i officially *hate* memory heatspreaders now !

[flexy]

ok, maybe some caught my story of a magically lost overclock.

I used to run 289x9 with my sticks and last month or so i got a dramatic decrease in performance, sometimes couldnt even hit 260 anymore.

Some nice person gave me the tip it COULD be the heatspreaders of my OCZ sticks...i checked a month ago and thought they were fine. Maybe i didnt look close enough.

Today i checked again and *clearly* the spreaders came off on the sides.

So...i removed them since they obviously have NO real use: heated them up with memtest #5, took a small screwdriver and popped the clips off and carefulle got rid of those d*rn spreaders.

Of course i have my 289Mhz back and now with a fan blowing over the sticks i am off even better.


I cannot advice to REMOVE any spreaders since it would void warranties....but i STRONGLY encourage OCZ and mushkin and whoever to either redesign their spreaders/clips or just LEAVE 'em out because in the long run they do NOT have a benefit and with 2.9V or more thru high-end sticks its a given they WILL come off in a few months !

I always liked OCZ a lot and i have nothing but praise for them and their products/performance....but for my next system i might STRONGLY consider sticks without spreaders to avoid those problems !

thanks

[Thorry]

I agree, heatspreaders on mem are a bad idea. Also mem cooling is not needed for normal operation, even with higher voltages. Just a bit of airflow does the job just fine when overclocking.

[texuspete00]

I got used to taking them off (lots o' hyperX in back in the BH5 days). Never had OCZ. I've since tried out less ram, but glad my Gskill didn't have them. So take note co.'s.... down with the spreaders! The companies I guess "could" apply them better, but it's really not worth it. Those flat things wouldn't even help that much with thin paste and tight clips.

Yeah I guess I see your point, I shouldn't have to void my warranty getting those off. Especially when every pair I've seen has a thick pad and shiny metal I guess you could call a heatsink. I've gotten used to calling them coats. :p

[Disposibleteen]

they look so much better though, people see them and say "oh that memory must be better, it looks cooler." For this reason i doubt they will come off any time soon. I agree with you there though, putting a heatspreader on memoery has the likeness to putting it in a big winter coat.

[Jesus]

well you could et some RAM Heatsinks liek the ones form revoltec, pure copper and thin fins so that you can spread thema appart form each other

[Asheis]

What frequency should I be getting on my RAM with 512X4 3200 dual channel on average? Specifically, Corsair XMS CAS 2.

Should I just take those crazy spreaders off? how much would it help?