Memory Sticks and Heat

ktriebol · Post by **ktriebol** » Wed May 14, 2008 6:44 am

With all else being equal, will a 2 X 2gb memory arrangement give off the same or more heat than a 2 X 1gb arrangement?

The reason I am asking is because I started up my system with 2 X 1gb, and all was working well. I thought I would try another set of 2 X 1gb for a total of 4 X 1gb, but found that this setup gave off quite a bit more heat which I did not like because I found it necessary to run the case fans faster which created more noise. I then went back to 2 X 1gb.

Actually 2 X 1gb is working fine for me but the thought came to me that maybe I could remove the 2 X 1gb setup and install a 2 X 2gb setup. RAM is so cheap these days! I would only be interested in doing so if the 2 X 2gb setup would generate no more heat than my current 2 X 1gb. I figured somebody here would know the answer to this.

jonlumb · Post by **jonlumb** » Wed May 14, 2008 8:51 am

I don't know about the specific heat output differences, but if you were to go with 2 x 2Gb you will normally be able to space them further apart, allowing for easier airflow (most matched pairs go in either slots 1 & 3 or 2 & 4, giving a gap). If you are sticking 4 x1Gb sticks in, the sticks in 1 & 2 and then 3 & 4 are going to be very close together indeed.

juamez · Post by **juamez** » Wed May 14, 2008 10:53 am

Also power usage and heat depends more on the amount of sticks than on the memory capacity of the sticks. I cannot back this up with hard numbers, but I have lurked a lot and I've seen a general conscensus: less sticks of ram is better!

blaster5k · Post by **blaster5k** » Wed May 14, 2008 12:24 pm

I've found that one stick of RAM is approximately 1W of power, so it's not really much of a factor in a system's power consumption. Maybe it's slightly more (say 2W) for higher performance memory running at a higher than stock voltage.

Since it doesn't use much power, I wouldn't expect enough heat to be generated for there to be much of a difference between two sticks and four.

Tzupy · Post by **Tzupy** » Thu May 15, 2008 7:09 am

AFAIK one DDR2-800 stick at 1.9V is about 1.7W, if your memory is DDR2-1066 at 2.2V then it might go upto 2.7W.
But still doesn't explain a large increase in case temperatures. Maybe just the chipset (memory controller) became hotter?

As long as the 2x2 GB kit is at the same frequency and voltage as the 2x1 GB kit, they should use about (different leakage) the same power.

line · Post by **line** » Thu May 15, 2008 8:55 am

Kingson's datasheets include power measurements for various RAM types.

http://www.valueram.com/datasheets/default.asp

Redzo · Post by **Redzo** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:26 pm

We are talking less then -+5W of heat here. No way that 5W increased your temps that much that you had to increase speed of your fans.

FartingBob · Post by **FartingBob** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:55 pm

Even mega extreme ultra RAM in a mega extreme ultra overclock will not put out enough heat to effect case temps in any noticeable way.
But less sticks (even higher speed or capacity ones) will usually produce less heat than loading up all the slots.
As for me, i do have all 4 slots in use, and i didnt notice any difference to temps when adding the 3rd and 4th stick.