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Heatspreader Warpage

D

DonkeyPuncherello

n00b
Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
15
It seems as though the heatspreaders on my OCZ Platinum XTC chips have warped over time and are peeling away from the RAM.
Is this anything to be concerned with or should I simply call OCZ for replacement? These were used chips I received in a cpu/mobo/ram/vid card package from another member... but that shouldn't matter for lifetime warranty, right?

RAM.jpg
---->
RAM2.jpg
 
You have to get hold of the original owner and do a RMA through them. OCZ does not warranty to second hand, must be through authorized retailer. Corsair, Mushkin, and Kingston have the same warranty.
 
Correct in their policy. What they let you do and what their warranty policy is are two different things some times. I bothered to talk to the OCZ Forum Support Manager and pointed him to this thread, he said tough on a RMA since it was second hand.

"Only products that are purchased from authorized resellers will qualify for warranties and service/support." From their support page.
 
It appears whatever OCZ used to secure (thermal tape/frag tape/pure crap) the heat spreaders has failed.

You have several options to repair or to just remove them entirely and get one of those fans that hook over the memory latches which would likely work 10x better at cooling the chips anyway. Be careful peeling them off as you don't want to pull the memory chips off of the stick. A hairdryer on low to heat things up might let the rest of the tape/whatever to let go.

You can get replacement heat spreaders pretty cheap and while you don't really need the spreader part its the sticky bits you want. Perhaps you can find double sided sticky thermal tape somewhere. Or if extreme care is used Arctic Sliver epoxy would do a better job than tape but you would really need to go at it like a brain surgeon to ensure all ended well.

Likely lots of other ways to fix I did not think of, LOL a binder clip (those largish black chip thingies when a paper clip or staple is not enough) would even do. I would just get the fan and not worry about it because I would be more worried about WHY they separated. Either glue was defective or that end of the memory stick was running hot from high voltage and not enough airflow, a problem the fan would/should eliminate.

edit. the more I think about it, carefully pulling that crap off and getting the memory fan is the way to go as far as quick and easy and a solution that works better than the original. Few bucks but if your time is worth anything, it will likely work out as the cheapest solution as well.
 
For some reason I read the title as "Heatspreader War Page". Moving on...

I'd repair them with thermal epoxy.
 
So is the heat spreader. I meant use the clip on the outside of the existing spreader to hold/force the spreader back down onto the chips - a really poor ghetto quick fix. Should have been more clear I guess but I was not really being 100% serious. It would work, but I don't think the OP is that desperate. Now that I think about it, the newer boards have the sticks so close together it likely would not work. eh. Like I said, just tossing out some bad ideas along with what I hoped where a couple of good ideas. I do like to get silly every now and then.
 
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