Corsair Dominator Airflow Fan - Mini Review

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Corsair Dominator Airflow Fan - Mini Review
Have been using one of these for a few years now, decided to get 2 more so thought i'd just do a short review here.


If you rate it please :-


Corsair Dominator (bottom of Page)
This cooler is widely available and costs around £12.

The Package:-
Front

Back

What you get:-

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Top

Bottom


Fitting

Is easy just put the legs to each side and use the thumb screws provided.

End view

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The Cooler just clips over the Ram Clips on the motherboard


Clearance - As Corsair use the the comb like cooling fins Corsair DDR3-1600 2x2GB DHX Kit there is a good clearance for even the tallest ram modules


I'm not certain about the conductivity of the sprung legs. With a lot of motherbaords leaving very little space between the graphics card and the end of the memory slots, there is a risk of shorting the graphics card against the legs of the cooler


I find easiest solution is to get a sticky backed label or similar and cover the leg :-

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Testing

I tested with Gigabyte GA-EP45-EXTREME Using Crucial Ballistix 8500 Ram was running at Stock 1066Mhz Voltage at 2.18v in bios around 2.24v actual.

Tested running Prime Large FFTs
I have a digital temperature sensor attached to a T-Balancer bigNG with Dual Modethis is attached to the inner side of the module0 with a velcro sticky patch.

Ambient temperature in case is 25C
With Corsair Cooler
The sensor Temp can be seen on the right hand side.

Idle Temp is 28C Final Temp 33.5C , a gradual escalation over the 20 minute test.

Running without fan
I had intended to run the test for the same duration but quit when the temperature hit 45C


So change in temperature on load is 11.5C , not to be sneezed at , especially running Micron

If you overclock I would recommend cooling your ram.
I think Corsair have the best cooler I've used.
The only criticism I have is lack of information about the conductivity of the legs.
Noise might be an isue to some , but personally i'm very happy with it. After 2 years of use my old unit is noisy at start up, but then quietens down. New units are much quiter.

Conclusion

Pros.

• Decent price.
• Excellent Performance 11.5C off temps

Cons.

• Insulation of legs.

[affiliate13]

I got one of these with the Dominator 8500 kit i bought, that issue with the leg rubbing up against the VGA made me move it to the middle slot so i know what you mean.
After seeing your idea with the sticky label i think i will do the same, ill maybe try some duct/kidnap tape to keep things black.

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Yes your right you do often get it with some Dominator kits.

ill maybe try some duct/kidnap tape to keep things black.

if it's a tight fit you'll barely see the colour

[Clunk]

Good stuff

[Clunk]

DIGG!

[Kelainefes]

Nice, thx for the review! But one thing i don't get, is 45 C a high/dangerous temperature already for Micron based modules?
Sure, it can't hurt running memory 10 or 11 C lower... but you stopped the test at 45C, is it THAT dangerous?
Because other components (NB SB CPU, GPU, etc) dont have a problem at running at 45C, or at least that's what i think i know.

[supershanks]

But one thing i don't get, is 45 C a high/dangerous temperature already for Micron based modules?

It's getting there I've been running with one of these coolers for a couple of years, maximum temps I've seen is around 38C.
Bear in mind that this is the temp of the heat spreader, the silicon will be at ~55C I would guess. Watching the temp climb to 45C in 6 iterations around 6 minutes was enough to prove my point without risking my Ram.
Micron is particularly delicate Think i'm on my 3rd set, lost count how many Clunks's had.