OCZ XTC Heatspreader

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
In regards to the press release, what do you think of these so far? Gimmick or potential?

Personally, I can't see it making things worse, because air will be better circulated. I am very curious as to whether it will help with overclocking, because the Gold GX memory are not meant for overclocking.

Of course, if it ends up keeping the rest of your case from heating up, then that's a plus.
 

Blumen

Coastermaker
See, but that's not the reason for getting it...

Getting it automatically makes you Uber haxxorzz and all t3h womenz will want t0 have ub3r ph34r teh butt sexxorzz!!!111!one!!11 with y0u.
 

sbrehm72255

Tech Monkey
I'm running the 2x512 dual channel kit in one of my rigs and it's great (BH5 ICs). They will clock to 250 (DDR500) at 1.5-2-2-5 timings, but you'll need a MoBo that can push high VDIMM to get it.................;)

 
I would say 10% effectiveness, 90% gimmick. In general, heat spreaders on RAM are only mildly effective. The surface area of the cooler is only slightly larger than the actual chip area, and like OCZ says, allows heat pockets to build up between the chips. The new spreaders take care of the heat pocket issue, but also reduce the cooling surface considerably. Regular solid headspreaders have about 10% more surface area than the chips they're covering, while the honeycomb spreaders on the XTC stuff have about 30% LESS area than the chips.

Looks cool though (no pun intended).
 

dibene

Obliviot
“Memory modules that implement conventional, solid heatspreaders provide sufficient heat dissipation but do not adequately address the build up of heat pockets; The new Xtreme Thermal Convention Heatspreader design tackles this problem and more,"

If you have a large quantity of Hot Pockets building up, you simply aren't eating them fast enough. :D
 

Jakal

Tech Monkey
dibene said:
If you have a large quantity of Hot Pockets building up, you simply aren't eating them fast enough. :D
L O L

Just send some my way, K? :p
 
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Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
dibene said:
“Memory modules that implement conventional, solid heatspreaders provide sufficient heat dissipation but do not adequately address the build up of heat pockets; The new Xtreme Thermal Convention Heatspreader design tackles this problem and more,"

If you have a large quantity of Hot Pockets building up, you simply aren't eating them fast enough. :D

That seriously made me laugh out loud, haha.
 

T-Shirt

E.M.I.
dibene said:
“Memory modules that implement conventional, solid heatspreaders provide sufficient heat dissipation but do not adequately address the build up of heat pockets; The new Xtreme Thermal Convention Heatspreader design tackles this problem and more,"

:D
Yet OCZ still sells kits with solid heat spreaders, so they can't believe this is a extremely serious problem.
Most tests show heat spreaders do little if anything, except (maybe) in extreme O/C's, in which case this MIGHT be worth it.
they do look nice:)
 

sbrehm72255

Tech Monkey
Don't ya know that looks are everything to some people...............;)

I like the fact that this ram (in the 2x512 PC3200) has BH5 IC's,.................;)
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
T-Shirt said:
Yet OCZ still sells kits with solid heat spreaders, so they can't believe this is a extremely serious problem.
Most tests show heat spreaders do little if anything, except (maybe) in extreme O/C's, in which case this MIGHT be worth it.
they do look nice:)

I believe the reason OCZ still sells the sticks with solid heatsinks is to give people a choice. As time goes by, they are rolling in other modules with XTC heatsinks, so they want to make sure people get what they want.

I know some people who think the XTC heatspreaders are ugly, so they'd be more likely to purchase the solid heatspreaders.

I do agree with you about the usefullness though.
 

T-Shirt

E.M.I.
sbrehm72255 said:
Don't ya know that looks are everything to some people...............;)

I like the fact that this ram (in the 2x512 PC3200) has BH5 IC's,.................;)
That's what I meant, steve, for some the bling factor is more important then the function.
That said I do have a set of OCZ gold solid spreader dimms, and I think they look better than exposed chips, plus I've never had a heat problem with them. overall an excellent product
 

sbrehm72255

Tech Monkey
I've become a strong beleiver in OCZ products over the years, they've never disapointed me yet. And I'm currently looking into getting one of their 2 gig kits..........after a new video card and CPU that is.............;)
 

(cf)Eclipse

Micron Lover
T-Shirt said:
That's what I meant, steve, for some the bling factor is more important then the function.
having hands-on experience with the XTC spreaders.. they really do seem to help. not a lot, but it's there. plus, if you really hate the gold trim, you can peel it off and repaint it black or something ;)
 

zachig

Obliviot
I just got my OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 XTC Gold...:D

I'll let you know how they perform with my X2 3800+ and EVGA nForce4 mobo after I'll install them and start overclocking...;)
 

sbrehm72255

Tech Monkey
I picked up a 2g kit as well that has the new heat spreaders on it.............:)

dsc000830ra.jpg
 
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