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30 December 2005 |
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OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Gold GX
XTC Memory |
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OCZ Technology is one of the choice memory provides when it boils
down to performance. They have been providing memory products for
quite a while now and have a strong reputation. Their memory is
ideal for gaming enthusiasts as well as those looking for that extra
performance boost from their computer system. OCZ Technology also
tailors their products to consumers on a budget as well no matter if
you're looking for a simple memory upgrade or not. No matter which
product you choose, you know you are getting your money's worth. The
OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Gold GX XTC Memory may seem like just seem like a
fancy title at first, but there's more to it than just a simple memory
upgrade. With its new heat spreader design as well as the very
tight 2-2-2 timings, you have some memory that is attractive towards
enthusiasts looking for quality DDR 400 memory.
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The packaging is nothing fancy, but gets the job done. The product
sat in a clear plastic container with the actual memory showing at the
front. The packaging does emphasize the important things to expect
from OCZ Technology and their products. This product has a
lifetime warranty and has been vigorously tested for quality. Not
to mention, there is also free technical support. Free technical
support is something graciously accepted, but most users will probably
not have to use it since it is mostly used only in cases where the
memory is not working. Besides the free support, what is the most
important of all that makes OCZ what it is today is the performance of
the product.
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The product received was a total of 1 Gigabyte of memory with 512 MB of
memory on each stick. This memory is capable of operating in dual
channel mode which effectively provide twice the bandwidth. In
addition, this is the PC-3200 (DDR 400) version of the product.
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The 'XTC' abbreviation stands for Xtreme Thermal Convection and is
basically the name for the newly redesigned heat spreaders.
Typical memory with heat spreaders are composed of thin solid pieces of
aluminum placed right on the memory chips. The new Xtreme Thermal
Convection design is not a plain heat spreader. It is composed of
a honeycomb design which create very tiny holes. This supposedly
provides better airflow between the heat spreader and the actual memory
chip resulting in better heat dissipation. At the center of the
heat sink is the 'Z' logo representing the 'Z' in the OCZ name.
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When the memory is installed, in my case, they were placed together
barely fitting right next to each other. Notice the extremely
small gap between both memory modules. The installation procedure of
this memory will vary depending on the type of motherboard you have.
In order for dual channel mode to be active, both memory modules need to
be in the right slots on your motherboard. In some cases, the
memory will be installed back-to-back right next to each. There
are also cases where there may be an empty slot in between the memory
modules. You will need to refer to the documentation of your
motherboard to verify the correct slots to use to ensure the memory will
be recognized and have dual channel enabled.
Being able to take advantage of the full specifications of the memory
will depend on the quality of your motherboard as well as the type of
BIOS it has. This memory requires a voltage of 2.8V, which is a
bit higher than your typical standard memory that you put in your
computer. In addition, not all motherboards support the tight
memory timings of 2-2-2-5. In order to meet the required voltage,
it is recommended to have a motherboard whose BIOS can modify the
voltage being used for the memory. In addition, you want to be
sure the motherboard does support timings of 2-2-2-5.
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I tested the memory on my test system composed of a 3500+ AMD Venice
core processor with an ASRock 939 Dual SATA2 motherboard. I first
tested the performance of the memory using Sisoft Sandra and it showed a
solid performance. The performance was very comparable to an Intel
chipset using much faster DDR2 memory. This definitely shows how
the on-chip memory controller on the AMD 64 processor can have a big
impact on the performance. The results showed a high bandwidth
efficiency of 75%. The more important question some may wonder is
whether the tighter memory timings have a great impact on performance?
I re-ran the Sisoft Sandra test and the benchmark results showed very
little difference compared with the previous benchmark. This is
true since memory timings involve how long it takes to access the memory
and does not involve the bandwidth of the memory.
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With a PowerColor X800 Pro, I used the 3DMark03 benchmark. The
results showed a competent score of 10258. |
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The OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 memory is a nice change from the typical look of
heat sinks on memory modules. Even thought the heat sinks are very
warm to the touch, it seems to help because my system is still running
stable and efficiently with the memory. The lifetime warranty of
the memory also gives peace of mind to those since memory is still
considered quite a bit of an investment in terms of price. I
looked at the price of the memory at
TigerDirect.com and this memory
seels for about $85 for 512 MB. Considering that this is
performance memory and that memory is one of most important components
in a computer system, this price is still very reasonable. This
memory performed very well and I look forward to OCZ's next memory
offerings. |
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Review by:
ronald@digitalreviews.net |
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