RAM without a shroud? What's the difference?

[rcald2000]

Please look at both pictures below. Notice how one has a covering of the individual modules and one does not. Is their any advantage/disadvantage to either, or is it just aesthetics? Thank you in advance for your answers.

 

[Gam3r01]

Most of the times its just for show, RAM really dosent produce enough heat to require a heatspreader.
Corsair Vengeance has uselessly tall heatspreaders, so LPX are more popular because they are shorter, but dont do anything to dissipate the heat, that dosent exist anyway.

 

[rcald2000]

Gam3r01 How about preventing static discharge from my fingers, if I mistakenly touch the individual chips, while inserting the module into the motherboard slot? Does it offer any extra protection there?

 

[USAFRet]

Looks and marketing.
Up until DDR2, most RAM looked like your first pic.,
DDR2, running quite hot, introduced the big fins to dissipate the heat.
Of course, now having this new real estate...the marketing team took it over and any heat fins needed to be BIG. And FLASHY. And "X". And UBER.

So DDR3 and 4 also need fins. Because, reasons...
Today, they need LED's.

 

[Gam3r01]

If you were going to discharge into the chip a large piece of metal would just do the same thing.

 

[hotaru251]

as above stated.

its basically aesthetics as the heat from ram is so minimal you dont require a heatsink on em :| (and in some cases the sinks will get in way of cpu cooler.



"How about preventing static discharge from my fingers, if I mistakenly touch the individual chips, while inserting the module into the motherboard slot? Does it offer any extra protection there"


electricity arcs so highly doubtful. and as logn as you touch case (as msot are metal afterall) shouldnt have any built up static anyways.

 

[R4DIO4CT1VE]

RAM with a shroud is pretttyyyyyyy

 

[hotaru251]

RAM with a shroud is pretttyyyyyyy

personal preference.

As someone who likes skeleton type stuff i prefer the bare ram.