DDR2 RAM
Without high-frequency ram you won't be able to overclock your intel core2 or socket AM2 athlon 64 CPU far. As this labs test shows, you don't need to spend a fortune on DDR2 RA to achieve great results.
OCZ PC2 8000 Dual CH Titanium Alpha VX2

| Manufacturer: | Price: |
| OCZ Technology | £317.37 inc VAT (2 x 1GB) |
| Reviewer: | Review Date: |
| James Gorbold | Oct 2006 |
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| Speed | 16/20 | 80% |
| Maximum Frequency | 41/45 | 91% |
| Value | 20/35 | 57% |
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Verdict: Great-looking, high-performance DDR2 RAM
The advent of case windows has forced component manufacturers to spend time and money making their products look as good as they perform, and OCZ has certainly spent its money in the right places.
The Dual CH Titanium Alpha VX2 DIMMs are covered by the same crosshatch-pattern heatspreaders fitted to other OCZ kits, but its chromatic colour really sets it apart, as it appears to change colour depending on the lighting conditions. While this will be academic if your PC doesn't have windows, it's great to see a manufacturer trying something new.
The Dual CH Titanium Alpha VX2 is guaranteed to run at up to 1GHz at 4 - 4 - 4 - 15 latency timings. However, to achieve these settings, you need to feed the DIMMs with 2.3V. Our Core 2 test rig only really benefited from the Dual CH Titanium Alpha VX2 in the SuperPI 32M test, as low latency timings have little effect on real-world applications. The Dual CH Titanium Alpha VX2 proved to be faster than the other OCZ PC2-8000 kits in our Athlon 64 test rig, but only by the smallest of margins.
The Dual CH Titanium Alpha VX2 overclocked to 1,080MHz at its default latency timings, and 1.18GHz with its timings dropped to 6 - 6 - 6 - 18, which are decent overclocks. If you're looking for something a bit different, and your PC has a window, then the Dual CH Titanium Alpha VX2 is a good option.