-- Installation and Conclusions
-- Page: 1 2
We'll be testing out the cooler on the standard
SDram module, namely the Crucial PC133 CL2 ram. This cooler
also fits on DDR ram if you use that instead. We chose SDram
since it has fully matured and is in most systems nowadays.
Installation is pretty simple, place the thermal
tape on each side of your ram module first. Slap the two heat
spreaders on the ram, then grab the two clips and snap it on each
side. Cooler setup completed.
In the picture above, the fan is shown to
sit above all the ram modules on your motherboard. In addition
to cooling the ram with the heat spreaders, it also blows out the hot
air in between your other ram modules. The heat spreaders are
made of aluminum, so if you need to do a little bending to avoid
certain items on your board, it shouldn't be too hard. Luckily
the fan cleared everything so no bending was required.
To test the ability of the cooler to
lower temperatures for our ram, I ran RC5
full blast on our test rig for about an hour. I ran it at stock
speeds that it was rated for (5-2-2) on our test rig, which was also
changed to stock speeds (TBird 800Mhz). Here are the temperature
results:
|
Models |
AMD Tbird 800 Stock |
| Ambient
Temp. ~ 27C |
Full
Load |
| With
TT Ram Cooler |
37.5C |
| Without
TT Ram Cooler |
41.8C |
These temperatures were taken with our CompuNurse
Temperature Probe, position right in the middle of our ram modules
chip. With the results shown above, it is a fact that this
cooler does indeed cool the ram down by about 4-5C. Not too
shabby.
Our next tests will check to see if this
actually does anything for us in the overclocking department.
Our 800mhz chip that we beat day in and day out in our test rig does a
decent (please note I said decent) overclock to 1003mhz. After
rebooting the system after the initial temperature test, I went into
the BIOS to do some overclocking above the 1003mhz mark. Most
times, this would end up in a BSOD or some other system crash.
So I tried changing the front side bus a Mhz higher to see if anything
has changed. Saved the setting and proceeded to boot up again.
Upon boot up, everything posted so that
was a good thing. Next was to see if Windows 98SE would tolerate
it. Splash screen showed up, everything was ok so far. I
actually got onto the desktop...and then BAM, BSOD. Oh well, it
did get me a bit farther at a higher speed, but it still crashed so it
didn't 'really' helped me.
Overall, I actually do recommend the
unit. Lowering temperatures on any component is a good thing, it
will help in prolonging its life. It is also cheap, you can pick
it up for less than $15. This is the perfect gift for the
cooling crazy. You know who you are, the "if I could cool
my thumbscrews, I would" kind of overclocker. If you are
getting this thinking you're going to be able to overclock even more,
you may be disappointed. I am recommending this setup for the
sole purpose of lowering temperatures, as what was stated in the
purpose of this product, nothing else.
Thanks to Thermal
Take for once again sending us a very affordable yet usable
cooling product.
Pros:
- Cools your ram a few degrees
- Easy to install
- Affordable
Cons:
- Only two thermal strips. If you plan on reusing this
cooler on another ram module, better stock up on some strips
- Not too compatible with modules with only ram chips on one
side
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