DH Review: CoolIt Ram Fan

Zardon

Read The Review here
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Keeping our systems cool under heavy demand is one of the top priorities for PC gamers and Overclockers. Overheating of any of the components can spell serious trouble – not only for the games – but also for the entire system if the heating causes permanent damage. For that reason, every little bit helps when it comes to keeping our systems cool. CoolIT Systems, Inc. specializes in providing the tools for the purpose of doing just that.

Matth

Not sure that it's a good assumption, as heat is only being redistributed, not removed. I suppose it may help with FSB & RAM overclocking, by keeping the RAM cooler.

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Erroneus

Meh... not my kind of product.

I like the thermaltake and zalman huge heatsink passive ram cooler, it looks a bit "clumpsy", but it does the trick.

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ChaosMinionX

The Dominator airflow fans work quite well on any ram for 20$. triple fans cover pretty much any hint of deadspace.

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HawgsHead

If anyone here has Corsair Dominator RAM I have an x-tra cooling fan if anyone is interested.

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GutterPunk

I like the OCZ cooler better than the Dominator. The 3 fans really dont move any air I was quite dissapointed.

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Lowfat

how does the dominator mount? Is it similiar to the OCZ XTC one? As i cant fit my XTC on my P5B-D with a longer videeocard like an 8800GTS.

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Dyre Straits

Actually, if the RAM Fan is cooling the RAM, as the tests show, then there's not that additional heat to be redistributed. Right?

Without the RAM Fan in place, my tests showed the RAM running anywhere from 8-10 degrees (C) higher. That additional heat would be radiated into the overall environment. So, by lowering the RAM temperature, the added heat isn't there to begin with. That's why I stated the conclusion as such.

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Matth

But it's the same as aiming a fan at yourself in a room, YOU get cooler, but the room actually gets warmer, by the power utilized by the fan.

I suppose it does prevent a localized hotspot, but the ram is still generating the same heat output into the case, just at a lower surface temperature.

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Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead
Now Mary takes her lamb to school,
Between two crusts of bread

Dyre Straits

I was hoping that someone else would weigh in on this debate. Since no one else is venturing a response, I'll press on with my own argument for this.

First, let me ask you this: Would you argue that the CPU is putting out the same amount of heat with or without a cooling fan? I hope not! Without a cooling fan for the CPU it would completely burn out and radiate several degrees of heat into the insides of the computer case. In fact, it would be so much heat there would be smoke!

Since there's a cooling fan in place to cool down the CPU, that means there is less heat being radiated into the insides of the case. The better the cooling fan for the CPU, the lower the interior temperatures will be overall.

The same exact principle applies to the cooling fan for the RAM. With a fan in place to force lower environmental air onto the RAM, it REDUCES the temperature of the RAM. The result is that the RAM does NOT radiate as much heat as it would with the absence of the fan. With a lower RAM temperature, the overall environment temperature will be lower than it would be if the RAM were putting out 10 degrees more of heat.

I stand by my original statement.

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Matth

We need a scientist...

I'll modify the CPU example, considering one that could be passively cooled.

With a passive (and completely unassisted) heatsink, the CPU & heatsink temperature increases until sufficient passive convection occurs to remove the heat, in the form of slowly rising air.

With a fan assisted HSF (without intake / extraction ducting), the same amount of heat is still being shifted, but at a lower surface temperature (unless it's a very small fanned heatsink).

I'll concede that the unfanned examples have higher LOCAL temperatures, with more heat conducted to adjacent components or convected to something directly above, but the overall effect is like comparing a 1 kW electric radiant heater with a 1 kW fan heater - if you stand close to the radiant, it's hotter, but further away, there will be no difference.

There may be other effects from additional fans, such as breaking up a dead spot in case airflow (or even creating a dead spot, if it happens to oppose existing flow). Of course, since a case is not a hermetically sealed environment, anything can happen.

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Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead
Now Mary takes her lamb to school,
Between two crusts of bread

Dyre Straits

No, we don't need a scientist.

Let's try an experiment.

I hope at your house you have an electric range with those spiral coils that you put the pans on to cook things. I also hope you have a good fan that's light enough to hold it for a period of time without any problems.

You also need an oven thermometer that has a long probe on it.

Now, make sure the fan is plugged in and ready to turn it on. Just make sure you don't get your fingers in the blades!

Turn on one of those coils on the range and put it to at least a medium/high temperature setting. It needs to be high enough that the coil will glow red when it's reached the proper setting.

Once it's reached the peak temperature, place the end of the oven thermometer on a particular spot and take a reading. Make a note of what the temperature is.

Now, turn on the fan and hold it about a foot above the hot coil so that it blows directly onto the coil. You'll notice almost immediately that the coil's red glow will diminish. Do you know why? If not, it's because the fan is blowing cooler environmental air onto the coil and reducing the temperature of the coil. If you don't believe me, take that same oven thermometer and place the end at exactly the same location where you placed it before. Make a note of the reading.

Even though you have the coil set to the exact same temperature setting, the fan is preventing the coil from reaching that setting because the cooler environmental air is forcing it to be cooler.

And that is exactly why the RAM Cooler Fan is reducing the interior of the PC case by reducing the temperature of the RAM. You're not simply redistributing the heat, you're preventing the heat from reaching previous temperatures due to the fan's presence.

You'll notice, if you do this experiment, that the environment around that range will get a bit more comfortable after you start running that fan over the coil. Same thing goes for the inside of the PC case.

DISCLAIMER: You do this experiment at your own risk. I take no responsibility for any damages or injuries that may occur during the experiment. Proceed at your own risk.

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