Board Guy Category: BG12 - RAM With Aluminium Shields

BG12 includes modern RAM modules fitted with factory-installed aluminium heat spreaders. These are commonly found in gaming computers, enthusiast-built PCs, workstations and some servers.
 

The aluminium shielding increases the overall weight of the module without significantly increasing its precious metal content. For this reason, RAM with aluminium heat spreaders is purchased separately from standard bare RAM.

If your RAM has metal covers attached to the memory chips, it most likely belongs in BG12.

How to Identify BG12 RAM
 

RAM in this category will typically have:
 

• Aluminium heat spreaders fitted to one or both sides.

• A gold-plated edge connector.

• A long desktop DIMM form factor (approximately 133 mm long).

• Memory chips hidden beneath the aluminium shielding.

• Factory-fitted heat spreaders that are screwed, clipped or bonded to the PCB.
   

Heat spreaders are commonly black, silver, red, blue, white or other colours and may include decorative fins or RGB lighting.
 

Common Examples
 

Examples include:

• Corsair Vengeance

• G.Skill Ripjaws

• Kingston HyperX

• Crucial Ballistix

• TeamGroup T-Force

• ADATA XPG

• Patriot Viper

• Gaming DDR3, DDR4 and DDR5 memory

• ECC Server RAM with aluminium heat spreaders