PC gamers have always been on the bleeding edge of technology. As a matter of fact, PC gamers have been the driving economic force creating the need for monster video cards faster processors, and PC evolution in general. DDR2 memory is the latest offspring of the PC evolution, providing more memory bandwidth per cycle than its older DDR brother. This new memory is very versatile and should fulfill the needs of gamers, as well as the server crowd for more serious applications.
OCZ has an extensive lineup of DDR2 memory modules, with each line optimized for particular tasks. The new OCZ PC2-4200 Gold GX was designed with low latencies for the gamer. This new memory features OCZ’s latest heatspreader design, dubbed XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection) to allow for increased ventilation and heat disspitation due to its honeycomb design.
It runs at 533MHz with fast 4-4-4 timings with flawless performance and stability. Each module is hand tested to ensure compliance and high quality. OCZ even backs their modules with an industry-leading lifetime warranty.
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.
OCZ EVP® (Extended Voltage Protection) is a feature that allows performance enthusiasts to use a VDIMM of 2.2V ± 5% without invalidating their OCZ Lifetime Warranty.
Here’s a snip from OCZ themselves tooting their own horn:
The new OCZ PC2-4200 Gold Edition was developed with gamers’ distinctive needs in mind. The latest generation of PC games, such as Battlefield 2, Half Life 2 and Doom 3, requires large capacity memory to deliver the most powerful, stable system performance. The PC-4200 Gold Edition is the ultimate memory solution for contemporary graphic-intensive PC titles and provides unsurpassed reliability and performance to unleash every graphic possibility.
The new OCZ PC2-4200 Gold GX Edition utilizes the latest OCZ heatspreader design. XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection) Heatspreaders allow increased ventilation and heat dissipation due to an innovative honeycomb design providing more direct access to the actual memory ICs.
As part of the award winning OCZ Gold GX series, the PC2-4200 Gold DDR2 edition is built with leading edge technology designed and qualified with special selection of premium components to maximize performance when playing even the most demanding games. At DDR2-533, these modules turn out heart-pounding 4-4-4 timings with flawless performance and stability.
OCZ PC2-4200 products are 100% hand-tested to ensure compliance with stringent quality standards. In addition, each member of the OCZ Gold GX PC2-4200 family is backed by an industry-leading lifetime warranty, toll-free technical support and the exclusive EVP (Extended Voltage Protection) coverage.
With its ultra-fast performance, high quality and reliability, the OCZ PC2-4200 Gold GX XTC edition is a perfect memory upgrade for memory-hungry Intel gaming rigs.
Specifications
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The memory comes shipped in a standard blister pack, but is not welded shut like many other electronic packages. It is easily opened by unfastening two “buttons” at the top of the package, and falls open like a book. The memory modules are snugly nestled into two pouches formed from the package plastic, and are easily popped out. The only other thing in the package is the cardboard flier seen through the packaging.
Each module is branded with a sticker, which provides the rates stock timing speeds (4-4-4-12 in this case). The memory modules are covered with a unique gold honeycomb mesh (which is OCZ’s XTC Heatspreader technology) that promises increased airflow and greater heat dispersal. This mesh is held in place by thin transparent thermal tape, which can barely be seen through the mesh. Although there is definately more surface area to the heatspreader, it doesn’t feel as heavy.
Uncovering the DDR2 XTC heatspreaders, beneath them we had found ICs labeled OCZ X42A120840C-37. Our research has led us to believe the PCB is made by a company called Brainpower, but this research is not completely conclusive. In either case the Integrated Ram Circuits are labeled by OCZ. Each of the PCBs contains eight of these DDR2 ICs and is single-sided.
Test system
- Pentium 4 LGA775 3.0GHz 2MB cache with HT
- Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
- XFX GeForce 7800 GT PCIe
- 2x Seagate Barracuda 200GB SATA HDDs
- 16x DVD drive
Overall performance is very good across the board. We first tested how the memory performs at the default timings. The memory would easily reach DDR2-720 speeds when the timings were relaxed to 4-5-4-12. There is a lot of overclocking headroom, so there is no reason to run the ram asynchronously. You should be able to run a 1:1 CPU:FSB ratio with this ram, so your system can overclock as high as your CPU will allow.
The PC2-4200 Gold GX does not gain any overclocking performance when the voltage is increased, so save your time. This is probably due to the elctronic overvolt circuitry on the module. Generally overvolt circuits act as a filter, and output only the correct voltage to the chips, which has the added benefit of reduced electronic noise and is less succeptible to electricity fluctuations. You can throw up the voltage to your motherboard’s maximum but the EVP circuit will filter out any excess. In short, this memory does not respond to additional voltage – all you will do is make the EVP circuit hotter.
We set the maximum voltage of 2.9 and could not achieve any higher overclock. Going from DDR2-533 to DDR2-720 without any voltage increase is extremely impressive. You can also tighten the timings with little stability loss. 3-3-2-4 tight timings are close to the limits of many chipsets, and there is still enough headroom for some overclocking.
The OCZ PC2 memory is rather impressive given its flexible and stable memory modules. They overclock extremely well and can be tweaked to support a wide range of frequencies and timings. This memory should make the overclocker and performance enthusiast very happy. The best overall system performance will come from running the CPU synchronously to the FSB, and this RAM will definately keep up with a 1:1 ratio.
This memory costs about the same as generic DDR2, but is extremely overclockable, includes efficient heatspreaders, killer looks, and best of all OCZ’s lifetime warranty. There is no reason to get generic DDR2 when this memory offers so much more for the same price.
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