Low profile video cards

[rwest]

I saw in another thread where David M said this:

Low profile gives you the option of choosing from more large aftermarket coolers for overclocking the CPU. The only downside is smaller heatsinks which theoretically means less overclocking ability, but then the reality is that overclocking RAM does very very little for overall system performance. Overclocking the CPU has more effect on overall system performance.

Just a bit confused with this statement:

The only downside is smaller heatsinks which theoretically means less overclocking ability, but then the reality is that overclocking RAM does very very little for overall system performance.

Heat sinks on the video card or main board? Are we talking about OCing the video card here or the primary cpu and ram?

And since were on the subject, Aren't low profile cards designed for small cases? and put out more heat than their cooled counter parts? At this point the ambient temperature of the case is higher and therefore causing less cooling for the cpu and ram installed on the main board? Of course this is strictly based on air cooling.

To sum it up: If you're adding a large cooler to the cpu and putting in a smaller video card that puts out more heat aren't you essentially defeating the purpose of the better cooler on the cpu if you're increasing the ambient temperature of the case? I just can't see(or understand) where blowing more air at a higher temperature is more beneficial to blowing less air at a lower temperature.

[glc]

I think you are confusing low profile video cards with low profile ram. Low profile video cards are designed for tiny cases that only have half height slots. Low profile ram is designed for systems that use huge aftermarket CPU coolers.

[rwest]

That's what I was missing. Thanx for clearing it up for me.