Difference between these two types of ram

[fallen17754]

Hi around a year ago i bought some g.skill ram off newegg which looks like this http://gyazo.com/1676700455fa5a574218c04ffc7dff89
around a month ago i got the same set because i had extra money around but this set looks like this
http://gyazo.com/cef55f37d4221ee3235a9a0ccd65fbe0

all the serial numbers are the same, same speeds, same latency and everything right but why does the heatsink extend onto the sides like that in the 2nd picture.

nothing is wrong with either set of ram they both work flawlessly together and im having no problems im just curious as to why it looks slightly different?

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

They just slightly changed the design for some reason, I suppose. Such a small difference wouldn't change anything anyway, especially since heatspreaders on DDR3 RAM aren't even really needed (they're just for looks, mostly, unless you overclock it, but you would need to give it a ton more voltage to heat it up, even then).

 

[ko888]

I think the heat spreader was slightly redesigned to make it easier to grasp and pull out the memory module when uninstalling them.

 

[Raiddinn]

Somebody in the marketing department thought it would sell more units.

The heat spreaders make absolutely no difference to the functionality of the RAM.

 

[fallen17754]

thanks for all the answers everyone, i really appreciate it, i'll give the best answer to the person who replied first to be fair but everybody elses answer was great too and fits together perfectly, i have to agree that the one with the heat spreader on the side does look more attractive than the other one and ko888 the 2nd pair was slightly easier to install

 

[fallen17754]

Best answer selected by fallen17754.