Tweakmonster Tin Plated RAMSinks & Fan Bracket

Company: Tweakmonster
Product: Fan Bracket & Tin Plated RAMSinks
Street Price: ~$9 For The Fan Bracket & ~$15 for a set of 4
Date Reviewed: January 3, 2002
Reviewed By: Jason

First Impressions:

First I would like to thank Ross, the Tweakmonster for letting me review these very nice tin plated RAMsinks & Fan Bracket. Here are some quick spec's on the RAMsinks & Fan Bracket:

Tin Plated RAMsinks:

• They are proudly made in the U.S.A.
• These RAMsinks are 100% CNC machined from a solid block of 110 copper, they are NOT extruded.
• The mounting surface is machined to a mirror-like finish, and is flat to within .0002 of an inch.
• These have been designed to cover both types of RAM chips, although they would work well on chipsets also.
• Tin coated RAMsinks have a hard, chrome-like finish process added which not only stops oxidation from occurring, but also enhances their beauty and durability.

Fan Bracket:

• One piece steel fan bracket that has been tin plated.
• Allows the mounting of two 80mm fans and attaches via the PCI/AGP card mounting screws.
• A precision bent riser allows the bracket to clear any PCI/AGP cards.
• Bracket was custom designed with Lian Li aluminum cases in mind, but is completely universal and adjustable to mount in virtually any case.

Fan Bracket:

The fan bracket, as mentioned above, is made from a single piece of steel that has been tin plated, and is designed to mount two 80mm fans. Being tin plated, the shininess of the bracket matches up well with aluminum cases. While not the first fan bracket on the market, it is definitely the best quality one I have come across thus far. Most stores sell just the bare bracket, allowing you to choose your own custom fans to fit your needs, though I did notice a couple stores also had pre-bundled combo deals.

I used a couple Sunon 42CFM fans to mount on the bracket. So basically it should push 84CFM of air over my AGP/PCI cards (if there was no air restriction). Before choosing a fan, you will want to check how much clearance you have between the top of the cards and the side of the case. That width is crucial because if you choose a fan that is too thick, like some of the top end Deltas, then you might not have enough of a gap between the fan and the side of the case, and the fans won't be able to function properly. Most 80mm fans are 25mm thick (like the pair I used), and should work for most cases, however you can find 80mm fans ranging from 15mm-38mm thick. Also some people with windows might prefer some of the newer colored fans to match the color scheme of their case.

The Bare Bracket:

Fans Mounted:

Mounted In Case:

Centered Over Video Card:

Depending on your case and your motherboard, you should be able to attach it with at least three screws, or in my case I was able to fit four. Also, the slit for the screws does not run the entire length of the bracket, this helps with the orientation of the bracket, if you tried to mount it backwards it won't sit flush and hopefully you will realize that something is wrong. I chose not to use any finger guards, however you can mount them if you so desire. I also wired the two fans together to hook into my DigitalDoc 5.

Here are a few pictures taken from Tweakmonster.com (with their permission). This gives you a good idea of how it looks with the colored fans and also with finger guards.

I did take temperatures and overclocking results with the fan bracket, but I'm going to hold off until the end of the review to give all the numbers. I want to compare all the results at once and discuss pro's and con's of everything.

On To Page 2 To Talk About The RAMsinks -->