Tall memory and big CPU heatsinks (Vengeance & Mugen)

[showb1z]

Getting a new build this weekend, only one issue left.
Mobo is going to be an Asus P8P67 Deluxe (or evo, not 100% on that yet) with a Scythe Mugen 2 rev. B for cooling. I'd like to get 8GB Corsair Vengeance ram with this. But I don't know if it'll fit, the ram has tall heatspreaders and the Mugen covers at least one memory slot. If it covers the second one it's a no go since you lose dual channel. I'm building this in a Silverstone FT02, so the Mugen fan should be on the side of the memory for optimal results.

Anyone with a P8P67 board and a Mugen who knows how many slots are covered?
Any suggestions for a heatsink with a little less width are welcome too, I'd like to keep it at €50/$60-65 tops.

 

[BoomerD]

I can't speak to your hardware choices, but I just did a build with an ASUS P7P55D-E Pro board and Noctua NH-U12P SE2 cooler.
I do the "build & boot" method of assembling components, and when I went to install the last 3 sticks of RAM, I had to remove one of the fans from the cooler to access the slot. No clearance problems from height, (Corsair XMS RAM) but the cooler fan definitely covered the slot. Taller RAM wouldn't have worked for me.

 

[Rifter]

You could defiantly not have used tall ram with my NH-D14

Those tall heatsinks are just marketing BS anyways, ram doesnt need anything beyond the standard heatspreaders, it doesnt generate alot of heat.

 

[lsv]

You could defiantly not have used tall ram with my NH-D14

Those tall heatsinks are just marketing BS anyways, ram doesnt need anything beyond the standard heatspreaders, it doesnt generate alot of heat.

This. If you plan on overclocking really hard you'd probably search for an active cooling solution for your ram.

 

[Rifter]

This. If you plan on overclocking really hard you'd probably search for an active cooling solution for your ram.

even if you overclock you dont need to worry about cooling the ram, im pretty overclocked and with good case airflow you will be fine. Unless you like pushing 2000Mhz+ on the ram, which usually leads to instability and has zero real world impact on speed.

 

[IGemini]

My setup is pretty similar to what you plan...the hardware is different but it allows some insight.

My Infinity (the original name before it became the Mugen) has just barely enough room to allow for tall RAM heatsinks on my board even with the fan mounted near the memory...I don't have them but I could if I somehow found I needed to use them. I have it oriented so the length of the cooler is going north->south.

The Mugen 2B is longer and narrower than the Infinity. You'll probably be fine if you do the same N-S orientation on your Mugen. The case looks like it should have enough room between the PSU and the cooler. I have a tiny bit of concern the FET heatsink north of the CPU might be too high for it, but I doubt it.

 

[zagood]

With the Dominators, you can remove the tall fins. Looks like the Vengeance have screws on the outside edges, but without getting my hands on them can't tell for sure.

 

[showb1z]

Those tall heatsinks are just marketing BS anyways, ram doesnt need anything beyond the standard heatspreaders, it doesnt generate alot of heat.

Completely agree. I wish they'd make some performance ram without the bells and whistles. But right now there really isn't any other memory with 1.5V, 1600Mhz, CL8 specs at that price than Vengeance.
It's pretty ridiculous you run into trouble using Corsair's top memory if you use their own A70 cooler.

My Infinity (the original name before it became the Mugen) has just barely enough room to allow for tall RAM heatsinks on my board even with the fan mounted near the memory...I don't have them but I could if I somehow found I needed to use them. I have it oriented so the length of the cooler is going north->south.

The Mugen 2B is longer and narrower than the Infinity. You'll probably be fine if you do the same N-S orientation on your Mugen. The case looks like it should have enough room between the PSU and the cooler. I have a tiny bit of concern the FET heatsink north of the CPU might be too high for it, but I doubt it.

Well I'll give it a shot. Worst case scenario the fan will have to be put on the other side.

 

[Hooptymobile]

I'm very intersted in know whether the Noctua NDH-12 and Corsair Vengeance (with heatspreders will work together) or if heatspreaders can be removed. It seems like this has not been answered yet and Im actively seeking on forums in hopes to find the answer. If anyone knows the answer I will be sure to check back here again

 

[BoomerD]

I'm very intersted in know whether the Noctua NDH-12 and Corsair Vengeance (with heatspreders will work together) or if heatspreaders can be removed. It seems like this has not been answered yet and Im actively seeking on forums in hopes to find the answer. If anyone knows the answer I will be sure to check back here again

If you don't get your answer here, try the Corsair forums.

www.ramguy.com

 

[Hooptymobile]

If you don't get your answer here, try the Corsair forums.

www.ramguy.com

went there 1st ; another guy has pending question on subject so I thought I would head over here as second option, plan c is to continue searching on google but thanks for reminding me about corsair too

 

[Yellowbeard]

It's pretty ridiculous you run into trouble using Corsair's top memory if you use their own A70 cooler.

The problem is that we have absolutely no control on the placement or spacing of memory slots on motherboards.

As with our other memory products, removing the spreaders will void the warranty and has a HIGH likelihood of damaging the modules.

 

[showb1z]

The problem is that we have absolutely no control on the placement or spacing of memory slots on motherboards.

As with our other memory products, removing the spreaders will void the warranty and has a HIGH likelihood of damaging the modules.

I get that, but you do control the height of the heatspreaders. So if it would be 40mm max, that would be plenty and still fit under most heatsinks. Or make the top removable like with the Dominator GTs.
I got the Vengeance anyway, great ram btw.

 

[Yellowbeard]

I get that, but you do control the height of the heatspreaders. So if it would be 40mm max, that would be plenty and still fit under most heatsinks. Or make the top removable like with the Dominator GTs.
I got the Vengeance anyway, great ram btw.

You need mass to dissipate heat. And, we chose a certain look for the Vengeance that dicatated that they be of a certain height. Also, Vengeance is geared for a lower price point than the Dominators. Do, that means we can't add the extra cost of a removable top fin.

 

[magomago]

well i just bit the bullet on a mugen rev2 and i will have the same board (well, the pro version).

i'll report and let you know - i just have regular ram, no fancy heatspreaders (super talen deal)

 

[caseblue]

The problem is that we have absolutely no control on the placement or spacing of memory slots on motherboards.

As with our other memory products, removing the spreaders will void the warranty and has a HIGH likelihood of damaging the modules.

While I appreciate your participation and support across so many forums but I have to say this rationalization is very weak. There's no question that both the development team and the final decision maker on this product have made a massive mistake with this heat spreader design.

The product is marketed directly to overclockers who will always have after market cooling, yet the Vengeance heat spreader is WAY too tall and not even compatible with Corsair's own A70. On an Asus P8P67, the first DIMM slot is completely blocked and the second is aligned directly under the edge of the fan. The second slot can be used but the heat spreader is in direct contact with the fan by about a half an inch (the module is actually forced to lean over a bit by the fan). Claiming that the problem is that Corsair doesn't have control over the placement of the memory slots is like designing the A70 tower to be 15" tall and then saying it doesn't fit because you don't have control over the size of computer cases from other manufacturers. Memory slots are always in the same general area of the board and conflicts between memory modules and CPU cooling towers is always a consideration for the moderately informed consumer. This is such a fundamental issue!

I think it's absolutely outrageous that Corsair went through the entire product development process without recognizing and correcting such a basic factor like the height of the spreaders. The sales impact from this issue is going to be massive if not catastrophic. Basically, anybody who researches before buying is going to choose different RAM (or not buy an A70) and people who find out after buying are going to have a very negative experience with the product and with Corsair depending on how the resolution is handled.

You said there wan't room for an alternative design due to the Vengeance price point but what about all the negative financial impacts of releasing a flawed product like this? Lost Vengeance sales, cost of handling complaints, lost A70 sales, brand reputation/loyalty, etc. I would guess that a few extra pennies in the per unit manufacturing cost is nothing when compared to the financial impacts when everything is considered.

Like I've said elsewhere, I do like Corsair as a brand but I'm extremely disappointed with this Vengeance issue. I got the A70 and Vengeance RAM specifically because I assumed Corsair would ensure compatibility between their own products but unfortunately that is not the case. I'm just happy the ICs survived the modification (removal of the spreader) that was necessary to use these Vengeance modules with an A70 cooler on an Asus P8P67 Pro board. Not only do I loose the cooling but it looks lame and feels jury rigged which really bugs me. I really didn't want the module to be pressed tightly against the fan like it would have to be to keep the heat spreader on.

Thanks again for all the guidance you offer in all the forums but please make sure some of this feedback gets to the right people internally there at Corsair. Hopefully the lessons learned will be of benefit to ongoing product development and that's good for me as a Corsair fan.

 

[geofelt]

On a P7P67-M pro motherboard, you can populate the ram in either the blue or black slots. That gives you some extra room for the cpu cooler/fan.
Read the mobo manual, but I would guess that the p8p67 would be the same.

Also, G.skil support told me that their ripjaws ram heatspreaders were held on with sticky thermal tape.
Removing them will not impact performance; just replace the heat spreaders if a rma is required.

They pass the finger touch test under load at 1600; I think they run cool enough unless you are into record level overclocking.

 

[Hooptymobile]

If Corsair is going to make extended height heat sink fans couldn't they have just went through the trouble of making them height adjustable since they wouldn't make them removable altogether? I passed on the Corsair Vengeance memory and bought another brand but had they been more cautious with demanding pc builders preferences they would have made a sale with me because I would normally buy Corsair at the drop of a hat.

When you check Newegg for ram sales all the high quality/ fast speed ram sells out 1st(indication). Enthusiast/high quality pc gamers(builders) hold a fair share in pc hardware purchases. I don't understand why a ram developer would forego appealing to the masses. Alot of people who run high end pc's want the Noctua NH-D14 to cool their cases. Watercooling is great but its not a tee-total mainstream product. The prices are still outrageously high for self built water cooling and there are very few enclosed watercooling kits to select from. So air cooling still dominates in terms of the masses theory and why the most prestige of ram companies would not want to appeal to the demanding enthusiasts/gamers expectations is beyond me. I mean the D-14 didnt hit shelves last month. The design/incompatibility flaw with Corsair and larger heatsink fans was just totally ignored/disregarded. Mushkin , G. Skill , Samsung, Kingston all design low profile memory around the flagship heatsinks (so to say). Well if you like wearing the crown(pun on heatsink) Corsair just because you're highly revered dont forget what got you there and that your power can easily be swayed if misused/taken for granted.

 

[lsv]

even if you overclock you dont need to worry about cooling the ram, im pretty overclocked and with good case airflow you will be fine. Unless you like pushing 2000Mhz+ on the ram, which usually leads to instability and has zero real world impact on speed.

I did say 'hard', I'm assuming 2ghz as a start point

 

[Yellowbeard]

While I appreciate your participation and support across so many forums but I have to say this rationalization is very weak.

My answer is not a rationalization. It's a simple statement of fact. Not all motherboards have this fit issue. Not every customer buys 4 modules so it's not an issue for them. Not every customer uses massive air coolers. For users of Corsair memory with tall spreaders, the Hydro Series is another option.

We have been making RAM for LONG time now and the demand for something more than just the old fashioned low profile heat sink is huge. We're not going to make drastic changes to RAM designs that we sell in very high volume just to accomodate 1 type of cooling. For customers that want to use large heat sinks, we still offer the short original XMS spreaders on some very high performance memory. We offer something for everyone.