memory slots too close?

[mpholic]

I built a system using the Intel 845PESV mainboard about six months ago and populated the memory slots with (2) 256mb Corsair XMS3000 Dimms. Thses dimms came with heat sinks attached which made it very difficult to install them since the memory slots on the mainboard are so close.

Up to about a month ago I didn't really worry about this situation since they did fit. But with heatsinks all but touching on one side there can't be much airflow between the dimms. I didn't worry about this too much until I started doing alot of video editing which really seems to heat up the memory.

I am planning on buying a single 512mb dimm of Corsair XMS3000 memory so there will be adequate airflow on both sides but I thought I would get everyones opinons on this action first. Am I being paranoid? Is replacing the memory necessary? Are the heatsinks really necessary? What if I want to go to 1gb of memory (I didn't see any 1GB dimms listed on the site).

Thanks

[BigBlue66]

Thermaltake sells something they call an active memory heatsink, which is nothing more than a RAM sink or two with a fan on top. You could find youself a smallish fan and use double sided tape to stick it to the tops of the RAM sinks you already have.

[Steve]

Hi mpholic,

I put together a system a few months ago with the same motherboard. I put in two 512MB, PC2700 modules. No heatsinks. My daughter uses the computer for PhotoShop7, Paintshop Pro and Adobe Illustrator, downloading music and chat, seemingly all at once, without any problems. :eek:

I have one intake fan in the front, one exhaust in the rear and one exhaust in the PSU plus the stock HSF. The whole system runs pretty cool. Now that the summer is coming on, it idles at 35C and I've seen it hit 45C one time when she was doing alot of work.

Are you having any heat related problems?

[mpholic]

I don't believe I am having a major heat problem. I am using Intel Active Monitor to keep track of the heat issue. The processor never leaves the green area. Zone 1 usuallys hangs out at 33C during normal use and about 38C during heavy use. Zone 2 is usually 35C during normal use but I have seen it as high as 48C (50C is redline according to Active monitor) while rendering a video after editing. Zone 2 is the closet to yellow or red compared to the other two areas.

My case is the Antec PLUS1080G there is a HDD fan in the slot between the two optical drives, there is a 80mm Antec fan in front of the HDD cage and another 80mm Antec fan just below that in the front, there is a 80mm Antec fan in the side, two 80mm Antec fans in the rear, plus PS fan (suprisingly all these fans produce very little noise). I have been careful not to obstruct the airflow inside the case with any cables.

[mjc]

If you are getting those kind of temps with your current setup, I don't think going to sinkless RAM is going to make that much of a difference.