Introduction

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I would like to thank OCZ Technology for supplying the review sample.

From the company's product page:

1600MHz DDR3
1GB Modules: CL7-6-6-24 1.9V / 2GB Modules: CL7-7-6-22 1.8V (CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS)
Available in 1 or 2GB modules / 2 or 4GB dual channel kits
Unbuffered
Platinum Z3 XTC Heatspreader
Lifetime Warranty
1.85-1.95Volts EVP
240 Pin DIMM
Optimized for ASUS boards

Packaging

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OCZ is not going for a fancy packaging on the Platinum series. The DIMMs - in this case two separate ones of the exact same kind - still ship in the classic, clear plastic mold. Having two of these as a separate package, gives us the chance to take a look at the changes OCZ has recently made to its package appearance. Some of the colors have changed, but the general layout and all the rest has remained untouched.

A Closer Look

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The Platinum Series comes with chrome heatspreaders on both sides. These shimmer in the right light and are fingerprint magnets. you may want to wipe them clean after installation, if you have a windowed case.

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Both sides look identical. There is a single sticker on one side of the memory. If you look closely, you can see the memory ICs through the mesh part of the spreaders. One could rip them off the modules to take a look at the memory, but OCZ has used strong adhesive. I do not want to risk damaging the modules, by pulling the heatspreaders off. Another issue is the fact, that these metal parts will bend out of shape if you try to pull them off.

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The second aspect which has changed are the stickers on the memory. OCZ has used the plain white ones for a very long time already, so the change to the more elaborate ones is a welcome move. All the information on the stickers has mostly remained the same. Instead of going with the MHz description, OCZ has changed to using the bandwith: DDR3-1600 thus becomes PC3-12800. The new stickers also mention the required voltage of the DIMM. This information has been missing from the old one. Interestingly enough, the OCZ website lists the DIMMs with CL7-7-6 and 1.8V, while the sticker reads CL7-6-6 & 1.9V. After checking back with OCZ, it was confirmed that the information on the sticker is the correct SPD and the website will be updated. Still nowhere to be found is the last part of the overall latency rating: 7-6-6-XX. Most other companies do mention this setting as well, while OCZ does not. This information can be found on the OCZ website, or possibly on the invoice of the memory. The EB in the model number stands for "Enhanced Bandwith Edition". These are slightly faster than the normal Platinum variants, which ship with CL7-7-7. The Z logo has also remained the same, with the number 3 denoting DDR3. It looks great and has become an easy identifier to spot OCZ memory.

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Even though there are several cosmetic changes, the DIMMs themselves have not been altered, as the PCB model numbers are identical. The EB sticks are a special bin of the regular Platinum modules.

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>Intel E6300 Conroe<br />1.8 GHz, 2 MB Cache</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Motherboard:</th>
<td>ASUS P5K3 Deluxe BIOS 1014</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Video Card:</th>
<td>PowerColor X800XL Pro 16 PCI-E</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Harddisk:</th>
<td>Samsung P80 80 GB</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Power Supply:</th>
<td>Ultra V-Power 450W</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>Software:</th>
<td>Windows XP SP2, Catalyst 8.7</td>
</tr>
</table>

When trying to boot both sticks with the 1001 BIOS the memory showed up incorrectly as 3348 MB, while the latest BIOS for this board works as it should. This goes to show that you should update your BIOS frequently if you tend to use the latest memory out there.

Performance & Overclocking

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Taking a look at the memory SPD programming, it is quite interesting. All four SPD settings are meant for 1.5V operation, but with very specific speed - down to the MHz. Both memory DIMMs have the same production week, even though one stick was received at a later point. I actually won the first stick at an awesome afterparty at the Bellagio from OCZ during CES in Las Vegas and OCZ was so kind to supply the other module for this review at my request about half a year later. As a base for the benchmarks, the FSB was set at 400 MHz. This enables the setting of 1600 MHz for the installed memory. To keep the scaling of the CPU as constant as possible, the multiplier was dropped to 6x, making sure that the processor does not become the limiting factor during overclocking.

Booting the memory at CL7-6-6 and 1600 MHz did not pose a problem at 1.8 or 1.9V. Using the advertised voltage on the OCZ website, we managed a mere 1620 MHz before the memory called it quits. With 1.9V that limit was raised to a more comfortable 1678 MHz. Raising the operating voltage to 2.0V gives you a healthy bump to 867 MHz, which translates to 1734 MHz. So it seems that the memory scales well with voltage.
Next the DIMMs were set at CL5-5-5 and 1.5V. At this setting, they did not manage to boot at 1333 MHz, but worked fine with 1066 MHz. Thus that was used as a base to see how far we can get. At default DDR3 voltage, 1100MHz was the end of the line here. Raising the voltage to 2.0V, also raised the maximum overclockability well beyond the 1200 MHz mark up to 1296 MHz.

Going up the CL ladder, the next step was CL6-6-6, which is quite close to the intended 7-6-6 setting of the modules. We wanted to see what they manage at the various voltage levels. The highest at default voltage in this case was 1304 MHz, which is pretty close to the overall attainable speed at CL5. At a full 2.0V the memory barely managed to break the 1600 MHz barrier by 4 MHz. Running the memory at 1600 MHz means using a 480 MHz FSB. This is quite close to the maximum this board can attain, so just to make sure that the memory was at its limit, the divider was relaxed a bit to 1:2. The memory still did not manage any more with this setting either. While this is certainly nice, it is obvious why OCZ went for the CL7-6-6 rating, to be on the safe side of things and also offer a bit of headroom at the setting. Remember this is a 4 GB kit, which will not scale as well as a 2 GB variant.

The next step meant raising the CL to 7-7-7 and going through 1.5V to 2.0V in 0.1V intervals. With this setting we finally managed to boot at 1333 MHz at default DDR3 voltage and up to 1384 MHz. While it did manage to overclock higher, the benchmarks did not complete and the system was unstable. Cycling through the voltage settings, eventually meant moving the divider from 3:5 to 1:2, as the memory already manages 1708 MHz at 1.8V. Another interesting aspect is the fact that the memory only scales well with voltages beyond ~1.7V, as you will see very little gains when using less than that. In the end, the memory manages a very respectable 1742 MHz at 2.0V and CL7-7-7. This is slightly more than the pair of modules manages with CL7-6-6.

The next run was done with CL8-8-8. This time around, the overclocking was started with 2.0V, followed by 1.5V. Doing so, gives us an idea right away, if we are reaching the limit of the memory. If so, there is no reason to bench the memory at lower speeds in combination with higher latency settings. At this maximum setting, the memory managed 885 MHz, which translates into 1770 MHz. This is only 28 MHz more than with CL7-7-7. Running the pair at 1.5V was possible up 1456 MHz. A benchmarking run was done at default and maximum voltage, for your reference. Seems like we are slowly reaching the limit of the OCZ Platinum EB Edition memory.

As a last step, the modules were set at CL9-9-9 to see if they would go even further. At such high latency settings, DDR3 needs to reach speeds beyond 2000 MHz to spark any kind of interest. The reason for this is simple: DDR2 has matured enough, so that you can get 1066 MHz 4 GB kits running CL4. The OCZ Platinum Series did not manage to climb any higher than with CL8, which seems to be the limit of this pair of modules.

<table class="ramtable" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="640">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th colspan="9"><strong>OCZ Platinum Series Enhanced Bandwidth DDR3 1600 MHz Cl7-6-6 4GB Kit </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>6 x 412 3:4 </th>
<td>550 MHz </td>
<td>5-5-5-15 1.5V</td>
<td>8165 MB/s </td>
<td>6562 MB/s </td>
<td>62.4 ns </td>
<td>707.5 fps </td>
<td>27056 </td>
<td>21.85 s </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 400 2:3 </th>
<td>601 MHz </td>
<td>5-5-5-15 1.9V</td>
<td>7901 MB/s </td>
<td>6392 MB/s </td>
<td>66.2 ns </td>
<td>687.8 fps </td>
<td>26752 </td>
<td>22.46 s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 433 2:3 </th>
<td>648 MHz </td>
<td>5-5-5-15 2.0V</td>
<td>8507 MB/s </td>
<td>6887 MB/s </td>
<td>61.7 ns </td>
<td>734.7 fps </td>
<td>27694 </td>
<td>20.85 s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 407 5:8</th>
<td>651 MHz </td>
<td>6-6-6-18 1.5V</td>
<td>8333 MB/s </td>
<td>6478 MB/s</td>
<td>63.0 ns </td>
<td>699.6 fps </td>
<td>26985 </td>
<td>22.03 s </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 416 5:8</th>
<td>666 MHz </td>
<td>6-6-6-18 1.7V</td>
<td>8462 MB/s </td>
<td>6626 MB/s </td>
<td>61.6 ns </td>
<td>713.9 fps </td>
<td>27439 </td>
<td>21.56 s </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 438 5:8</th>
<td>700 MHz </td>
<td>6-6-6-18 1.8V</td>
<td> 8950 MB/s </td>
<td>6960 MB/s </td>
<td>58.5 ns </td>
<td>742.5 fps </td>
<td>28079 </td>
<td>19.17s </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 480 3:5</th>
<td>800 MHz </td>
<td>6-6-6-18 2.0V</td>
<td> 9794 MB/s </td>
<td>7637 MB/s </td>
<td>53.3 ns </td>
<td>802.5 fps </td>
<td>29205 </td>
<td>18.71s </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 400 1:2</th>
<td>800 MHz</td>
<td>7-6-6-22 1.8V</td>
<td>8964 MB/s </td>
<td>6370 MB/s </td>
<td>58.1 ns </td>
<td>706.3 fps </td>
<td>27020 </td>
<td>22.18 s </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 419 1:2</th>
<td>839 MHz</td>
<td>7-6-6-22 1.9V</td>
<td>9355 MB/s </td>
<td>6679 MB/s </td>
<td>55.5 ns </td>
<td>737.3 fps </td>
<td>27695 </td>
<td>21.18 s </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 433 1:2</th>
<td>867 MHz</td>
<td>7-6-6-22 2.0V</td>
<td> 9705 MB/s </td>
<td>6902 MB/s </td>
<td>53.6 ns </td>
<td>758.1 fps </td>
<td>28287 </td>
<td>20.50 s </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 416 3:5</th>
<td>692 MHz</td>
<td>7-7-7-21 1.5V</td>
<td>8217 MB/s </td>
<td>6606 MB/s </td>
<td>64.3 ns </td>
<td>711.5 fps </td>
<td>27055 </td>
<td>21.70 s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 427 1:2</th>
<td>854 MHz</td>
<td>7-7-7-21 1.8V</td>
<td>9485 MB/s </td>
<td>6752 MB/s </td>
<td>55.3 ns </td>
<td>736.0 fps </td>
<td>27799 </td>
<td>20.90 s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 436 1:2</th>
<td>871 MHz</td>
<td>7-7-7-21 2.0V</td>
<td>9707 MB/s </td>
<td>6886 MB/s </td>
<td>54.2 ns </td>
<td>746.9 fps </td>
<td>28034 </td>
<td>20.50 s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 436 3:5</th>
<td>726 MHz</td>
<td>8-8-8-24 1.5V</td>
<td>8580 MB/s </td>
<td>6924 MB/s </td>
<td>61.8 ns </td>
<td>672.5 fps </td>
<td>27736 </td>
<td>20.81 s</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>6 x 442 1:2</th>
<td>884 MHz</td>
<td>8-8-8-24 2.0V</td>
<td>9535 MB/s </td>
<td>6990 MB/s </td>
<td>55.7 ns </td>
<td>753.6 fps </td>
<td>28104 </td>
<td>20.26 s</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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As you can see, the memory does scale with voltage. Raising it from 1.5V to 1.6V does not yield any noticable changes. It also reacts differently with different CL settings. The CL8 line has been included for reference, but the speed increase is so minimal, that CL7 will yield better performance. Remember your kit may perform different. The above results only reflect what is possible with our sample.

Value and Conclusion

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<td>

A 4 GB kit of the OCZ Platinum Series Enhanced Bandwith PC3-12800 CL7-6-6-22 should set you back around 180 € or $300 US Dollars. This is a very attractive price for such a large capacity kit, especially at CL7-6-6.

</td><br>
</tr><tr>
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<td>

Extremely well priced
Very tight timings at a great price point
Manages 1742 MHz at CL7-7-7
Does 1600 MHz at CL6-6-6 as well
New, informative sticker
Nice heatspreaders
Lifetime Warranty

</td>
</tr>
<tr>
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<td>

Less overclocking headroom than other, more expensive kits
Does not manage 1333 MHz at CL5 or CL6
May need high-end motherboards to perform best
Plain packaging

</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>8.6</th>
<td>So what can you expect to get out of a 4 GB kit, which costs the same as some slightly faster 2 GB kits on the market today? A good mix in overclockability and performance out of the box, which means some great value for your money. The price tag makes it easy to overlook the shortcomings in the overclockablity, which we are used to from more expensive kits. We did not manage to tickle our kit past 1742 MHz at CL7 or 8 and the voltage scaling is not as linear as one could hope for.<br />
Nonetheless, managing 1600 MHz at CL6 is still a very respectable setting, especially for a 4GB kit. Being one of the most affordable such kits on the market today, also makes this kit a solid choice for moving from DDR2 to the new standard without breaking the bank.
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