Video card ram heatsinks

[dylan]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

G'day

do_not_spam_me said;
"Heatsinks on modules are only for decorative purposes, as opposed to
heatsinks on some video memory chips"

My abit 128MB gf4 ti4200 8x has no sinks of any kind on its memory chips.
The card runs fine at stock memory speed but if I try to raise the mem speed
above the stock 514 MHz it will have graphical errors, such as white dots in
Halo.

From what I've read I wouldn't think that putting heatsinks on the mem chips
would make a difference to their clockability. This comment is the first
I've seen thats sounds like heatsinks may have an effect. So, do you think
that a set of properly installed copper sinks will help its chips run faster
without errors? I think the chips are 4ns parts, so should be good for a bit
better than 514MHz.

TIA
Regards

Dylan

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

Dylan wrote:

> G'day
>
> do_not_spam_me said;
> "Heatsinks on modules are only for decorative purposes, as opposed to
> heatsinks on some video memory chips"
>
> My abit 128MB gf4 ti4200 8x has no sinks of any kind on its memory chips.
> The card runs fine at stock memory speed but if I try to raise the mem speed
> above the stock 514 MHz it will have graphical errors, such as white dots in
> Halo.
>
> From what I've read I wouldn't think that putting heatsinks on the mem chips
> would make a difference to their clockability. This comment is the first
> I've seen thats sounds like heatsinks may have an effect. So, do you think
> that a set of properly installed copper sinks will help its chips run faster
> without errors? I think the chips are 4ns parts, so should be good for a bit
> better than 514MHz.
>
> TIA
> Regards
>
> Dylan
>
>

Thermal dynamics says otherwise. As temperature rises, electron
migration increases and it becomes harder for memory chips to operate
effectively. As well as other things.

I cool my card's RAM with a simple 80mm case fan angled towards it.
Combined with an active airflow through the case, I can OC significantly
higher than with stagnant air.

Ramsinks increase the ability to dissipate heat, so on good memory, you
can sometimes overclock 100 to 200mhz beyond defaults. I know my old
GF3 TI200 could, it had 4ns chips and I could go from 400 to 525 easily
with air cooling.

 

[JS]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

Excessive heat will damage and/or destroy an integrated circuit. MOS
IC's will also run faster when they are cooler. (Bipolar IC's will run
faster when they are hotter.) Most IC's used in PC's are primarily MOS
devices so, keep your memory, cpu, etc. cooler for better performance,
reliability and longevity. Overclocked memory will run hotter than
unoverclocked memory; for this reason, overclocked memory, or anything
else for that matter, should have additional cooling to prevent damage
to the device. Even if it seems to run ok, if it is running hotter, it
will fail sooner. Hotter IC's age faster.

 

[dylan]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.videocards.nvidia (More info?)

Cheers guys,
The answers you have provided do differ from what I've read on the net. The
net basically says that ram is a low power device which produces not much
heat and therefore cooling will not help in overclocking them.

I'll AS epoxy some sinks onto my video card ram chips. Found a good price on
the thermaltake memory heatsinks, only aluminium though.

Its winter atm here and my video memory can now run at 540 MHz without
errors. The cooler air temps must be having an effect on the clockability of
these video memory chips.

Thanks again

Dyl

"JS" <JS@huh.wha> wrote in message
news:Xns95441CA7F1DDJShuhwhaX15F18SGAHz@127.0.0.1...
> Excessive heat will damage and/or destroy an integrated circuit. MOS
> IC's will also run faster when they are cooler. (Bipolar IC's will run
> faster when they are hotter.) Most IC's used in PC's are primarily MOS
> devices so, keep your memory, cpu, etc. cooler for better performance,
> reliability and longevity. Overclocked memory will run hotter than
> unoverclocked memory; for this reason, overclocked memory, or anything
> else for that matter, should have additional cooling to prevent damage
> to the device. Even if it seems to run ok, if it is running hotter, it
> will fail sooner. Hotter IC's age faster.