Memory Fan direction

[KM75]

My ram has been getting hot to the touch even with heat spreaders, so Im adding a custom shroud and fan combo. I just dont know if it should suck air onto the memory, or blow hot air away from the memory and towards the case's exhaust fans.

I know CPU and GPU fans pull cool air onto their heatsinks, but Ive never used memory fans, so Im new to this.

 

[adycopilu]

If you don't overclock your memory, a good air-flow in the case will suffice. Sure, they get hot, but hot means 40C or 60C or 80C or more. 40C is very good, 100C is not.

 

[KM75]

I think Im going to go with a memory fan just for peace of mind though. Could you answer the question about fan direction please?

 

[adycopilu]

Most of the times, blowing cold air on a hot component gives the best results (like CPU coolers, chipset coolers, GPU coolers etc.). Taking out the hot air from the case is the job of case (exhaust) fans, although positive pressure air-flow will push out the hot air from the case even without exhaust fans. So my answer to your question is "suck air onto the memory".

 

[KM75]

Thanks alot!

And if by chance Im not able to affix my fan mod onto the memory, does anyone recommend a particularly good, but not too pricey aftermarket memory cooler?

 

[adycopilu]

there's not really a big market about this. There are 3 types:
- passive, one heatsink/stick, cheap; it's the one used by premium brands on their mid-range to top models; recommend copper based, rather than aluminium, because it sucks heat better (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119017)
- passive, many heatsinks/stick (one for each memory chip), pricier; provide better cooling, but need more space, so you must be careful, as they may not fit (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835708012)
- active, best cooling, expensive, also need to be careful about available size (only if you have tower type CPU cooler): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835704001

Generally, look for copper as base material, the bigger the mass, the better, the more fins, the better.