OCZ have only been going for around 5 years and they are
already one of the most renowned enthusiast memory
manufacturers. Their goals are to bring the fastest
possible RAM modules to the market, making them very
popular in the enthusiast and overclocker sectors.
That happened because their products are usually innovative
and very competitive, the exact thing that enthusiasts
are looking for. Today we will take a look at a 2GB
DDR RAM set of the Gold series from OCZ aimed to satisfy
the needs of gamers.
Although DDR2 modules were introduced quite some
time ago and many thought that DDR RAM would die,
this has not happened. That probably is because
AMD does not support the DDR2 format using DDR RAM
even nowadays. Intel have also not quite convinced
people that DDR2 is actually faster than
DDR and as most of us already know AMD processors
are preferred by the majority of gamers (and overclockers).
It is not hard to see why DDR RAM has proved to
be so resilient against DDR2. Most companies however
stopped evolving their DDR modules, focusing on
DDR2 modules lately. That is not true for OCZ who
only recently announced a new series of DDR modules.
The modules we have for review today are the Gold
series EL PC3200 GX XTC 2GB kit. GX stands for Gamers
Xtreme.
Manufacturer specifications and features:
• 400MHz DDR
• CL 2-3-3-8 (CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS)
• Unbuffered
• Gold Layered XTC Heatspreader*
• Lifetime Warranty
• 2.8 Volts
• 184 Pin DIMM
Special Features
• EVP®**
• ULN***
*XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection)
heatspreaders optimize the thermal management of
memory modules by promoting greater airflow by means
of micro-convection throughout what is usually the
dead air space inside conventional heatspreader
designs. In this manner, build-up of heat is avoided
and thermal dissipation of the memory components
is offloaded more efficiently through the honeycomb
design. At the same time, mechanical stability is
maintained.
**OCZ EVP® (Extended Voltage
Protection) is a feature that allows performance
enthusiasts to use a VDIMM of 2.9V ± 5% without
invalidating their OCZ Lifetime Warranty.
***ULN (Ultra Low Noise) technology
uses various printed circuit board (PCB) techniques
to reduce the amount of electrical noise that is
present in all high-speed ICs. This results in faster
and more stable memory.
The packaging of the modules are rather simple
and common for OCZ RAM. The modules are wrapped
inside a hard plastic clear package. The packaging
is simple, but it should be adequate for the protection
of the modules during shipping.
The GX XTC modules certainly appear different than
any other RAM currently available and are easily
identifiable by their heatspreaders. The new XTC
heatspreaders from OCZ are supposed to enhance the
cooling of the modules, but they certainly enhance
the appearance as well. The heatspreaders glint
like gold, which makes them look extremely glamorous.
The heatspreaders are totally covered by holes forming
a honeycomb design. This design allows for superior
cooling performance and OCZ dubs it XTC (xtreme
thermal convection). There is a grand "Z"
right at the middle of the modules which is taken
from the logo of OCZ (but certainly reminds me of
Zorro a little!). The PCB of the modules is the
classic dark green PCB, I believe of Brainpower
design.
The heatspreaders are made of two entirely separate
pieces of copper and are not attached at the top
of the module, like most heatspreaders. Each piece
is simply adhered on the chips of a single side
of the module and there are no retention clips.
Despite my fears that this technique could have
the heatspreaders make worse contact with the chips
or easily fall off if exposed to high heat levels,
I was proven wrong. The heatspreaders are very tightly
and evenly attached on the chips and the thermal
tape would not soften much even at 80 Celsius degrees
surface temperature. I was afraid to pull the heatspreaders
off to check on the chips, as every time I do that
by some evil twist of fate the RAM module dies,
so I decided to skip that part. I was informed by
OCZ that the version of the modules I received are
carrying hand-picked Infineon chips, so their word
was enough for me.
The installation of the modules is extremely simple,
so I believe that I do not have to describe this.
The above picture can show you what the modules
look like while installed inside a real system.
Their shiny golden color and design certainly make
excellent eye candy, even without lighting or other
effects on or around them. The looks of the modules
will certainly make modders quite interested in
them, but looks are only skin deep, so let's see
how they perform...
