GPU Ram Heatsinks

valerian · 23 Mar 2006 at 09:14

1stly how necessary or effective do people think ram heatsinks are, in this case on the ram chips of an ati x850.
2ndly if the thermal tape has been removed, would you buy some more thermal tape/pads to reattach them.
or go down the epoxy route
cheers

ps vantec copper heatsinks

G.O.A.T · 23 Mar 2006 at 14:08

I run my 1900XT without heatsinks on the RAM but it's using GDDR3. I'm not sure if it would work with DDR2? I used RAM sinks on my old 6800GT and I found that the sticky pads did not work at all so I used thermal epoxy. It might just have been a poor type of thermal pad though.

valerian · 23 Mar 2006 at 15:35

x850 is ddr3

iraiguana · 23 Mar 2006 at 18:48

ddr 3 does not require ram sinks as it runs cooler than normal ddr. unless and this is the key they are being fairly well overclocked. they will then become less stable at lower temps than seen in ddr and will require a small amount of cooling, eg ram sinks and a slow fan would be most ever needed.

but remember if u slack the timings a couple of mhz it will run fine without them. and sometimes the ram sinks without good air flow can cause the ram to run hotter as it traps the heat than without them.

valerian · 25 Mar 2006 at 18:37

iraiguana said:
ddr 3 does not require ram sinks as it runs cooler than normal ddr. unless and this is the key they are being fairly well overclocked. they will then become less stable at lower temps than seen in ddr and will require a small amount of cooling, eg ram sinks and a slow fan would be most ever needed.

but remember if u slack the timings a couple of mhz it will run fine without them. and sometimes the ram sinks without good air flow can cause the ram to run hotter as it traps the heat than without them.

interesting point