RAM Cooling

Karllen

New member
I have recently upgraded my workstation (ASUS Sabretooth X99, i7-5930K, 16GB DDR4-2666 Crucial Elite) and am noticing a significant temperature difference between my two memory banks at idle (ThermalRadar DRAM1 35C DRAM2 50C).

I have seen RAM coolers for sale online and wondered what peoples experiences and thoughts are around using these, pros and cons of the various types and other alternatives?
 
I don't know where you live, but at the moment with ambient temps being what they are (summer) most systems are warmer than usual, I'm guessing the hot bank in question is the one closest the IO panel near the chipset heat sink.. what is your current system fan set up like? does the air flow pass that way and is it a strong flow.

My memory at the moment with ambient room temp at 23c, with great air flow. 2x 140mm intaking & 2x 120mm exhausting
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I'd say try adding another fan to direct air across the RAM or you could try some of those novel RAM cooling options, I think they're more of a gimmick than anything else, RAM does get hot we know that much, the maximum safe temperature for memory is about 85c.
 
Thanks, I could probably do with increasing the airflow round the DRAM banks at the rear as they are fairly well enclosed with the graphics card and Corsair H100 block sitting on the CPU.

I'll have to see what my options are.

It's about as cold as it gets here (Wellington, New Zealand) and the room is around 18C.
 
Any chance of posting a picture dude? The second temp doesnt sound right and if you are using sensors on the motherboard thats not likely to be a good indicator of the actual module temps
 
Hi there,

I have taken a couple of pics but am unable to add to post.

I cannot see the Pictures & Albums in my control panel and my thread options show I cannot post attachments.

Can these option be enabled or could you suggest other alternatives?
 
Yes, use an external image host site for your images, then copy and paste the tagged BB codes into this thread ;)

[img]http://i.imgur.com/ogdOMgm.jpg

Images may require authorization by an Admin first as you're new to the forums.
 
Here are the case pics.

She's a CM-690 III with the stock 200mm front intake, I replaced the H100 stock fans with 2x SP-120 on the radiator exhausting through the top and an AF-120 exhaust on the rear.

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I noted in your video review for the i7-5960X that you were using CPUID HWMonitor. I have taken some readings with this to compare to ThermalRadar.

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This has shown at least a -4C difference on the max temp but still between 6C & 10C difference between the two banks of memory.
 
Okay I have been trying out some changes

Initially I had a bit of a move around of the HDD's to provide better air flow from the front mounted 200mm fan. Rotated the DIMM's to see if the problem moved and since taking the picture below I have also turned the PSU over to provide additional exhausting.

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I then tried several fan profile changes in Thermal Radar 2 including running all fans on full. Most of the components showed several degrees heat loss where as the DRAM2 area showed barely a 2C drop over a 2hr period whilst idling.

Overall the temperature seems to have risen slightly with the current adjustments. :confused:

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I am now considering mounting an additional Corsair AF-120 Performance fan on the drive cage fan mount to increase airflow across the board.

A query I have is would replacing the current AF-120 Quiet that I have on the rear with an SP-120 Quiet\Performance make any significant change?
 
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Your case is not terribly airflow efficient. I would remove that entire bank of SSD brackets and neatly rig yourself a place to put the SSD's in another location. Nice thing with SSD's is they are flat, light, and look neat and a good showing piece.

Also keep in mind that your GPU is going to significantly warm your memory. Correct me if I am wrong, but it also looks like you are running a AMD 6xxx series GPU which were known to have TERRIBLE TDP and got obnoxiously hot. I still remember my 6990 back in the day had an Idle temp of 80c :/ I had to watercool the the damn thing just to get it to idle at 65c haha.
 
IMO i think your heat issue is going to come down to the case, See if you can remove the SSD cage part and see if your airflow improves.
 
I fail to see what the actual problem is here, everything looks cool enough. Surely the difference in temperature would be easily explained by the fact one bank of memory is sandwiched inbetween the CPU socket, the hot end of a GPU and a MOSFET heatsink so it has heat producing components flanking it on all 4 sides whereas the other bank is relatively open.

Additionally I can't see any major problems with the case. I'd prefer to have two 120's over a 200mm fan but that's about it. IDK what the kings are on about. Looks like a well kept rig ;)

JR
 
I am starting to think the same.

Just been testing the overclock at 4.18GHz running PrimeGrid at 100% on all cores temp is toping out between 89C and 91C on the CPU :eek:. I've had to open the window (its been snowing) and bring the ambient room temp down to 11C then pull off both sides, the front, the top and stick a room fan on the ground in front to bring the CPU back down below 70C...

I did note during this that the DRAM2 temp dropped below 40C however it was still a good 12 to 15 hotter than DRAM1 in HWMonitor.

I think I'll be checking out a few reviews tomorrow and maybe some cooling with more surface area oh and one of those no-contact thermometers Wraithguard was using just to verify the temps.

Thanks all for the feedback...

Posts merged - Please do not double post

I fail to see what the actual problem is here, everything looks cool enough. Surely the difference in temperature would be easily explained by the fact one bank of memory is sandwiched inbetween the CPU socket, the hot end of a GPU and a MOSFET heatsink so it has heat producing components flanking it on all 4 sides whereas the other bank is relatively open.

Additionally I can't see any major problems with the case. I'd prefer to have two 120's over a 200mm fan but that's about it. IDK what the kings are on about. Looks like a well kept rig ;)

JR

Nice of you to say so JR :)

I had thought about the DRAM2 positioning like you said it is boxed in. Being new to OC'ing I was assuming the temps of DRAM1 & 2 should be closer to be able to push things better. Hence originally I was also asking the question regarding RAM cooling methods and if they were worth it?

Would AF or SP be better in the front if I were to change to 2x120 my understanding is that SP are for radiators?
 
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