Question Do we really need RAM fans?

[mrdata]

ASUS Z390-A with i9-9900K and 64GB of 3200Mhz memory. The memory comes with its own fan. Is this really needed? How would I know my RAM temps, anyway? If it's good to have, on which connector should fan be plugged into? I plugged it into CPU_OPT and it seems pegged at about 3200 RPM, which seems kind of fast.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Link the model of the ram, and we can judge better.

 

[mrdata]

Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz C16

 

[ElectrO_90]

No, you don't need ram fans. Ram doesn't get that hot. Just a gimmick in my eyes

 

[mark1776]

RAM can get quite hot when used intensively, especially when all 4 slots are filled with higher speed or OC RAM. There is basically no air flow across the RAM. When running heavy workloads that are RAM intensive, the RAM can get way too hot to touch for long. A small fan makes a very big difference in the RAM temperature, probably knocking off 20 -30 C. You don't need it for normal desktop applications, but if you are running p95 or other heavy loads, the fans will help with reduced failure rates and potentially higher over clocks.

I've added a RAM fan to my 9700k running the mersenne prime search. I also use them on my video production machine with an older Extreme Intel rig. I don't have them on my Threadripper that only has half the RAM slots populated. The spacing between the alternate slots seems to allow enough convection to keep the temps reasonable.

As for how you can tell the temperature - touch them! There may be sensors, but the touch test has been adequate. If you can find a fan header that is controlled by a sensor in the RAM area, use that, otherwise, don't worry about the fan running full speed. If you have an extra CPU fan header, you can use that, as the RAM and CPU will tend to track for most work loads. Make sure to configure the fan header in the BIOS or with your fan control software.