SOLVED ram heatsink question

hello, just wondering if ram heatsinks get hot or even warm at all, and wondering if its safe to clip off the fins to prevent cpu heatsink closing ram slots, has anyone did this before?

It spreads the heat and then dissaptes it through the fins... Although most RAM doesn't get very warm at all I would be hessitant to remove what little heat dissapating surface area it does have. Also you run the risk of damaging the modules.

I would find either a low profile RAM or different heatsink...

if i were to clip them off someday, id be sure the remove the heatsinks first,seems safe to do so, the only con i see here is the good looks it will loose

The RAM heatspreaders are bonded to the modules with thermal adhesive and you should not attempt to remove them...

oh, i guess i can bent them, benting them seems possible without damaging and seems to keep cooling effectiveness...right?

They are generally aluminum and fairly thin. You could safely remove those tabs with a hack saw without removing them from the ram modules long as your careful. I probably wouldnt use power tools to mod them without removing them from the modules first.

ssjwizard said:

They are generally aluminum and fairly thin. You could safely remove those tabs with a hack saw without removing them from the ram modules long as your careful. I probably wouldnt use power tools to mod them without removing them from the modules first.

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This, BUT I also agree with the first responder... I wouldn't recommend removing them at all. Is there a particular reason you need more ram? Most over clockers stick to dual channel sticks as it's often easier to overclock that way.

well, the design of sandybridge-e tells me that lots of cpu heatsinks are going to cause problems to the rams due to design,so i just thought to ask if its safe to remove or bent the fins (my question is if it will overheat the rams when overclocked or not)
im just getting a general idea here

edit: btw robert, is your wd daviar black noisy during loads such as windows startup?

Those heatsinks are just decorative and are used only because they're cheaper than high quality RAM chips. The only memory that uses them legitimately are Rambus RIMM and some DDR3 Samsung DIMMs.

Don't pry between the circuit board and heatsink because there's a real risk of ripping some chips off the board. If the heatsinks are attached with thermal tape, slice through it with a thin razor, but leave the heatsinks alone if they're epoxied in place and just cut their fins off. The safest way of cutting off a double row of heatsinks is with a Dremel cutoff wheel. Don't try bending the fins because that can also rip chips off the board, but if you still want to bend them, use two pairs of pliers, one to grab the fin, the other to hold the rest of the heatsink near that fin.

IMO epoxied chips are easier to get out of the sink than well taped ones, just takes something to degrade the epoxy and extreme cold is great for that. A dremel would definitely get the job done but even with my gung ho modders attitude Id have a hard time taking any power tool to a HS thats attached to any piece of electronics.

i see, thanks guys, so the answer to my original question, there's no risk of the rams overheating when the fins are removed,awesome