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The Verdict.
The results we just published for the OCZ PC3200 Gold 2-2-2-5 memory here are really good, yet we have been limited by our mainboard bigtime. Most Intel mainboards will never go above a DDR voltage of 2.85V, ours was limited also. So this might be a bit of an issue with this type of memory if you desperately want to overclock.
If your mainboard cannot deliver more voltage then let's say 2.9V to DDR memory then you will be severely FSB limited when overclocking. We maxed out at (2x)230 MHz as that was the level where we got issues with booting and Windows. Not even selecting the slowest timings would get us any further. Usually we can go to 250 MHz without too many problems. If you can boost the voltage way higher then what we where capable of, then that's where things will change for the better. I'm confident that these two sticks 'o fun can handle 3.4-3.5 Volts.
Reviewing memory is always a very difficult thing to do as every MHz you increase the FSB the CPU will rise also. Obviously you have noticed small differences here and there in performance. But what you need to bare in mind is that overclocking is highly dependable on your memory. Your CPU overclock can be limited by memory.
So even if you can't overclock way high due to the needed voltage levels you need to bare in mind that DDR 400 with 2-2-2-5 timings can basically be established with any mainboard, and that's where this memory is very competitive at its price level. If you own an AMD platform or Intel platform that can juice up this memory with let's say 3.5 Volts then you are in luck as other articles on the web clearly have shown 250-255 MHz FSB's with even 2-2-2-5 timings.
Our test system limited us so we could not test that memory to its full capability, we got stuck at 460 MHz. Surely that is good enough for me but still I would have loved to find this memory's limit. The results that we did get back from this system versus its memory are impressive though as I just love these high timings. The memory performed beautifully at very aggressive 2-2-2-5 timings and we pushed memory bandwidth towards ~5100 MB/sec on a (normally) 800 MHz FSB Pentium 4 processor which really needs memory bandwidth. It would have gone much further with a higher Voltage. This product uses Winbond BH chips. The nature of these chips is such that they do very firm 2-2-2 timings at 200mhz with 2.8v, yet for a good overclock at 2-2-2 timings, they generally require 3.4v to 3.5v. Come to think of this, you could achieve this easily with OCZ's Memory Booster.
On your regular AMD system the scores would have been much higher as most platforms support that higher voltage level. The thing is, we always test our memory on a Pentium 4 platform because the the P4 is memory bandwidth hungry where the AMD platforms hardly need that additional bandwidth. And yes, I know, it's a bit of a trade-off.
It's very good stuff but personally I'd prefer memory that is not so extremely voltage hungry but here comes the trade-off again: these gorgeous 2x512 MB memory modules with 2-2-2-5 timings can be bought at just 150 USD and that is just an incredible price.
One GB Dual Channel memory like this is normally not cheap at all, but for what OCZ offers here versus it's timings I think this is pretty exciting memory.
Timings my friends matter, the faster the better. You can see that in titles like Doom 3 will benefit slightly from this increase in memory bandwidth. The memory itself is well built, it has the nice flashy Gold heat spreader and a solid design. Backed up by a life-time warrantee (even with 3V+ levels) this is really good stuff.
Face it, with that pricetag this memory is just staggering.
Product: EL DDR PC-3200 Gold EditionType: DDR 400 (2-2-2-5)
Manufacturer: OCZ Technology
