Titan Fenrir blocking ram port

Odhran · 8 Nov 2009 at 12:32

Firstly, here's the hardware involved:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA EX-58 UD
Processor: Intel i7 920 (@ 4GHz)
Cooler: Titan Fenrir
RAM: 6GB Patriot

Have a look at this picture:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/odhran-mcconnell/4085877570/

Basically, the cooler is overhanging the first ram port. I'd like to go to 12GB and would love to know if you lot have any ideas on what I should do in this situation. Preferably, I'd like to know if there is another cooler out there which does the same job but without the blocking but I'd love to hear any ideas you may have.

Thanks in advance!

Memphis · 8 Nov 2009 at 13:35

I can't offer with regards to a new cooler, but you are aware you will likely lose your 4GHz overclock if you move to 12GB?

Odhran · 8 Nov 2009 at 14:23

Memphis said:
I can't offer with regards to a new cooler, but you are aware you will likely lose your 4GHz overclock if you move to 12GB?

Yes, I do realise it's a likelyhood, but I'm willing to chance it

beefybarn · 8 Nov 2009 at 15:02

Turn the cooler 180 degrees and turn the fan round to a pull orientation, should then clear.

Odhran · 8 Nov 2009 at 15:31

beefybarn said:
Turn the cooler 180 degrees and turn the fan round to a pull orientation, should then clear.

I'll give it a try. I take it that there isn't a specific orientation of the cooler plate to the cpu?

TheTard · 8 Nov 2009 at 22:33

Odhran said:
I'll give it a try. I take it that there isn't a specific orientation of the cooler plate to the cpu?

Doing that would allow you to have 12GB RAM, but i'm not sure you could stay at 4GHz because pulling air in from the back is less efficient than pulling air in from the front, well, in my experience anyway. You wouldnt have to seriously underclock it, just a lil bit

krooton · 9 Nov 2009 at 09:25

What exactly would make use of 12GB of RAM?

gurusan · 9 Nov 2009 at 09:32

only thing I can think of are multiple VMs

Odhran · 9 Nov 2009 at 13:08

Q: What could use 12GB?
A: Not much at the moment. That's not the point of this exercise for me.

So, I turned the cpu cooler 180 degrees and reversed the fan so that it sucks air from the cpu out the exhaust fan at the rear. It cleared up the space for the extra ram, so that's a plus.

With still the 6GB, the machine works just as before (4GHz overclock and everything running smoothly under load).

Putting in 12GB without changing the settings caused a BSOD at the win 7 login screen, so the prediction of losing the overclock was acurate.

So ... it's now up to me to change the settings until I get a stable overclock with 12GB ram. We know the cpu can handle 4GHz, but the memory probably can't with a full stack.

Any more suggestions before I start tweaking?

Edit: the reason for this is to see if it is possible to overclock while having 12GBs. Common consensus seems to say no, hence my reason for trying.

Xelene · 9 Nov 2009 at 13:30

I got to 4GHz on mine, turbo enabled 191x21, dialled it back as I didn't like the amount of volts / temps needed for it.

DavyBoy · 9 Nov 2009 at 13:54

I've heard of people mounting their fans a little higher up the heatsink so that the DIMM can fit in underneath the fan, however, those Patriots have tall heatsinks on them, so I am unsure whether this method would work or not..

Odhran · 9 Nov 2009 at 14:16

sldsmkd said:
I got to 4GHz on mine, turbo enabled 191x21, dialled it back as I didn't like the amount of volts / temps needed for it.

Good stuff ... I was thinking of scaling it back a little tbh. I have my ram @ 8/8/8/22/2T also - but at 1600MHz. I might scale this down, and reduce the overclock on the CPU with a reduction in voltage to go with it.

Cheers for the tip though.