OCZ's back with a DDR3 kit - they’re black! And lumpy!
First off, you have to ask yourself a question; what is black, green, and sticky? - memory sticks, of course!
(groan! -ed)
Lame jokes aside, OCZ has entered the fray which is (quite literally) becoming flooded with triple-channel kits from all the major manufacturers, and almost all of them similarly-specced. These sticks, sadly, are no different and follow the tried-and-true safer course. Rated at stock to have a speed of 1600MHz, at 8-8-8-24 timings on 1.65V, these sticks are the same as the other two kits we've looked at, at least on paper.
Off the paper and into our test rig however, we found that the memory was rather uncooperative, and wouldn't run at the stock settings set by hand no matter how much we fiddled and poked. We're not sure if it was an issue with the GIGABYTE EX58-EXTREME mobo used, but we haven't had any problems with it before. As we are want to tinker however, we quickly messed around with the settings and found some that worked - as well as being a little perplexing. The one thing that they definitely are is amazing, and the performance afforded here is very nice.
Physically these sticks are pretty standard, with a typical green PCB, and eight memory chips per side that add up to a total of sixteen. Stuck on top of these chips are black heatspreaders, with a mesh that resembles a screen door, that take the heat and dissipate it effectively - though they still got a little warm under load.
These sticks also come with XMP (Extreme Memory Profiles) that let X58 chipsets automatically apply settings, and this kit comes with two different setups; one at the rated speeds, and another at 1800MHz with 9-9-9-28 timings, all at stock volts of 1.65V.
For the price these sticks are quite good, and if you're prepared to give them some loving and time, can be just what you want.
Issue: 111 | April, 2010