GTX 970 models with cooled memory?

[Jonathanese]

I'm looking at models of the Geforce GTX 970.

While looking at Radeon 390 models, I notice all of the memory chips are on one side, attached to the main heatsink.

However, I haven't seen a that cools all of its memory, only half of it. The other half just sits on the other side, exposed. My GTX 660 was the same way, and when I would feel the temperature, my fingertips would go numb from the intense heat. I had to buy heatsinks for them before overclocking. Why do they even do this?

Are there any models that have cooled memory? I saw some with backplates, so if I don't find one, I might just buy some thermal pads so the memory can make contact with the backplate.

 

[azca]

ok, so you are saying that AMD R9 390 has all memory modules on 1 side (gpu side) and they are cooled by the heatsink? that's correct

nvidia 970 has memory chips on both sides and your only option is to buy 1 with a backplate or put on the heatspreaders yourself;

don't forget that 970 only has 3.3GB of usable VRAM. R9 390 has full 8GB VRAM

http://hexus.net/tech/news/graphics/79925-nvidia-explains-geforce-gtx-970s-memory-problems/

970 with 1 side of VRAM (inside):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500362
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133564

w/ heatspreader:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125788
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500369R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121899

 

[Jonathanese]

Yeah, I know. I am currently on the fence between the cards. There are a lot of Nvidia features I love, and they seem to have better drivers, and better power and overclocking ability. Meanwhile, the 390 is basically superior in every OTHER way, including things like the potential for FreeSync.

It's a nightmare trying to decide between these cards. That's one of the reasons I was looking at card models.

 

[azca]

I would recommend getting R9 390; latest AMD 15.7.1 drivers are excellent where as nvidia users are actually having a lot of issues with 9 series cards and latest nvidia drivers;

besides new R9 390 cards have excellent coolers with massive heatsinks that cool /GPU core/VRMs/all RAM/ and are nearly silent at full load

Yeah, I know. I am currently on the fence between the cards. There are a lot of Nvidia features I love, and they seem to have better drivers, and better power and overclocking ability. Meanwhile, the 390 is basically superior in every OTHER way, including things like the potential for FreeSync.

It's a nightmare trying to decide between these cards. That's one of the reasons I was looking at card models.

 

[Jonathanese]

So the back plates are actually already attached to the memory? Well I think that solves that problem, then...

 

[azca]

R9 390 has VRAM on the inside (the same side right next to the GPU) and new coolers are directly attached to all components, so everything gets cooled all the time

for 970, backplates do attach to the VRAM, so that backplate will get very hot under full load

So the back plates are actually already attached to the memory? Well I think that solves that problem, then...

 

[Jonathanese]

Yeah, I was probably an idiot for not thinking that. But I wouldn't have put it past some manufacturers to add a backplate purely for aesthetics.

 

[Jonathanese]

OK, so I got the ASUS GTX 970 STRIX.

Guess what folks, none of those VRAM chips are touching anything! Including the back plate.

However, I'm not having any overclogking problems. I was able to get the RAM up to 8GHz with no problems.