RAM Temperatures - Help Please, will this RAM be too hot[?]

jamsponge · Post by **jamsponge** » Thu May 21, 2009 2:00 am

Hi,

I have just ordered a Asus T3-M3N8200 barebones PC.

My build is virtually identical to the one here on SPCR

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Anitec_SilenT3_PC

I was wondering about RAM. I have ordered 4GB (2x2GB) of kingston DDR2 800MHz ValueRAM.

I was going to get the kingston 1066MHz HyperX memory but because it has heatsinks I was worried that meant it is really hot and as im after a silent build so Im trying to keep temperatures low.

Can anyone help me with this? Is hyperX going to be too hot? Is value RAM the best for temperatues. Also I will not be overclocking - ever.

I was also considering this Corsair RAM

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-TWIN2X4 ... y_ce_img_b

its has heatsinks too.

Thanks for any help

Cistron · Post by **Cistron** » Thu May 21, 2009 3:15 am

I've never seen or heard of RAM going hot, unless it's fully buffered. Usually, the heatsinks are obstructive and annoying. I'd go for DIMMs without *bling*.

jamsponge · Post by **jamsponge** » Thu May 21, 2009 3:37 am

so why does some ram have heatsinks? Is the ram going to radiate alot of heat therefore heating up the inside of the case? The last thing I want is to be adding a fan in the case of a ram cooling fan.

Also I have noticed there is a voltage increase between 800 Mhz and 1066 MHz. Surely that will make the 1066 hotter.

I think I will get the Corsair xms2 ddr2 ram if anyone can give me an idea of temperatures

Cistron · Post by **Cistron** » Thu May 21, 2009 3:46 am

Ok.

1) What processor will you be using? Often 800Mhz RAM speed is more than enough to match the FSB 1:1 (especially since you're not overclocking). Unless you're a benchmark programme, you won't notice any performance change with higher speeds anyway.

2) I bet you case has a least a case fan. A slight breeze should be more than enough to keep your RAM within a reasonable temperature range.

3) In my oppinion, RAM coolers are a stylistic element.

Olle P · Post by **Olle P** » Thu May 21, 2009 4:20 am

jamsponge wrote:so why does some ram have heatsinks?

It's mostly a visual thing.

The heat spreaders appeared with the RDRAM/RAMBUS type memory. Here they made sense because that memory type was often used in a very uneven way, with some chips on the stick working heavily while others were mostly idle.

Heat spreaders are/were rare on DDR memory, only featured on high performance sticks expected to be heavily overclocked and/or mounted in cases with side windows.

With DDR2 it became a standard feature for no apparent reason. (And as Cistron pointed out: The heat spreaders have a tendency to block the air flow if sticks are mounted in the slots next to each other, thus increasing the RAM temperature.)

Cheers
Olle

jamsponge · Post by **jamsponge** » Thu May 21, 2009 4:21 am

I will be using:

an AMD Athlon Dual core 5050e 45W

details here:

http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCP ... &f11=False

The case does not have a case fan as seen here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/files/ima ... nitec6.jpg

It just has an a PSU fan and a fan over the CPU heatsink.

How can I find out the FSB speed.

The motherboard and case is here

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=6t6Ww6Ij8zgn2ee5

Thanks

jamsponge · Post by **jamsponge** » Thu May 21, 2009 4:27 am

Apparently the FSB is

FSB/HT Speed: 1000 MHz

Cistron · Post by **Cistron** » Thu May 21, 2009 5:08 am

Well, I lost my bet about the case-fan, but I'm sure you won't need 1066MHz RAM or heat-spreaders.

RedAE102 · Post by **RedAE102** » Thu May 21, 2009 11:51 pm

If you're not overclocking, an AM2 processor (K8) will not run anything over DDR2-800. You'd need an AM2+ or AM3 processor (K10/K10.5) to run DDR2-1066 RAM at full speed. I have 4x2GB G.Skill DDR2-800 Pi Black, which is rated to run 4-4-4-12 timings at 1.8-1.9V, among the first manufacturers to reach those timings with less than 2.0V. They come with really tall heat spreaders that keep me from fitting a 120mm fan facing the rear of my case. Good thing I get safe temperatures on my 55W (undervolted) Athlon X2 5400 without it! The heat spreaders do get somewhat warm, but nowhere near the temperature of the heatsink over my NVidia 7050 MCP.

On another note, at the full 2.6 GHz of the 5050e, DDR2-800 RAM is actually running at 371 MHz, or DDR2-743. AM2 processors will only run DDR2-800 RAM at full speed at 2.0, 2.4, 2.8, and 3.2 GHz.

jamsponge · Post by **jamsponge** » Sat May 23, 2009 10:46 am

Thanks for the responses. I've gone with some corsair 1066 RAM with 5-5-5-15 timings. I bought this before I read the post from RedAE102. Although it won't work at the full speed, I'm satisfied knowing that its (probably) the best ram my motherboard can take and, in the future when AM2+ and AM3 processors come down in price, an maybe even some new energy efficinet low TDP processors have bee developed, I can take advantage of it and will not need to buy new Ram.

edh · Post by **edh** » Sat May 23, 2009 11:04 am

One potential purpose for heatspeaders on RAM is to act as faraday cages. Not sure how genuine this effect is. Some heatspeaders are only stuck down with double sided tape rather than a thermal interface material so the cooling effect is debatable.

ascl · Post by **ascl** » Mon May 25, 2009 2:12 am

I disagree that the heat spreaders are just bling. My RAM gets very hot at stock speeds (although its entirely debatable whether the heat spreaders actually do anything useful).

RAM can get very hot (like burn my finger hot).

Monkeh16 · Post by **Monkeh16** » Mon May 25, 2009 9:14 am

edh wrote:One potential purpose for heatspeaders on RAM is to act as faraday cages. Not sure how genuine this effect is.

Unlikely at best. A proper metal case (P182s for example are unsuitable due to the plastic side panels) is an effective faraday cage, however.

josephclemente · Post by **josephclemente** » Mon May 25, 2009 1:38 pm

I am using Thermaltake heatspreaders which have heatpipe coolers. They made a huge difference over the stock heatspreaders.

Before using the Thermaltake coolers, I had a fan mounted directly on top of the four memory modules - that's how hot they got (when stressed).

depravedone · Post by **depravedone** » Sun May 31, 2009 6:11 am

Any RAM that requires greater than the 1.8V standard to run at its rated speed will likely have heat sinks and requires them. As far as I know, all the RAM out that requires higher voltages and manual configuration of timings is technically being overclocked as well.