The competition for the fastest computer has been particularly fierce the past few years, stemming from the rivalry between two industry giants: AMD and Intel. What the industry has found is that the computer is only as good as the memory feeding the processor.
Any computer enthusiast knows that if the memory cannot keep up, then the processor sits around twiddling its virtual thumbs. To this end, chipmakers have been increasing the front side bus speed of their processors (the speed that the processor communicates to the rest of the system, especially the memory).
Faster memory must be paired with these faster buses to keep up with the processor’s demands. Back in the days of the now ancient Pentium 3, SDRAM memory ran on a 133MHz FSB and achieved a peak speed of 1GB per second. Today’s fast buses utilize new technologies such as quad-pumping and dual-channel memory controllers to run at 800MHz FSB (with 1GHz on the way) to reach memory speeds of 5GB a second, and the speeds are still climbing!
Now that fast computers are a market staple, high speed DDR memory has flooded the industry, each trying to differentiate themselves from their competitors. For the most part, memory is memory, without much real difference between a cheap and expensive product. Manufacturer’s have been focusing on quality components featuring faster access times to win enthusiasts over. Faster memory timings translates not into higher bandwidth, but in overall system performance.
Features
In this review, OCmodshop is testing OCZ’s Gold Edition PC4000EL DDR Dual channel kit. This 1GB of total memory consists of two 512MB modules and is specifically paired to use a dual channel motherboard. The OCZ PC4000EL DDR is rated to run at 250MHz while maintaing fast timings of 2.5-4-4-7 at 2.8V.
Unofficially, this memory can easily run at 265MHz. The DIMMs are absolutely beautiful and have a quality look. The copper heat spreaders are gold plated and buffed to a mirror finish with a light golden color. Not only does this help protect the module from physical damage, but it looks really shiny, and we all like shiny things! The spreaders also add to the product’s weight, weighing in at 74 grams (a normal DIMM weighs an average of 40g).
OCZ uses Hynix HY5DU56822BT-D43 TSOP-II DRAM in the PC4000EL Gold modules. Each DIMM is equipped with sixteen 256MB DRAM modules (8 on each side), totaling 512MB on each stick.
This memory is optimized for use with an Intel i865/i875P chipset and will not perform as well on Athlon systems or older motherboards using a single-channel memory controller. Athlon users are probably better off using OCZ’s Platinum Edition DDR. OCZ HyperSpeed technology denotes specific ICs built and selected for their ability to run at the highest possible frequency.
HyperSpeed enabled modules contain firmware and are built on a PCB that is optimized for the highest possible frequency and due to these optimizations the modules may not allow latency faster than 2.5-3-3-7, regardless of the module frequency.
Another quality feature of this memory is the EVP (or Extended Voltage Protection). When overclocking it is often necessary to increase the voltage to the processor and RAM. EVP ensures that you will not damage the RAM when doing so. Voltage circuits are usually expensive to implement, but this is yet another quality feature that protects your investment for the life of the PC.
Here is a recap of all the features:
- Rated at 2.5-4-4-7 @ 250MHz (500DDR)
- ULN Technology: Ultra Low Noise shielded PCB
- Gold plated head spreaders
- Available in 512MB or 1GB kits
- Optimized for Intel i865/i875 chipsets
- OCZ Hyperspeed Technology
- EVP (Extended Voltage Protection) allowing up to 2.9V
- Lifetime warranty
| Motherboard: | Abit IC7 Pentium4 motherboard |
| Processor: | Pentium 4 2.8GHz 200MHz FSB |
| Memory: | 2x OCZ PC4000EL Gold DDR 512MB * |
| 2x Kingston ValueRam PC3200 ** | |
| Video Card: | MSI nVidia FX5900 AGP video card |
| Sound Card: | Soundblaster Audigy |
| DVD drive: | LiteOn 8X DVD recorder |
| Hard Drive: | 2x Western Digital 120GB-JB HDD |
| Software: | Windows XP Professional SP1 |
| nVidia XP driver 61.77 | |
| Benchmarks: | Doom3 |
| SiSoft Sandra | |
| 3dMark 2003 | |
| dbPowerAMP | |
| * Memory timing 2.5-4-4-7 ** Memory timing 3-4-4-8 |
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The memory was compared with Kingston ValueRam PC3200. We tried to push this memory as far as we could, but could not even reach a 210FSB (2.9GHz) before it became unstable.
SiSoft Sandra
Sandra is designed to test the theoretical power of a complete system and individual components. The numbers taken are purely theoretical and may not represent real world performance.
3dMark 2003
3dMark2003 tests gaming performance using DirectX8 and DirectX9 technology. Video cards that do not have DX9 hardware support will perform poorly using this benchmark. Your results may be higher if using a more advanced video card, such as the nVidia FX6800 series. The results simply compare how a stock system scales when overclocking.
Doom3
Id software’s Doom 3 is currently the most technically demanding game currently available and requires some serious hardware to play smoothly. This benchmark was running using timedemo1 at 640×480 resolution. The computer was rebooted between tests to remove any system cache that would effect the test framerate.
dbPowerAMP
dbPowerAMP is a free music converter used to convert a raw WAV to MP3 using the LAME decoder. The song file used was 3:48 in length and was encoded to 192Kbps.
I started the tested at 200MHz FSB with a memory voltage of 2.6V, which is lower than the recommended 2.8V. I will increase the voltages of the memory and processor as stability requires when overclocking. At 230MHz it became unstable at the lower voltage, so it was raised to 2.7V. At 240MHz the memory required 2.8V to remain stable, which is the OCZ’s recommended range.
Basically keeping the memory at recommended settings will allow the full 250MHz bandwidth. The Abit IC-7 motherboard will not allow the memory to run faster than the processor asynchronously (using a 4:5 ratio), so I had to increase the processor’s FSB with each memory stepping at a 1:1 ratio. Pushing the Pentium 4 this hard requires the processor’s voltage to be increased as well. Below is a chart of the voltage settings used to achieve a certain clock speed with the OCZ RAM at a 1:1 ratio.
| CPU(v) | memory(v) | FSB | effective GHz |
| 1.5 | 2.6 | 200 | 2.8 |
| 1.5 | 2.6 | 225 | 3.15 |
| 1.5 | 2.7 | 230 | 3.22 |
| 1.55 | 2.8 | 240 | 3.37 |
| 1.65 | 2.8 | 245 | 3.43 |
| 1.7 | 2.8 | 250 | 3.5 |
The memory did not have a problem once the default 2.8V was used, however my poor 2.8GHz processor was starting to use an unsafe amount of electricity. However a 40% overclock is still very impressive
The memory has been confirmed to run at 265MHz by OCZ engineers, but this could not be tested due to my motherboard’s limitations. If able to run asynchronously I’m sure the memory could reach 265MHz. This would not overclock the processor any further, but would offer more raw memory bandwidth.
Conclusion
OCZ has been producing high quality performance RAM for a few years and is a well-recognized name in the enthusiast market. They consistently define themselves as a trend setter. OCZ delivers a product with fast memory timings that can easily overclock a Pentium 4 system.
If you have the right hardware, the memory itself can run even faster using a 5:4 timing ratio reaching 265MHz and beyond. The memory is more expensive than stock modules, but is priced competitively with other enthusiast memory.
If you are looking to overclock your Intel-based system, then this gold-plated Gig is a must have; good enough for King Midas himself! Therefore OCmodshop awards this memory with a 9.5 out of 10 rating along with the OCmodshop Seal of Approval!
Pros
- Excellent overclocking potential
- High quality protection circuits
- Major bling value
Cons
- Higher cost then standard memory