DDR4 heat spreaders/heatsinks, are they worth it?

[azaran]

The short story:
So the basic question is, when memory is under full load, are heat spreaders/heatsinks worthwhile on DDR4? The cost difference is about $30 US between models with and without them.

The long story:
I'm helping a friend build a computer for 3D rendering and we decided on jumping in to the X99 world. While going through the parts list and memory reviews online I couldn't help but notice there seemed to be no difference between the G.Skill Ripjaw Value and the G.Skill Ripjaw 4 Series aside from the Value memory having no heat spreaders. One site review even took the heat spreaders off of the Ripjaw 4 for and noted that they used the same chips as the Value Memory.

I know DDR3 heat spreaders were shown to be pretty much purely for ornamentation, and in semi recent memory only really Rambus showed a legitimate reason for having them when running at stock speeds. I'm just starting to look in to DDR4 so I'm not sure how well it distributes heat.

Specific models I'm looking at are
G.Skill Ripjaw 4 Series
and
G.Skill Ripjaw Value

OCing the memory isn't going to happen as we're more concerned with system stability (she's about 100 miles away) than with squeezing out a small percentage of real world performance increase.

 

[i7Baby]

So the basic question is, when memory is under full load, are heat spreaders/heatsinks worthwhile on DDR4? - No. Most heat spreaders are for looks. Not really functional. DDR4 in particular as it runs at only 1.35V and doesn't generate much heat.

Big heat spreaders can also interfere with you trying to put an air cooler on your CPU. I'd try to get ram with heat spreaders but small ones.

 

[azaran]

So the basic question is, when memory is under full load, are heat spreaders/heatsinks worthwhile on DDR4? - No. Most heat spreaders are for looks. Not really functional. DDR4 in particular as it runs at only 1.35V and doesn't generate much heat.

Big heat spreaders can also interfere with you trying to put an air cooler on your CPU. I'd try to get ram with heat spreaders but small ones.

As far as performance DDR4 memory seem to go right now, the Ripjaw 4 seem to be the best option with the smallest heat spreaders. Crucials Sport line have slightly smaller heat spreaders but they don't have equal stock performance to the G.Skill. Same seems to go for the Corsair Vengeance series. That's why I was hoping the heat distribution in DDR4 would allow for ditching the speaders. Since this system will be beating the hell out of the memory during rendering I'm concerned that even at 1.2v it'll create a dangerous level of heat.

 

[QSV]

Those heatspreader do help a bit. But they are mainly for looks. You can get a bit lower temperatures, but the thing is it simply doesnt matter. RAM chips cant get too hot, unless youre blocking them off from air completely somehow.
Much more important is a proper air flow in the case.

 

[azaran]

The initial build is looking to be as follows. Its going to run a closed loop CPU cooler but have a few 120mm for ventilation so there should be a good amount of airflow.

CPU
Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor

CPU Cooler
Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler

Motherboard
Asus X99-PRO/USB 3.1 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard

Memory
G.Skill Ripjaws Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory

Storage
Samsung 850 Pro Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Case
NZXT Phantom 410 (Gunmetal/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply
EVGA SuperNOVA GS 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply

 

[i7Baby]

Looks good.