well said, That should be a quote in my sig:D

[eva2000]

active fan cooling on memory is a must http://i4memory.com/showthread.php?t=5508 :)

[ziddey]

Wow, that's cool!

Some heatspreaders must be better than others though. I've gone through maybe 5-6 pairs of d9gmh/gkx in the past year and a half, and had to do swaps with jumper sticks sometimes when it was running on the fritz. I can't remember which brand but I do recall the heatspreaders on one of my pairs being extremely hot when I pulled it. buffalo or ocz gold I think?

Never had to pull my non tracer ballistix yet (knock on wood)