Using RAM without heatsink

Hi folks, I have a Corsair Vengeance Pro kit that I plan to remove the heatsinks (please don't ask why I would want to do that ). Case is, they are at stock speed of 1600Mhz and is highly possible that will be used at least 1866Mhz. I'm wondering if running at such speed without the heat spreader would cause any sort of damage to it? have anyone ran their RAM kit without the heatsink and with no issues?

I already asked this on another community, I got some good advises about avoiding doing it the best possible, but I'm still pretty sure I have seen it before while googling that using them without heat spreader wound't cause any harm or something like that, I'm almost decided to do it but I would like to ask you whats the worst that could happen when running without them, or if it actually does cause any harm to the sticks.

These are exactly my kit, except that mine are 2x4GB (8GB), not 16GB.
http://www.corsair.com/en/vengeance...dram-1600mhz-c9-memory-kit-cmy16gx3m2a1600c9r

Thanks you!

Removing heat spreaders on DDR3 sticks is pointless unless you're intending sub ambient benching on them with extreme voltage. They don't even get warm under normal usage.

I DO however remove heat spreaders on some DDR2 (Micron D9's) and DDR (BH-5) because of the voltage they take to make them go. They get hot, so active cooling on those is a must.
Most heat spreaders are just bling. They trap more heat than they relieve.

Mr.Scott said:

Most heat spreaders are just bling. They trap more heat than they relieve.

Click to expand...

^+1^

RGone...

They won't be damaged by leaving them on, they won't be damaged by running with them off. You may, however, physically damage them while removing the spreaders.

Some companies use thermal pads and a compression fit, an easy removal. Some use adhesive thermal pads that will literally rip the pads right off the pcb.

Any warranty you have is instantly toast if you remove a heat spreader too, keep that in mind as well.

Awesome thats pretty much what I needed to now, thank you guys. Just one thing Mr.Scott, so are you saying the voltage at what they are running is the main factor to cause heat and not the frequency? they can run at 1866Mhz and at stock voltage (1.5v) with no issues, would be there any difference between running at 1600Mhz (stock) and 1866Mhz in term of temperature?

bob4933 said:

Some companies use thermal pads and a compression fit, an easy removal. Some use adhesive thermal pads that will literally rip the pads right off the pcb.

Any warranty you have is instantly toast if you remove a heat spreader too, keep that in mind as well.

Click to expand...

I have noticed they are glued, the good thing is the ram chips are only in one side of the PCB the other side seems to be empty and just glued to the PCB with adhesive. I'm thinking on applying some heat with a heatgun to make the adhesive easy to remove.

iSkylaker said:

Awesome thats pretty much what I needed to now, thank you guys. Just one thing Mr.Scott, so are you saying the voltage at what they are running is the main factor to cause heat and not the frequency? they can run at 1866Mhz and at stock voltage (1.5v) with no issues, would be there any difference between running at 1600Mhz (stock) and 1866Mhz in term of temperature?



I have noticed they are glued, the good thing is the ram chips are only in one side of the PCB the other side seems to be empty and just glued to the PCB with adhesive. I'm thinking on applying some heat with a heatgun to make the adhesive easy to remove.

Click to expand...

Frequency will not affect temp. Only increased voltage.

Mr.Scott said:

Frequency will not affect temp. Only increased voltage.

Click to expand...

I see, thank you!

DDR3 RAM heatsinks are purely decorative, purely decorative, purely decorative,...

DDR3 chips are designed to work at up to 85C, 95C if the refresh is doubled.

I tried making some Kingston HiperX Fury warm by covering it in anti-static foam wrap, but it ran barely lukewarm, even at 1.5V, and a Kingston engineer admitted that RAM heatsinks were just decorative.

The famous Samsung Green 4GB 1600 MHz DIMM was famous for being overclockable, despite not having heatsinks.

I recently removed a heatsink from a 1GB OCZ 5-5-5-15 DDR2 DIMM and found it was no more or less overclockable than when the heatsink was on it, and either way it was still less overclockable than a 1GB Crucial/Samsung 6-6-6-18 DDR2 DIMM with no heatsinks. OTOH the OCZ had no-name chips on it.

I thought with CMOS, power consumption was pretty much proportional to frequency, and with any type of chip, proportional to the square of the power supply voltage.