Platinum Heat Spreaders?

[Vigo]

I was looking at some prices for "good" memory on newegg and zipzoom and saw a set of Geil and Crucial ram modules with platinum heat spreaders. Now first thing I thought was "wow... must be better than copper..." but then I wondered... "well than why dont you see platinum heat sinks for other components?"

I googled for a thermal conductivity chart and found that platinum has about half the conductivity of aluminum (and aluminum is half of copper). But now here I am thinking... copper is more expensive than aluminum... copper is better... and copper sinks/spreaders are generally more money than aluminum. Right?

Isn't platinum expensive? I assume its not pure platinum but why bother using an alloy with platinum if its not only a worse conductor but also more exepensive?

This one really has me stumped so can anyone shed a little light for me?

[Cricket]

The heatspreaders are platinum in color, not real platinum material (which is pretty expensive stuff).

The heatspreader is probably just aluminum with platinum colored anodizing.

Cricket

[Tin]

if those heatspreaders had platinum on them youd pay up the wazoo for that memory. there most likely nothing more than copper or aluminum anodized platinum. IMO heat spreaders do more harm than good. i havent come across one manufacturer yet that doesnt use too much thermal goop/tape on them. the best way to cool your memory is to run bare chips and have a fan blowing on them .

[Vigo]

Originally Posted by Cricket The heatspreaders are platinum in color, not real platinum material (which is pretty expensive stuff). The heatspreader is probably just aluminum with platinum colored anodizing. Cricket

GeIL GL1G3200DC 1GB Kit DDR400 PC3200 Ultra Series Dual Channel Memory w/Platinum Heat Spreader Retail ***Free 2nd Day***

I don't doubt that they are as you say though... the tech specs state "copper heat spreader". Thats some funny marketing and gave me quite a start.

[Designer]

I gotta agree with Tin that they probably do more harm than good (especially those DIY stick on spreaders - Yuck). All they really are is a sale gimmic as I've never used any cooling on the ram of any of my PC's and never had a problem so far. But the one think I definately like about em is that they look good in a windowed case.

[Vigo]

I actually just bought some copper stick on sinks- for VC ram. I wont be using the tape though... its a pain but I scraped one of and chiseled the residue off with my nail while splashing acetate over it. I'm hoping theyre worth the 10 bucks if I apply it with Arctic 5.

[bailey]

if you had poor air circulation inside your case, it would retain the heat more than it would cool the ram.
I have never seen any benifit from the heat spreaders,
a much better salution would to install another case fan to improve the air floe through the case.

[Vigo]

Case air circulation isn't the big problem; its the room's air circulation. Case is a large mid-tower and there are 2 case fans blowing at around 2500 rpms (intake and exhaust). Coolmaster and a Speeze.

The arctic cooling vga cooler will add a "third case fan" - if youve seen them, you'll see how its really a case fan with a vent that directs the air over the gpu. Its only a 1500 rpm fan at high but its a little more exhaust.

I'm hoping that the more passive cooling (heatsinks), and the better, the less hot air will be blowing out the case and consequently heating this tiny room. Im sure the sinks wont make much of a difference if they do at all (certainly not case wise, maybe a little OC wise on the graphics card), but I'm hoping little thing helps out just a bit.

When I get that motherboard back I'll put my case's thermal lead on the south bridge and a vram chip before i place the sinks on. See if theres a difference in temp on the chips with a drop of arctic 5. Don't know... bought the stuff just to see if it does anything anyway.

[bailey]

do you also have a small fan on the chipset, they do run very hot and a small fan there would help a bit.

[Vigo]

You have to see the arctic cooling vpu heatsink/fan assembly to know what I mean...
Its the Rev. 3 from Arctic Cooling.

The heatsink makes contact on the cpu and extends to the pci slot below the agp card. The sink is wrapped in a plastic duct, and theres a fan on the other end that blows air into the duct, over the vpu and through the heatsink, and then out the pci slot. Thats what I mean by it being the "third case fan".

I havent started using it yet. It should work much better than the powercolor stock fan. The aluminum on that sink was so fragile I didnt believe it was aluminum at first.

[Designer]

I've got the Powercolor 9600 Pro and hav'nt got a fan with it. Are we talking about the same cards?

[Tin]

the VGA Silencer is a real piece of work. its the best $10 ive ever spent as far as im concerned. you really dont realize how hot the 9800 pro runs until you stick a VGA Silencer on it. i can feel some hot air blowing out of the back of my system from the VGA Silencer. its well worth the money, and wont hurt your wallet one bit.

[Vigo]

Originally Posted by Designer I've got the Powercolor 9600 Pro and hav'nt got a fan with it. Are we talking about the same cards?

We should be. And if you bought it retail it should come with a cheap aluminum heatsink and a small fan seated inside the heatsink.
---

On the silencer- well I paid 20 for the REV. 3. So I hope its worth that much.

[Tin]

Originally Posted by Vigo On the silencer- well I paid 20 for the REV. 3. So I hope its worth that much.

its worth that too . i got a deal on mine at www.svc.com for $10. mines also a rev 3.

[mrmister1]

I read somewhere once that after removing the heatspreader from the RAM, it actually lowered the temp about 5 degrees.

[Yuanji]

Originally Posted by mrmister1 I read somewhere once that after removing the heatspreader from the RAM, it actually lowered the temp about 5 degrees.

heatspreaders only help if you have good air circulation.

[Tin]

Originally Posted by Yuanji heatspreaders only help if you have good air circulation.

theyre more of a nuissance than anything else. the best way is to run bare chips with a fan blowing on them. heat spreaders insulate the chips instead of cool them. the problem with heatspreaders is that the memory manufacturers use an excessive amount thermal compound on them. i run all of my memory bare chips.....my geil wouldnt do over 210MHz with the heatspreaders on, with them off i got 225MHz out of them.

[Yuanji]

Originally Posted by Tin Canary theyre more of a nuissance than anything else. the best way is to run bare chips with a fan blowing on them. heat spreaders insulate the chips instead of cool them. the problem with heatspreaders is that the memory manufacturers use an excessive amount thermal compound on them. i run all of my memory bare chips.....my geil wouldnt do over 210MHz with the heatspreaders on, with them off i got 225MHz out of them.

i guess corsair and kindston didn't read up on how to use arctic silver i'd take off the heatspreaders on the ram that i'm going to get but i don't want to kill the warranty.

[Tin]

Originally Posted by Yuanji i guess corsair and kindston didn't read up on how to use arctic silver i'd take off the heatspreaders on the ram that i'm going to get but i don't want to kill the warranty.

stick the ram in the freezer for an hour and the heatspreaders are very easy to remove .