Thermaltake PC2100 DDR / heatsinks

Performance

As far as performance goes, there are only two current mainstream manufacturers of DDR RAM for your motherboard, Micron, and Samsung. The performances between the two manufacturers are insignificant and the only thing going for both is price or features.

The real issue is heat. Does the heat spreaders really help keep things cool? Well sure it does, it’s suppose to. But without dissipation fins, performance can only go so far. In my test I notice a 0.8C to 1.7C drop using an electronic thermostat. Considering that there are only 4 chips per side on the module, the heat spreaders actually work quite well. If there were more, the size ration between the number of chips and the size of the spreader decreases, and performance also decreases.

Summing Things Up

Performance:

[ 7.0/10 ]

Thermaltake’s use of Samsung DDR modules is just as strong and speedy as any other mainstream DDR modules out there on the market. It performs faster than SDR and has the best of DDR.

As for Thermaltake’s goal, it has achieved it to a small degree. It’s not something to write home about but it technically works.

Innovation:

[ 8/10 ]

While it’s not a new technology, including heat spreaders to ensure safe operation at high clock speeds is a safe measure if anything. Thermaltake RAM is intended for overclockers but since the majority of them use SDRAM, I would like to see the same Thermaltake market some heatsink covered SDRAM modules too.

Installation and Setup:

[ 10/10 ]

Just as easy to setup as any other RAM modules out there. If you purchase the self-installation cooling kit for your RAM by Thermaltake, it’s just as easy to snap on.

Bundle:

[ 8.7/10 ]

Thermaltake includes one 128MB and up module with heatsinks factory attached and two extra RAM-sinks for other devices such as your video card. I found more use out of those heatsink than the heat spreaders on the RAM. Nevertheless it looks catchy.

Price:

[ 8.2/10 ]

Since price for RAM changes daily, I would just say that Thermaltake PC2100 DDR RAM costs virtually the same as other DDR modules out there on the market. Check sites like Pricewatch for the latest prices.

Conclusion

While it’s nothing spectacular, including heat spreaders on speedy DDR RAM modules can help you overclock your system should you get a DDR system. If you can find Thermaltake modules for less than regular Micron or Samsung modules, I’d go for it for the heatsink features and for the two extra heatsinks. For now though, I would like to see the same thing done to SDRAM modules simply because there’s a larger user base with SDRAM.

BACK                        HOME

Legal Notice and Fine Print

All names and trademarks used herein are the properties of their respective owners.  The Overclocker Cafe™ and its staff accept no responsibility for any damages incurred from deviating from your computer's factory settings.  All forms of correspondence sent in are viewed as eligible for public view unless mutually agreed to previously as otherwise.  The name Overclocker Cafe', its images and site specific logos are the Trademark and Servicemark of the Overclocker Cafe' Company. Williamsburg, Virginia.

All rights reserved.  All pages Copyright © 2000 - 2008 by R. Dean Barker.

Graphics by Navin Amarasuriya
[ Privacy Policy ]