RAM cooling

S

ssnake

n00b
Joined
May 16, 2007
Messages
5
Hey, I recently made a new build and have had problems with it crashing from the get-go. I invested in a pretty heavy duty cpu cooler because I thought that it may have been the processor overheating (nothing is oc'd by the way). Anyway, after installing the new cpu heatsink/fan the problem persisted, actually intensified slightly. When it crashes (normally while gaming) the computer completely locks up and the audio skips rapidly, machine gun-if you will, and there is nothing to do but flip the switch. After messing around with some more stuff I pulled out a stick of my RAM (right after a lock up), (gskill 2x1gb) and it was scorching, leading me to believe that this may be the source of the problem.

As far as my air flow goes i have a side fan blowing directly on the side of the heatsink/cpu thing I installed, and the regular intake from the front. I faced the heatsink/cpu directly to the back where the exhaust is. The RAM is to the right of the cpu like on most mobo's so it kind of makes sense that it isn't getting much cool air.

Does anyone have any good suggestions as far as getting some better airflow to the RAM or products to use (without going crazy). Or if you believe the problem is something else, let me know. Here are my specs:
intel 6420, cpu
gskill 2x1 gb, ram
msi 8600 nvidia 256mb, video card
520 watt corsair, psu
arctic 7 cpu cooler
asus 650i mobo,
Thanks for any feedback.
 
First off, to see if it's a heat problem, take the side off your case, maybe even position a fan over your RAM to keep them cool and see if that helps with the lock ups. But even before that I would check the rated specs on your RAM, the volts it's rated at, and go into your BIOS and manually set them to that, especially if they're at stock right now, no need for extra volts.

I have pretty decent airflow in my case and my Ram is at 2.1V and is cool to the touch. I'm going to try stressing it a bit to see how hot it gets, but I don't remember it ever being REALLY hot.

Update: Under load they're warm, not hot. Check your volts and do an airflow test.
 
thanks for the feedback, but I only have a slight grasp of what you're talking about. I have not changed any voltages or done anything so they're running at stock, how do I go about checking the recommended and then go about changing it. You're not talking about the 5-5-5-14, latency setting things are you? Anyway, please elaborate. Thanks again.
 
Well I'm not exactly sure where it'll be on your board, I haven't used a 650i board before. But somewhere in your RAM settings is a voltage setting, which is probably set to auto. I'm not saying that your board is feeding your RAM too much volts, but it's a possibility. You didn't specify which gskill kit you have, so I can't tell you what to set your volts at, but go to the website or if you still have the box it should say somewhere on there what to set it at. It's probably between 1.8-2.1 volts.

Take a look around in the BIOS and see what you find.

I would say that the bigger problem though is probably air flow over the sticks. If there is none then it'll heat up a lot. My Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro has the fan sitting right overtop the RAM basically so there is always cool air blowing over them, and I think the intake on the side of my case gives them a bit as well....
 
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