Corsair Airflow works with any RAM?

[oswold]

Simple question, not sure if its been asked before...

Does the Corsair Dominator Airflow cooler only work with dominator memory, or does it just attach to the motherboard?

If so would it be worth getting, as I should be overclocking my OCZ RAM soon with the e4300.

Thanks!

 

[PCD]

According a picture on this site: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2085

the cooler attaches to the RAM sockets on the MB, more specific the locking mechanism on the RAM sockets.

 

[oswold]

After seeing some pictures of it, its looks like its pretty tall.
And if most big cpu heatsinks look as if they overlap the RAM modules, getting an Airflow might be out of the question.

 

[Mondoman]

The other issue is that for typical DIMMs (unless designed otherwise), the vast majority of the heat is conducted away through the metal traces of the DIMM PCB. Thus, air cooling doesn't help much for most DIMMs; if you think about it, it makes sense because the PCB substrate (normally fiberglass) and RAM chip packaging (normally plastic) are both poor heat conductors.

 

[memorymaster]

Mondoman,

I see what you are saying, but with a heatshield on the modules (such as carbon or copper which are great conductors of heat), wouldn't the fans then help? If you can get an airflow to at least cool down the heatshields, then you can technically cool down your modules, no?

 

[Mondoman]

The heat spreaders don't really do much, because of the plastic IC packaging. They do look cool, though!

 

[Track]

Thats not completely true.

Unlike most other RAM heatsinks, they actually work. Not only that but they work well, according to reviews.
They arent perfect, and the fact that RAM dosent really need cooling to work well probably helps it along.

 

[memorymaster]

Yeah, I see what you are saying now Mondoman. The heatspreaders rarely help at all, more of a gimmick by the memory companies, especially if the voltage is 2.3V or under. But if the modules are running at 2.4V, the temperature of the module is extremely hot, where I would think any sort of air flow would help cool them down....

But I still would not run any module at 2.4V, as the voltage fluctuates too much when set that high, and the ics on the module can easily fry.

 

[XMSYellowbeard]

Simple question, not sure if its been asked before...

Does the Corsair Dominator Airflow cooler only work with dominator memory, or does it just attach to the motherboard?

If so would it be worth getting, as I should be overclocking my OCZ RAM soon with the e4300.

Thanks!

As to fit, the main thing to look for is the height of the memory modules. Based on pictures I don't think our cooler or the OCZ cooler will work with the Reaper or Flex series memory due to the height of the heat spreaders and attachment methods. I'd do some checking before you buy. Other than that, the cooler should work with a majority of the memory out there. The cooler attaches to the memory slot clips so height clearance is the determining factor.

 

[MonocleCat]

Have you seen the spikes on top of the dominator modules? They look like they're 6'' tall!

 

[XMSYellowbeard]

Have you seen the spikes on top of the dominator modules? They look like they're 6'' tall!

Well yeah, I've seen them. They are not 6" and fit under the cooler nicely.

 

[GSTe]

They look beautiful as well. If only they were cheaper!