Removing heat sinks from ram. Problem?

[kuhne]

Here's one of those questions that I probably already know the answer of but I still rather ask it before breaking something.

I bought a couple of trident x sticks (2400 8gb each) but I had to change cpu coolers because this is a small case. Cooler won't fit because of the ridiculous heat sinks these sticks come with. Now, in my experience of pc building over the years for myself and clients I've never come to any issues regarding ram overheating. As far as I know now a days it's more or less an non issue but then again I've never had to deal with ram sticks that have Godzilla looking fins coming out the back.

So, I plan on removing these heat sinks to fit the ram better but I just want to know if this will cause any issues in the future? I'll be using an i7 4770k and will be doing modest overclocks on both cpu and ram.

 

[damric]

See dave's review. He shows you how to disassemble the Tridents.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/GSkill/F3-1600C7Q-32GTX/4.html

 

[photonboy]

WARNING.
You have 2400MHz memory which almost certainly needs the heatsink. Lower frequencies would have less issues.

The AIR FLOW is also a bit deal, in fact there are some RAM COOLERS that mount a small fan and blow air directly down on the memory. Not certain if they'd fit your situation.

Overclocking RAM:
It's 2400MHz so I really don't see the point, and again it won't work without the heatsinks. There is generally little need to go above 1600MHz for gaming so you might be better off downclocking.

*So running 1600MHz, without heatsink, and with good air flow MAY be the ideal scenario but I'm not certain.

Other:
Considering you likely have to DOWNCLOCK and the cost of the memory, maybe you should consider SELLING the memory if possible (or trading) and get some good LOWER PROFILE memory that serves your purpose better.

 

[damric]

I disagree. My 2400CL10 is cool to the touch even under linpack. If this was the high voltage 1.85V OCZ DDR3 from ages past, I could see bothering with extra fins.

 

[Tradesman1]

I disagree. My 2400CL10 is cool to the touch even under linpack. If this was the high voltage 1.85V OCZ DDR3 from ages past, I could see bothering with extra fins.

_____________________

+1 Concur, also as pointed out the upper fins of the Tridents are removable (a small locking screw at each side, remove the screws and slide the fins off), also As I've been playing with the Z97 Hero I just had a set of the 2666 Tridents running at 2800 for a full day +, and when I shut the rig down to try a set of 2400 sticks, they weren't even close to hot, in fact barely warm, and that was after running a series of BMs

 

[damric]

That reminds me, I actually did own some 1.85V OCZ DDR3 with the huge obnoxious Reaper heat sinks. The first thing I did was buy some $5 standard size heat spreaders for those damn things.