Verdict: Fancy heatspreaders but not enough grunt
Following on from last month's debut for new-fangled, overly-expensive SLI memory, this month, we opted to test
two kits of non-EPP overclockers' RAM.
First up is OCZ's enthusiastically named Platinum XTC Extreme Edition. It's 2GB of
PC2-8000, so it's rated to run at a speed of 1GHz, allowing an FSB of 250MHz at a 1:1 ratio with
the memory. Its 4-5-4-15 latency timings are slightly faster than the 5-5-5-15 of last month's Elite-listed Super Talent RAM at 1GHz.
As it has relatively tight timings, this OCZ memory requires a lot of voltage to keep it stable. The default voltage is 2.1V, but OCZ guarantees the modules up to 2.2V. When we tried pushing
the test PC's FSB beyond 230MHz, the maximum we could reach was 266MHz, meaning that the RAM was running at 1,064MHz. However, in order to achieve this, we had to whack up the voltage to 2.4V, the maximum that our Foxconn AM2 motherboard allows, and slacken the timings to
5-5-5-15. Disappointingly, slackening the timings any further didn't offer any more performance.
CONCLUSION
The OCZ memory might have tighter timings but, in a Socket AM2 system, they don't allow for much overclocking beyond their stated speeds. The Super Talent memory could handle running at 1,160MHz, so the OCZ'z maximum of 1,064MHz was disappointing.
Tight timings aren't the be all and end all and, given the competition, it's hard to consider the OCZ modules worth the price.
