W1zzard
Mar 3, 2006, 01:05 PM
[page=Introduction & Packaging]
Introduction
From the Manufacturer OCZ Technology (http://www.ocztechnology.com):
800MHz DDR2
CL 4-5-4-15 (CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS)
Available in 512MB modules and 1GB (2x512MB) Dual Channel Optimized Kits
Unbuffered
Platinum Mirrored XTC Heatspreader
Lifetime Warranty
2.1 Volts
240 Pin DIMM
EVP - OCZ's unique Extended Voltage Protection feature that allows performance enthusiasts to use a VDIMM of 2.2V ± 5% without invalidating their OCZ Lifetime Warranty.
OCZ's new memory products are using the XTC heatspreaders:
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.
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/package2.jpg)
This is OCZ's standard memory package. It can be opened without a knife and unlike many other packages it will not be destroyed by opening it.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/memory1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/memory1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/memory2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/memory2.jpg)
A few months ago OCZ has introduced their new XTC heatspreaders which are used on all new memory products, and they look mighty good.
[page=A closer look]
A closer look
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/sticker_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/sticker.jpg)
Each module has a sticker on it, which gives the rated speed and the stock timings. The rated timings of 4-5-4-15 are slightly slower than JEDEC DDR2 but still competitive.
OCZ's new heatspreaders are able to keep your memory temperatures down without problems, even during overclocking, or with increased voltage. The nice thing about increasing voltage is that OCZ is the only memory manufacturer who gives you warranty, even when using higher voltage.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/pcb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/pcb.jpg)
The PCB is made by Brainpower who are known for making top-quality memory boards.
[page=Performance & Overclocking]
Test Setup
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="systable">
<tr><th colspan="2" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System</th></tr>
<tr>
<th width="100">CPU:</th>
<td>P4 3.0E 1MB Prescott</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Motherboard:</th>
<td>ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE i925XE</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Memory:</th>
<td>2x 512 MB OCZ EL DDR2 PC2-6400 Platinum XTC</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Video Card:</th>
<td>ATI Radeon X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Harddisk:</th>
<td>Maxtor Diamondmax 160GB</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Power Supply:</th>
<td>HEC PurePower 475</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Software:</th>
<td>Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.13</td>
</tr>
</table>
Performance
As first test we ran the memory at 200 MHz, at the standard voltage of 1.8V, to see how it performs at everything set to stock. The next test determines the maximum overclocking at 1.8V, which is something you would experience if your motherboard does not allow memory voltage adjustments at all.
For the next three tests we raised voltage to 2.1V, 2.2V and 2.3V. As you can see there is no difference in maximum clock here.
In the next two tests we reduced memory timings to 3-3-2-4. The first test at CL3 allows you to compare performance of CL3 vs. CL4 (first test).
The last two tests are running at the maximum CPU and memory clock which is a real-world scenario. You want to maximize both CPU and memory speeds. The first test here is at memory 1:1 in sync to FSB, the second one uses the 3:4 multiplier. These two tests are to find out if and how much the Pentium 4 profits from running at higher memory speed than FSB. As you can see the gains are there, but not so big, except for the Everest Write Benchmark. Depending on the application you will see a 1%-3% performance increase.
During testing I realized that the i925XE's memory controller seems to become unstable in the 400 MHz memory range. I would expect that there is some more overclocking possible with this memory.
For further comparison, the test "JEDEC DDR2-400" shows a generic DDR module running at JEDEC standard timings.
<table width="640" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable">
<tr>
<th colspan="9" style="font-size:larger"><strong>OCZ EL DDR2 PC2-6400 Platinum XTC</strong></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th nowrap="nowrap">CPU Clock &<br />
Memory Ratio</th>
<th>Memory<br />
Speed</th>
<th>Memory<br />
Timings</th>
<th>Everest<br />
Read</th>
<th>Everest<br />
Write</th>
<th>Everest<br />
Latency</th>
<th>Quake 3<br />
Timedemo</th>
<th>3DMark<br />
2001SE</th>
<th>SuperPi<br />
Mod 1M</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 200 1:1</th>
<td>200 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 1.8V </td>
<td>5228 MB/s </td>
<td>1524 MB/s </td>
<td>103.4 ns </td>
<td>284.2 fps </td>
<td>20900</td>
<td>45.08s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 193 1:2</th>
<td>387 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 1.8V </td>
<td>5552 MB/s </td>
<td>2139 MB/s </td>
<td>81.9 ns </td>
<td>287.3 fps </td>
<td>20434</td>
<td>44.00s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 200 1:2</th>
<td>400 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 2.1V </td>
<td>6029 MB/s </td>
<td>2324 MB/s </td>
<td>78.9 ns </td>
<td>292.9 fps </td>
<td>20958</td>
<td>42.69s </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 199 1:2</th>
<td>400 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 2.2V </td>
<td>5950 MB/s </td>
<td>2293 MB/s </td>
<td>79.4 ns </td>
<td>291.2 fps </td>
<td>20875</td>
<td>42.95s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 198 1:2</th>
<td>400 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 2.3V </td>
<td>5952 MB/s </td>
<td>2294 MB/s </td>
<td>80.0 ns </td>
<td>290.1 fps </td>
<td>20769</td>
<td>43.13s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 200 3:4 </th>
<td>267 MHz</td>
<td>3-3-2-4 2.1V </td>
<td>5954 MB/s </td>
<td>2141 MB/s </td>
<td>88.2 ns </td>
<td>290.3 fps </td>
<td>20919</td>
<td>42.70s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 216 3:4 </th>
<td>288 MHz</td>
<td>3-3-2-4 2.1V </td>
<td>5954 MB/s </td>
<td>2141 MB/s </td>
<td>81.6 ns </td>
<td>313.7 fps </td>
<td>22168</td>
<td>39.53s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 291 1:1 </th>
<td>291 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 2.1V </td>
<td>7600 MB/s </td>
<td>2223 MB/s </td>
<td>71.0 ns </td>
<td>412.0 fps </td>
<td>27175</td>
<td>30.89s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 291 3:4 </th>
<td>388 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 2.1V </td>
<td>8127 MB/s </td>
<td>2691 MB/s </td>
<td>66.0 ns </td>
<td>417.9 fps </td>
<td>27692</td>
<td>30.06s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>JEDEC DDR2-400 </th>
<td>200 MHz</td>
<td>4-4-4-12 1.8V </td>
<td>5326 MB/s </td>
<td>1585 MB/s </td>
<td>102.0 ns </td>
<td>284.5 fps </td>
<td>20159</td>
<td>44.45s</td>
</tr>
</table>
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/everestread.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/everestwrite.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/everestlatency.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/quake3.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/3dmark2001.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/superpi.gif
For an easier comparison with other modules, we set a maximum voltage of 2.1V and tested until we found the highest clock frequency and fastest timings for this memory. The benchmarks Everest Read, Everest Write and Quake 3 were run. We then calculated the performance increase in percent compared to a generic DDR2-400 memory running at JEDEC DDR2-400 (4-4-4-12). The average percentage of the three benchmarks is listed in following table:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/vsjedec.gif
[page=Value and Conclusion]
Value and Conclusion
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
Two 512 MB modules of OCZ's PC2-6400 Platinum XTC are going for around $199.</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Very good maximum clocks
Great performance
Lots of overclocking headroom
Timings can be tightened a lot
Warranty for higher voltage
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
May be a bit expensive
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>9.2</th>
<td>If you want to overclock your Intel platform to its maximum, get this memory. This is the first memory where I wished I had an even better test system. With the CPU in the 4.4GHz range the memory had no trouble performing and I think there is quite some headroom left.<br />
However, with a price tag of $200 for a 1 GB kit, this memory is expensive for the 2-3% performance you can get over using standard memory at 1:1. Still, 2-3% are what makes the difference between winning or losing in a benchmarking competition.</td>
</tr>
<tr><th></hd><td>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/recommended.gif</td></tr>
</table>
Introduction
From the Manufacturer OCZ Technology (http://www.ocztechnology.com):
800MHz DDR2
CL 4-5-4-15 (CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS)
Available in 512MB modules and 1GB (2x512MB) Dual Channel Optimized Kits
Unbuffered
Platinum Mirrored XTC Heatspreader
Lifetime Warranty
2.1 Volts
240 Pin DIMM
EVP - OCZ's unique Extended Voltage Protection feature that allows performance enthusiasts to use a VDIMM of 2.2V ± 5% without invalidating their OCZ Lifetime Warranty.
OCZ's new memory products are using the XTC heatspreaders:
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.
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/package2.jpg)
This is OCZ's standard memory package. It can be opened without a knife and unlike many other packages it will not be destroyed by opening it.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/memory1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/memory1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/memory2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/memory2.jpg)
A few months ago OCZ has introduced their new XTC heatspreaders which are used on all new memory products, and they look mighty good.
[page=A closer look]
A closer look
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/sticker_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/sticker.jpg)
Each module has a sticker on it, which gives the rated speed and the stock timings. The rated timings of 4-5-4-15 are slightly slower than JEDEC DDR2 but still competitive.
OCZ's new heatspreaders are able to keep your memory temperatures down without problems, even during overclocking, or with increased voltage. The nice thing about increasing voltage is that OCZ is the only memory manufacturer who gives you warranty, even when using higher voltage.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/pcb_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/pcb.jpg)
The PCB is made by Brainpower who are known for making top-quality memory boards.
[page=Performance & Overclocking]
Test Setup
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="systable">
<tr><th colspan="2" style="font-size:larger;text-align:center">Test System</th></tr>
<tr>
<th width="100">CPU:</th>
<td>P4 3.0E 1MB Prescott</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Motherboard:</th>
<td>ABIT Fatal1ty AA8XE i925XE</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Memory:</th>
<td>2x 512 MB OCZ EL DDR2 PC2-6400 Platinum XTC</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Video Card:</th>
<td>ATI Radeon X850 Pro PCI-E</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Harddisk:</th>
<td>Maxtor Diamondmax 160GB</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Power Supply:</th>
<td>HEC PurePower 475</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Software:</th>
<td>Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 5.13</td>
</tr>
</table>
Performance
As first test we ran the memory at 200 MHz, at the standard voltage of 1.8V, to see how it performs at everything set to stock. The next test determines the maximum overclocking at 1.8V, which is something you would experience if your motherboard does not allow memory voltage adjustments at all.
For the next three tests we raised voltage to 2.1V, 2.2V and 2.3V. As you can see there is no difference in maximum clock here.
In the next two tests we reduced memory timings to 3-3-2-4. The first test at CL3 allows you to compare performance of CL3 vs. CL4 (first test).
The last two tests are running at the maximum CPU and memory clock which is a real-world scenario. You want to maximize both CPU and memory speeds. The first test here is at memory 1:1 in sync to FSB, the second one uses the 3:4 multiplier. These two tests are to find out if and how much the Pentium 4 profits from running at higher memory speed than FSB. As you can see the gains are there, but not so big, except for the Everest Write Benchmark. Depending on the application you will see a 1%-3% performance increase.
During testing I realized that the i925XE's memory controller seems to become unstable in the 400 MHz memory range. I would expect that there is some more overclocking possible with this memory.
For further comparison, the test "JEDEC DDR2-400" shows a generic DDR module running at JEDEC standard timings.
<table width="640" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" class="ramtable">
<tr>
<th colspan="9" style="font-size:larger"><strong>OCZ EL DDR2 PC2-6400 Platinum XTC</strong></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th nowrap="nowrap">CPU Clock &<br />
Memory Ratio</th>
<th>Memory<br />
Speed</th>
<th>Memory<br />
Timings</th>
<th>Everest<br />
Read</th>
<th>Everest<br />
Write</th>
<th>Everest<br />
Latency</th>
<th>Quake 3<br />
Timedemo</th>
<th>3DMark<br />
2001SE</th>
<th>SuperPi<br />
Mod 1M</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 200 1:1</th>
<td>200 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 1.8V </td>
<td>5228 MB/s </td>
<td>1524 MB/s </td>
<td>103.4 ns </td>
<td>284.2 fps </td>
<td>20900</td>
<td>45.08s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 193 1:2</th>
<td>387 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 1.8V </td>
<td>5552 MB/s </td>
<td>2139 MB/s </td>
<td>81.9 ns </td>
<td>287.3 fps </td>
<td>20434</td>
<td>44.00s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 200 1:2</th>
<td>400 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 2.1V </td>
<td>6029 MB/s </td>
<td>2324 MB/s </td>
<td>78.9 ns </td>
<td>292.9 fps </td>
<td>20958</td>
<td>42.69s </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 199 1:2</th>
<td>400 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 2.2V </td>
<td>5950 MB/s </td>
<td>2293 MB/s </td>
<td>79.4 ns </td>
<td>291.2 fps </td>
<td>20875</td>
<td>42.95s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 198 1:2</th>
<td>400 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 2.3V </td>
<td>5952 MB/s </td>
<td>2294 MB/s </td>
<td>80.0 ns </td>
<td>290.1 fps </td>
<td>20769</td>
<td>43.13s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 200 3:4 </th>
<td>267 MHz</td>
<td>3-3-2-4 2.1V </td>
<td>5954 MB/s </td>
<td>2141 MB/s </td>
<td>88.2 ns </td>
<td>290.3 fps </td>
<td>20919</td>
<td>42.70s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 216 3:4 </th>
<td>288 MHz</td>
<td>3-3-2-4 2.1V </td>
<td>5954 MB/s </td>
<td>2141 MB/s </td>
<td>81.6 ns </td>
<td>313.7 fps </td>
<td>22168</td>
<td>39.53s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 291 1:1 </th>
<td>291 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 2.1V </td>
<td>7600 MB/s </td>
<td>2223 MB/s </td>
<td>71.0 ns </td>
<td>412.0 fps </td>
<td>27175</td>
<td>30.89s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>15 x 291 3:4 </th>
<td>388 MHz</td>
<td>4-5-4-15 2.1V </td>
<td>8127 MB/s </td>
<td>2691 MB/s </td>
<td>66.0 ns </td>
<td>417.9 fps </td>
<td>27692</td>
<td>30.06s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>JEDEC DDR2-400 </th>
<td>200 MHz</td>
<td>4-4-4-12 1.8V </td>
<td>5326 MB/s </td>
<td>1585 MB/s </td>
<td>102.0 ns </td>
<td>284.5 fps </td>
<td>20159</td>
<td>44.45s</td>
</tr>
</table>
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/everestread.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/everestwrite.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/everestlatency.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/quake3.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/3dmark2001.gif http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/superpi.gif
For an easier comparison with other modules, we set a maximum voltage of 2.1V and tested until we found the highest clock frequency and fastest timings for this memory. The benchmarks Everest Read, Everest Write and Quake 3 were run. We then calculated the performance increase in percent compared to a generic DDR2-400 memory running at JEDEC DDR2-400 (4-4-4-12). The average percentage of the three benchmarks is listed in following table:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/PC2-6400PlatinumXTC/images/vsjedec.gif
[page=Value and Conclusion]
Value and Conclusion
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
Two 512 MB modules of OCZ's PC2-6400 Platinum XTC are going for around $199.</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Very good maximum clocks
Great performance
Lots of overclocking headroom
Timings can be tightened a lot
Warranty for higher voltage
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
May be a bit expensive
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>9.2</th>
<td>If you want to overclock your Intel platform to its maximum, get this memory. This is the first memory where I wished I had an even better test system. With the CPU in the 4.4GHz range the memory had no trouble performing and I think there is quite some headroom left.<br />
However, with a price tag of $200 for a 1 GB kit, this memory is expensive for the 2-3% performance you can get over using standard memory at 1:1. Still, 2-3% are what makes the difference between winning or losing in a benchmarking competition.</td>
</tr>
<tr><th></hd><td>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/recommended.gif</td></tr>
</table>