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| OCZ 4400 |
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In the past we have reviewed several OCZ kits - OCZ4200 and OCZ3500LE and they never fail to deliver the goods. OCZ have given us some of the fastest memory in each respective class - with fantastic performance from 2CAS DDR3200/3500 kits up to 2.5 CAS rated 4000 and 4200 modules. Most DDR manufacturers are putting alot of their resources into the development of DDRII which is the logical successor to DDR over 550mhz. The modules on this specific kit are Hynix HY5DU56822CT-D5, (5ns) DRAM which are about as good as you can get. Can these sticks be pushed much further than 550mhz? I have seen people on overclocking forums pumping 3.3volts into them and hitting 290-300fsb (580-600mhz). To get the most from this memory we need some extreme FSBs and for the purposes of this review I have chosen a P4 based system. Several CPUs were used in the testing, the most effective being an engineering sample P4 prescott 2.8ghz, but I have an issue with using this as the sole partner for the review as not very many people can get their hands on an "unlocked" engineering sample processor. I feel it is much more suitable and realistic to use a CPU that most people can purchase via a retailer and crank the FSB as far as they can, so I choose a 2.8ghz Prescott which I will watercool - incidentally in case you dont know they run hot.
This is the test system for the article which baring the CPU/watercooling changeover is basically the same setup used for our prometeia review: OCZ 4400 DDR
thanks OCZ technology for
supplying the review sample Motherboard monitor
5 was used for temperature monitoring, im not a believer in Abits
EQ suite. Also used were CPUZ and clockgen both available here.
I also advise those of you who will be overclocking your memory to
get a hold of MEMTEST as this
is a wonderful tool for testing various FSBs, ram timings and latencies
via a bootable CD, it saves alot of time and heartache. The IC7 MAX3 is the more expensive 875 based cousin to the i865 AI7 with OTES and 6 sata ports amongst the added extras, i ripped the OTES from the motherboard because whilst the OTES does a fine job of supplying some extra cooling, it is quite restrictive when working with various CPUs and cooling options. To compensate I modded the case to accept a zalman arm and 92 mm fan positioned over the mofsets in the CPU area - this is not only a more efficient cooling option but has the added benefit of being quieter. I also removed the northbridge cooler, removed the thermal pad and used OCZ thermal paste to aid thermal transfer. The watercooling is outside the case with the side panel removed - the prescotts run significantly hotter than a Northwood and with extremely high FSBs could prove to put quite a strain on the motherboard.
Next: Testing
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