Kingston Adds Liquid Cooling To DRAMs

Memory maker Kingston has released photos of plug-in DRAM memory units which use liquid cooling – intended for enthusiasts who like overclock their PCs.

Liquid cooling has been presented as a way to make servers greener, by reducing the amount of cooling required – technology recently launched by Iceotope immerses server blades in dielectric coolant, removing the need for air-conditioning and cooling of the server room. IBM has predicted that all servers will be liquid-cooled in ten years.

By contrast, what Kingston has shown – and is expected to launch at the Consumer Electronics Show – is a more efficient heat sink for memory modules that plug into conventional motherboards, which will allow modules to be run at higher frequencies. High performance enthusiats, or “overclockers” are continually looking for ways to increase the speed of their machines, including their memory.

The modules seen in Kingston’s picture have standard fittings to add to the motherboard, but have a liqud coolant channel along the top – with connectors to add it into a liquid cooling circuit which the user may already have for other components.

Kingston has not announced any pricing or specifications, but seems to have released the pictures to tantalise enthusiasts in a festive mood over the Christmas period.

If that was the case, it hasn’t worked. Comments at bit-tech ranged from skeptical to derisory, pointing out that overclockers will already have a cool case for their PC, and liquid cooling the RAM would add little performance, but make the cooling circuit less reliable. “Right up there with watercooling your HDD’s in terms of pointlessness…” said one.