Heat Spreaders

TheMainFrame · Apr 29, 2005

Ok so i love a good looking case and im a fan of the blue LED's...

Im wondering how to tell the cooling capabilities of a memory cooler as compared to stock coolers. (memory in sig)

im thinking of these

http://www.xoxide.com/truelight.html

I like the blue lights ans such and was wondering about its cooling..

Preety much if its equal or better im in.. buit worse id rather not decrease for looks. But an equel exchange is worth it to me..

Would i be better off with somthing like...

http://www.xoxide.com/theracmemcoo.html

And then replacing that fan with a Blue LED fan?
Im assuming only 1 has a fan and the second does not..

any or all helpfull suggestions would be nice.. only requiremnt is i qould like some kind of blue light coming from cooling solution

tresmonos · Apr 29, 2005

Maybe it was the thermaldynamics class I took, but that fan doesn't look like it'll help heat transfer/dispersion at all. Heat spreaders will work according to the material they are made out of. If the grain structure of the material is finer (Al-aluminum has a finer grain structure than Fe- iron), it'll disperse energy faster. Active cooling allows the material to disperse its energy faster. You'd have to know what material your current heat spreaders are and the material of your thermaltakes you presented. Google search the name of the material + the phrase(s) 'grain structure, phase diagram, whatever...'
Find out what material they are made of and I'll be able to help you out.

dtc · Apr 29, 2005

i took my heatspreaders off my corsair because i read there there for show since there only stuck on with some crappy tape.

i dont they make much difference so if u want it for the looks i cant see it doing any damage

stang8118 · Apr 29, 2005

Careful because you'll void your warranty if you take them off.

TheMainFrame · Apr 29, 2005

there both aluminim.. but the stock one seems thin..

I wish i could hold these ones im interested in and check them out.. maybe i can find a local shop with em

Nebulous · Apr 29, 2005

Heatspreaders are a waste. They do more harm than good IMHO. All they do is hold the heat inside between the ramchip itself and the heatspreader. Kinda like insulation.

Any ram I buy with heatspreaders on them I remove. i know I'm voiding the warranty, but I don't care about warranties anyways. Only warranties I'm concerned about is for the cpu,mobo and psu.

dtc · Apr 29, 2005

stang8118 said:
Careful because you'll void your warranty if you take them off.

had the ram over a year not bothered if i break them

i think they look better without anyway

tresmonos · Apr 29, 2005

They're a waste if they don't make any contact with whatever heats up on a ram dimm. I don't know if its the chips themselves or the pcb board. If the chips are heating up, then heatspreaders are not a waste as it transfers the heat to a larger surface area. If they're aluminum, just leave them alone. Thats my $.02

TheMainFrame · Apr 29, 2005

I see what your all saying but like i said im not interested in better cooling..

Just dont wanna add those heatspreaders and have my cooling go down the toilet..

i really want the ones with the LEDs on the top

redwraith94 · Apr 29, 2005

If they're aluminum and your stock are aluminum too, then go right ahead :thup:

It won't decrease your cooling abilities at all, and it will look better to boot. just be sure to put some kind of thermal interface material on ea ramdac, and get some high air flow, and you might even be able to oc it some more too. But don't use silver based, including arctic silver 5 because they are conductive, in fact don't use any metal based, ie copper, aluminum, only ceramic, so you don't short stuff that ain't supposed to be shorted

EWBatOVAclockin · Apr 29, 2005

I personally think they serve a purpose WITH active cooling. And active cooling can be a achieved by placing a fan on the side of the RAM chips that blow on them then to the back of the case where the heat is removed. But this is just from observation, I don't have any kind of proof of this working better but it just sounds like common sense eh? Also I'm pretty the chip's are the one's get hot so how could a heatspreader be a waste? Maybe if you had no airflow what-so-ever then I can see that happening. But if you have good cooling and airflow it will work with the same principles as a heatsink. It moves the heat to a larger surface area which is then easier to be removed by an ACTIVE COOLING solution. So that's my take on it.

PEACE

Falkentyne · Apr 30, 2005

Nebulous said:
Heatspreaders are a waste. They do more harm than good IMHO. All they do is hold the heat inside between the ramchip itself and the heatspreader. Kinda like insulation.

Any ram I buy with heatspreaders on them I remove. i know I'm voiding the warranty, but I don't care about warranties anyways. Only warranties I'm concerned about is for the cpu,mobo and psu.

What happens if your RAM dies someday, and you can't RMA it because the heatspreaders are removed?

And what happens if it's -expensive- RAM?

Some high-end RAM can cost more than both a motherboard and CPU and PSU, combined. And you say you don't care about warranties? Hmm....

No comment.

MassiveOverkill · Apr 30, 2005

I've noticed that my Vantec copper heat spreaders hold heat in, whereas my stock Geil aluminum spreaders dissipate heat quite well. I think copper needs surface area i.e. fins to properly dissipate heat, whereas aluminum does a better job with lower surface area..........without fins. This is just with passive cooling.......haven't gotten around to test active cooling.

Heat Spreaders

TheMainFrame

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tresmonos

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dtc

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stang8118

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TheMainFrame

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Nebulous

Dreadnought Class Senior

dtc

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tresmonos

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TheMainFrame

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redwraith94

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EWBatOVAclockin

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Falkentyne

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MassiveOverkill

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