Removing stock ramsinks

[Gogeta]

What is the easiest (and safest) way to remove the ramsinks that come stock on most RAM nowadays? I recently got a stick of Mushkin PC3500 Level II and I want to check to see if its BH-5 or not.

RnR said he got some Mushkin PC2700 Level II and it was CH-5, so I'd like to check out my RAM to be sure.

Also, does removing the ramsinks give any advantages to overclocking? I just noticed there were some people that had removed theirs...

[thirdeye]

removing the ramsinks wouldnt give an advantage to OC, but MIGHT hurt it if you're really overvolting the RAM and dont have good ventilation..

[st0nedpenguin]

Get a real small screwdriver or knife, and pop off the clips holding the spreaders on, then get a credit card, slot it carefully under the bottom edge of the heatspreader, making sure not to knock off any caps, and gently lever the spreader off.

Took me about five minutes to get mine off.

You will quite likely get a bit of an increase in the overclock afterwards, not much, but every bit counts, those spreaders just trap hot air basically, with them off and an 80mm fan blowing over my RAM, my chips are nice and cool even at 3.3v.

[Gogeta]

So basically, if I remove the heatspreader, I'll need a fan blowing across it...right? Is it easy enough to reinstall them once they are removed?

[st0nedpenguin]

If they come off nicely, mine did, and the fragtape is still in one piece, you can just stick them back on.

The fan is definitely handy, you want to make sure they stay cool, at high voltages I'd have a fan blowing across them whether they have the spreaders on or not.

[Gogeta]

Ok, thanks for the tip!

By chance, would you happen to know the speed range I can expect if they are BH-5s?

[st0nedpenguin]

It's pretty variable, but as long as you get fairly decent ones, I would say 230MHz at 3.2v should be a safe bet.

By the way, if you have the Mushkin LVL II, you don't need to pop the spreader off to check it's BH-5 if you don't fancy it, it's all guaranteed BH-5.

[scottk]

Before you start prying with the credit card and screwdriver, it helps to loosen up the thermal tape by heating up the chips and tape. I loop memtest86 test 5 at high fsb and vdimm for about 10 minutes, then quickly pull the plug and start working on the sticks. Some folks use hairdryer. Kingston spreaders come off really easy, Corsair spreaders need a little more coaxing.

I also recall a post by Nohto involving dunking in boiling water.

[dbwillis]

I heard the boiling water thingy too, tried it on my XMS stick a while back, worked pretty good and the stick runs AOK after it dried out (I let it dry for 2 days)

[Gogeta]

Originally posted by st0nedpenguin
It's pretty variable, but as long as you get fairly decent ones, I would say 230MHz at 3.2v should be a safe bet.

You mean at 2-2-2-5 right?

By the way, if you have the Mushkin LVL II, you don't need to pop the spreader off to check it's BH-5 if you don't fancy it, it's all guaranteed BH-5.

Ok, thats what I thought That makes me very happy :smileysex