How to see if your RAM will fit under your Cooler!

You can do a graphic measurement to see how tall your RAM will be, before you order it. First you have to measure the current clearance from either the top of your current RAM to the heatsink/cooler.

How do you do a graphic measurement? This works for any device, but handy for RAM modules and graphic cards - things most aren't sure if will fit well.

First, find an object you know the size of - in this case I know that most DDR2 modules (w/o heatsink) are about 30mm high. You can find this spec. online or actually measure one, like the one you have now. So find a good picture of the product you want to buy and measure the height of the module up to the heatsink. You can measure it on the screen or print it out. Doesn't matter what the measurement is because you KNOW that equals 30mm. So if the module itself measures say, 3 3/4 inches, then you know that 1 1/2" equals 10mm.

Measure the entire module. If it measures 5 inches, then the heatsink adds about 10mm to the height.

If you remember your algebra, you can figure this out easily! You can use inches or metric, the units always cancel out.

X is to 5" as 30mm is to 3.75" ..... X = (30 * 5) / 3.75 = 40mm

To do it with a video card, the known value is the size of the PCI-E slot and the distance from it to the side of the board. With that, you can tell if it will block your SATA ports or other motherboard headers.

Here's one way to look at the problem.