Tweakmonster BGA RAMsinks and 120mm Fan Bracket Kit

Introduction

Since January of 2001**, Tweakmonster** has been providing the overclocking and enthusiast community with quality modding products. Tweakmonster is owned and operated by Ross Wenger, a CNC machinist by trade, out of Los Angeles, California. The first product that Tweakmonster put their name on was a shim for the Socket A CPUs. The shim prevented the chipping and cracking of cores when installing heatsinks and it became a quick success. Tweakmonster also pioneered video card RAMsinks, which have been known worldwide for their excellent quality and design. They have recently started expanding their products to include a number of aesthetic modifications, such as the 120mm fan bracket we are looking at today.

BGA RAMsinks

Ross was kind enough to let us take a look at their RAMsinks as well as their bracket. The RAMsinks dimensions are 13 x 15 x 9.5mm (L x W x H) and fit perfectly on BGA ram. Tweakmonster also makes another longer version that fits TSOP ram.

The RAMsinks are made from a copper alloy and then plated with a bright chrome finish.

The RAMsinks do not come with an adhesive so you will need to purchase thermal adhesive pads or epoxy. I used Nano-epoxy to attach the RAMsinks. Please remember that epoxy is permanent and to follow the instructions for whatever epoxy you buy. To start the chemical reaction you mix part A and part B in a 1:1 ratio, then spread it on the RAMsinks and affix them to the ram. The epoxy cures fairly fast so do one side at a time, letting each dry until the ’sinks are secure.

As you can see, they look awesome. We will soon see if their performance can match their aesthetics.

120mm Fan Bracket Kit

The next item for review is the 120mm fan bracket kit.

The kit includes:

(1) 120mm fan bracket
(1) Tweakmonster custom UV 120mm fan grill
(1) Riser Bracket
(1) Set of mounting hardware
(2) 6-32 Wing Nuts
(2) 6-32 Phillips Head Screws
(4) Fan Mounting Screws

There were a couple problems I ran into with the grill and bracket. The grill mounting holes did not line up with my 120mm Panaflo M1A. Of course it doesn’t even matter if they did because, unfortunately, the Panaflo doesn’t fit with the bracket. The bracket is NOT compatible with 38mm thick fans. I used an AOC 120x25mm aluminum fan, but the included screws are useless because they are meant for plastic fans. I used some screws and bolts to mount my fan onto the bracket. Please keep in mind that they are not included with the bracket, but you can pick them up at your local hardware store. Lastly, the bracket probably won’t work if your case uses a screwless design for inserting AGP/PCI cards, something I’ve seen in a lot of newer cases.

The kit does not include any installation instructions or diagrams. You can read the installation instructions online here. I highly suggest you do. I tried it without the instructions and it was frustrating. Once it is installed it looks great.

Results

Test System Specifications:

• Pentium 4 2.4C Stock speed
• Asus P4P800 Deluxe
• 2 x 512mb Hynix PC4000 2.5-4-4-7
• ATI 9800 Pro - Stock GPU Cooling
• TTGI 450w

Test Procedures:

• Idle - Idling at desktop for 15 minutes
• Load - 3DMark03 for 15 minutes

Other Notes:

• ATITool was used for testing max overclock
• Ambient temperature was 23C +/- 1C
• A thermal probe attached to a side of the ram was used for temps

Impressive results from only adding passive cooling and even more impressive with active cooling. Let’s see how the temperature difference affects the maximum overclock.

The RAM benefited a lot from the added cooling. The GPU only gained 3 MHz but I didn’t expect much because the 9800 Pro is only using the stock HSF.

Conclusion and Thoughts

BGA Ramsinks:

Tweakmonster offers a bundle of epoxy and RAMsinks if you don’t have any adhesive. The bundle does cost more than just the heatsinks, but I’m glad they provide the epoxy as an option. The RAMsinks are worth every penny if you are looking for an easy way to gain a few megahertz on your overclock. They also look great.

120mm Fan Bracket Kit:

The bracket really helped cool the video card memory and complemented the RAMsinks very well. It will look great if you have a case with a window. I would like to see Tweakmonster put a warning about their product not being compatible with certain fans and cases on their website. I would also like to see some better fan mounting hardware. A little installation diagram would have saved some time too. Other than that, an excellent product that successfully accomplishes its goal.

We would like to thank Tweakmonster for providing us the sample. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to hit us up in the forums. You can also check out more of our latest reviews on the front page.