Intel Stock fan good enough?

[Revelations]

Hi all ~~

I'm planning on upgrading my PC with 4 GB more of ram, however I have a problem;

When I built my PC I bought a somewhat large processor fan. The problem is this; It physically blocks a RAM slot.
This means I have to remove that fan to upgrade. I do have another fan though - the stock fan from Intel that came in the i5 processor package.- just wondering, will it do the job or should I invest in a 'better' fan?

I play resource heavy games.

[Fuzzykins]

Is it overclocked? If yes, no. If no, yes.

[Deleted]

My first question:
What on earth are you playing that mandates >4GB of RAM; most software (games especially) is technically prohibited from using more than 2 (Windows will crash them if they try to)

[driftguy1234]

Would it be possible to take off the fan. Then insert the ram and then take the fan on again?, im quite sure most heatsinks are made so u can atleast have the ram underneath the heatsink.

EDIT: Which heatsink do u have?

[Plasmon]

If you're not overclocking then the stock fan is perfectly fine, although it might still be a bit louder than many aftermarket coolers. If you're doing a light overclock it should still be able to handle the extra heat. A medium or higher amount overclock basically requires better cooling than the intel stock cooler.

Other solutions:
Some RAM heat spreaders are removable, or at least the top part is. The truth is that RAM heat spreaders are mostly for aesthetics rather than actually serving as effective cooling. In some reviews of RAM (I'm thinking of one from Tom's Hardware in particular), the reviewers have found that a model with no heat spreaders at all was able to overclock higher than the ones with the heat spreaders due to more efficient heat dissipation. So you could try to remove the top of the RAM heat spreader if it's removable, or even cut/grind the part that is excessively tall without your RAM's temperature suffering any significant difference.

Also, some aftermarket coolers are somewhat customizable. You might be able to put the fan on the other side in pull mode instead of push mode on the RAM side, or you could find a creative way to raise the RAM a few milimeters to provide enough space for the RAM heat spreader.

[Revelations]

My first question:
What on earth are you playing that mandates >4GB of RAM; most software (games especially) is technically prohibited from using more than 2 (Windows will crash them if they try to)

I got 4 GB in total, Windows 7 uses 2GB out of those - that's 2GB left for games/music players/IM/10 tabs open in Firefox

I do have problems with tabbing in and out of games, and also some random freezes (task manager shows ~90+% used so..

http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=502197 <- Current fan

[Deleted]

I got 4 GB in total, Windows 7 uses 2GB out of those - that's 2GB left for games/music players/IM/10 tabs open in Firefox

W7 uses about 1-1.5 for itself and common software. Games themselves commonly limit themselves to stay well clear of the 2GB limit in order to avoid crashing and bottlenecking themselves, so actual use tends to sit at around 1-1.5gb for them as well.

Thats 3 out of 4 GB used, hardly anything to cause alarm.

[Korgoth]

I'd invest in a new fan. Id suggest a water cooling kit which use very little space by the CPU, and are attached to the rear fan slot. Like the Antec kuhler h20 620 or Corsair H50 or H70.

[Revelations]

it may use 1-1.5, but it reserves 2 though

Current situation, Firefox, Spotify, MSN and Skype up:

Memory reserved: 2GB, In use: 1.345GB, 681MB Free

[Plasmon]

http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=502197 <- Current fan

Can you just put the fan on the opposite side from the RAM slots and have it pull air instead of push?

[noteworthynerd]

Is it overclocked? If yes, no. If no, yes.

Pretty much this, no matter how hard you are tasking your processor, as long as it is at factory speed then the factory fan is plenty.

I'd invest in a new fan. Id suggest a water cooling kit which use very little space by the CPU, and are attached to the rear fan slot. Like the Antec kuhler h20 620 or Corsair H50 or H70.

There is absolutely no reason for the OP to need to go through the frustrating process of installing a WC if his processor is only moderately or not at all overclocked. WC is basically good for bragging rights unless you're overclocking your CPU, GPU and RAM by a couple GHz or more.

[Mewtwo]

I got 4 GB in total, Windows 7 uses 2GB out of those - that's 2GB left for games/music players/IM/10 tabs open in Firefox

http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=502197 <- Current fan

I don't know exactly what you mean by "Windows 7 uses 2GB out of those" but if you are trying to say it uses 2GBs just by being there, that is way off.

There is honestly not much need for anything like 8GB...no need..but with RAM prices the way they are it's not a crazy upgrade. Though, unless you use a lot of VMs or something, you won't use it much and you won't notice it at all, to be honest.

As for your question, it has been said, but if you are not OCing, then stock cooling is fine.

[Deleted]

it may use 1-1.5, but it reserves 2 though

Uh, no. It really does not.

[Toxz]

The Intel Stock fan is good enough even with "Mild" over clocking always keep an eye on temps though.
-i would also recommend the all in 1 water kits such as the corsair h70 as i own one myself. good luck

[driftguy1234]

I'd invest in a new fan. Id suggest a water cooling kit which use very little space by the CPU, and are attached to the rear fan slot. Like the Antec kuhler h20 620 or Corsair H50 or H70.

OR CoolIT Vantage A.L.C, its about the same in performance and price as an H50 but with this u get an awesome LCD screen which shows temps, can change colours, change angle, pulse and RPM of the pump and fan + u get 3 modes, quiet, performance and extreme, all depending on how much heat/noise u want. Got one myself.

[Revelations]

Can you just put the fan on the opposite side from the RAM slots and have it pull air instead of push?

I thought it could only be placed in one direction.

Pretty much this, no matter how hard you are tasking your processor, as long as it is at factory speed then the factory fan is plenty.

Well, eh, the thing with my PC is that.. I have kinda overclocked it, using Gigabytes one button push overclocker, but I'm not sure if it made a difference or not so I've been going back and forth with it... Not sure if it's currently running overclocked or not.

[Deleted]

if you dont overclock
with maximum of 1hgz and more you are fine withe the standard fan, 500ghzmore with standard fan works ok @ least for me xD

[kailtas]

I'd invest in a new fan. Id suggest a water cooling kit which use very little space by the CPU, and are attached to the rear fan slot. Like the Antec kuhler h20 620 or Corsair H50 or H70.

This

A friend of mine is running the Corsair H50 in a M-ATX chase. And it fits perfectly, it allows him to place 75% of the CPU cooler away from the actual CPU.

[Revelations]

This

A friend of mine is running the Corsair H50 in a M-ATX chase. And it fits perfectly, it allows him to place 75% of the CPU cooler away from the actual CPU.

Not sure if it's worth the 700kr (125$) though

[vesseblah]

it may use 1-1.5, but it reserves 2 though

Current situation, Firefox, Spotify, MSN and Skype up:

Memory reserved: 2GB, In use: 1.345GB, 681MB Free

Somebody had last week problem with "reserved" RAM and his problem was that one of the RAM sticks was loose. Just pulling those out and putting both back in fixed the problem. Check out that first before buying the other 4GB you mentioned in the other thread. Also doublecheck from BIOS there's no RAM reserved for motherboard's built-in graphics.

'Reserved' should not happen in any normal circumstances, and something's wrong there.