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So I finally picked up a couple sticks of RAM for my 2 slot motherboard. It installed great, but because the stuff was HUGE I had to move my Hard Drive down to the lower bay. Since it's been down there the last couple days, I can hear it sort of make the "cunk cunk" noise - I think because it's flush against the bottom of the enclosure - I could also just be super paranoid and it always made the noise, I just wasn't paying as much attention LOL.

Anyway, so my question is I heard the stupidly huge heatsinks on RAM are removable. If I (try) and remove the heatsinks, I can get my HD back where it belongs (the bottom enclosure space even looks like it was for something else - not a DVD or anything but probably not an HD).

Is there any reason I shouldn't remove them? It's just DDR3 RAM, the case is a decent size and I don't overclock anything. My GPU doesn't seem to run hot (and I'm pretty sure it's overkill for my system anyway). I'm using a stock CPU fan and have a little fan on the front.

Should I be okay to remove the heatsink heatwise - assuming that's something that's okay to do in the first place?
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Ixamyakxim: So I finally picked up a couple sticks of RAM for my 2 slot motherboard. It installed great, but because the stuff was HUGE I had to move my Hard Drive down to the lower bay. Since it's been down there the last couple days, I can hear it sort of make the "cunk cunk" noise - I think because it's flush against the bottom of the enclosure - I could also just be super paranoid and it always made the noise, I just wasn't paying as much attention LOL.

Anyway, so my question is I heard the stupidly huge heatsinks on RAM are removable. If I (try) and remove the heatsinks, I can get my HD back where it belongs (the bottom enclosure space even looks like it was for something else - not a DVD or anything but probably not an HD).

Is there any reason I shouldn't remove them? It's just DDR3 RAM, the case is a decent size and I don't overclock anything. My GPU doesn't seem to run hot (and I'm pretty sure it's overkill for my system anyway). I'm using a stock CPU fan and have a little fan on the front.

Should I be okay to remove the heatsink heatwise - assuming that's something that's okay to do in the first place?
If your having to move things around internally to fit in ram, then I would say get a bigger case. Ram is pretty tiny compared to most components, I mean if it was a 1080 graphic card or something maybe. Anyway, not sure I would be wanting to recommend removing heat sinks and such like. You may never notice the chip heat up, but it might anyways, its always better to be far cooler than necessary (much like in life) that to overheat.
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nightcraw1er.488: If your having to move things around internally to fit in ram, then I would say get a bigger case. Ram is pretty tiny compared to most components, I mean if it was a 1080 graphic card or something maybe.
The case is a pretty big one, though not huge - the problem is the two RAM slots are right near the drive bay enclosure. The old RAM was "short" but these are just tall enough that I can't plug the power cord into the back of the HD if it's in the top two bays - the RAM was that tight up against it.

I've always been a bit nervous about pulling a mobo but I might have a dinosaur monster old case in the basement if I get really daring...
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Ixamyakxim: snip
Does your lower bay have screw holes you can use to hold the HD off the bottom of the bay?
I think most RAM heatsinks are just for show, so if you do it cautiously there shouldn't be a problem. But don't quote me on that as I've never done it myself. I usually get RAM that doesn't have big fancy heatsinks. One wrong move and it's probably RIP RAM stick.
This seems like a speed lines and flame decal sort of smoke and mirrors. This is the first I've heard of RAM heatsinks.

The only reason you'd need such extreme measures is if you're trying to make some ancient ram type keep up. And even then, you'd be limited by the motherboard bus speed.
I've 2 triple sets of Ram installed, both by Samsung but one set has heat sinks. The difference in temp is pretty low, around 3-4°C. So technically it shouldn't be a problem to remove them.
That said, RAM can get a bit warmer when doing heavier tasks, I would't recommend stuffing a hard disk directly next to it
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Darvond: This seems like a speed lines and flame decal sort of smoke and mirrors. This is the first I've heard of RAM heatsinks.
I think it's exactly this - I actually went to the Newegg page for the RAM in question (I found the specific name / type of RAM I just grabbed) and you actually can remove these stupid "fins" by taking out a pair of screws and washers - think I'll give it a shot after dinner.

If I'm ambitious maybe I'll upload a picture.
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Darvond: This is the first I've heard of RAM heatsinks.
Really?
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Darvond: This is the first I've heard of RAM heatsinks.
Ah, well then welcome to 1998. Next you may hear about Peltier coolers. You can get a brochure and throw it in your old Trapper Keeper that you never got rid of from a decade ago in the 80s.
Please tell me I'm not the only one who read the thread title and immediately (mentally) responded with "Crunch Slamchest!" or one of the other ones? =D
I removed the ram's heatsinks so the cpu's fan fits. Been running like this for 3 years without issues.

Do a memtest after removing.
Okay so here's the picture. I took off the silly "fin" / "sail" metal bit. Fits now with the HD back in the "right" drive bay. The picture looks sort of terrible - I resized and cropped it about 5 times to get it under 500 kb LOL.

It was just a teeny tiny pair of screws / washers on each fin, and then I just slid the thing right off the rail.

FOR SA(I)LE:

Two pointless extraneous bits of modern flare that don't seem to serve any purpose beyond "Imma 733t brah"
Attachments:
ram.png (411 Kb)
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OneFiercePuppy: Ah, well then welcome to 1998. Next you may hear about Peltier coolers. You can get a brochure and throw it in your old Trapper Keeper that you never got rid of from a decade ago in the 80s.
I've never heard of those. Let's go to Skymall instead, and it's cheaper knockoff selling weird products to old people stuck in cultural ruts.
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DreamedArtist: Really?
Yes.
Post edited May 01, 2018 by Darvond
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Ixamyakxim: Okay so here's the picture. I took off the silly "fin" / "sail" metal bit. Fits now with the HD back in the "right" drive bay. The picture looks sort of terrible - I resized and cropped it about 5 times to get it under 500 kb LOL.

It was just a teeny tiny pair of screws / washers on each fin, and then I just slid the thing right off the rail.

FOR SA(I)LE:

Two pointless extraneous bits of modern flare that don't seem to serve any purpose beyond "Imma 733t brah"
You should be fine, but technically the additional surface area allows for greater heat transfer. I would check the running temp at some point. Note the design of CPU heat sinks. They are mostly fins that you put a fan on top of. In fact, though I have heat sinks on my memory, the fan right above them to the outside of my case is probably doing more than anything to pull the heat away.