Introduction

Overclocking and even overvolting memory modules is now part and parcel of the overall overclocking experience. No overclocker worthy of the name will skip overvolting and overclocking his/her memory modules.

With the increase in clock speed and voltage, comes the inevitable increase in heat production. Although memory chips do not produce as much heat as CPUs or graphics processors, many overclockers believe that keeping the chips cool will allow them to overclock better.

That's why enthusiast-grade memory modules always come with heatspreaders. Heatspreaders are aluminium or copper plates that are designed to draw heat from the chips and spread them over a wider surface area for better heat dissipation, hence the name.

While heatspreaders do significantly increase the surface area for thermal dissipation, they work best if there's a source of cool air blowing across their surface. Otherwise, they mainly radiate heat passively, which isn't an effective way of dissipating heat at all.

If you are looking for a proper cooling solution, active cooling is definitely the way to go. Tack on a fan and the air it blows across the heatspreaders will greatly increase its thermal dissipation. But just how effective are such active measures? That's what we will find out today when we take a look at one such cooler from VIZO Technology Corp.

VIZO, which made the really sleek Luxon 3.5" USB & SATA external hard drive enclosure, has a new active cooler designed especially for memory modules. Dubbed the Armada, it gets its name from the fact it comes with not one, but THREE fans!

Perhaps VIZO was trying to evoke images of the Spanish Armada whose ships had three sails. In fact, the three sails are evident in the Armada logo. Will these fans really reduce the temperature of our memory modules? Let's find out.

Packaging

The VIZO Armada came in a well-designed plastic retail package. The cooler is clearly visible through the plastic packaging. You can also see a list of its key features. Note the three sails in the Armada logo.

The back of the packaging has more detailed information about the cooler. Everything you need to know about the cooler is available right here - specifications, package contents, features. Again, a very well-designed package altogether.

The plastic packaging was sealed in place by small crimps at the edges. IMHO, they are enough to prevent casual theft and yet easy to open with a small penknife. This method of sealing the package also allows you to reuse it at a later time. For example, when you want to resell it.

Opening up the packaging, we found the following items.

• One VIZO Armada RAM cooler
• One spacer (for single-sided modules)

Unlike the Luxon 3.5" USB & SATA external hard drive enclosure, this VIZO product has a very spartan package. But really, what else can we expect them to bundle with the Armada other than a case badge which you will probably not bother using?