OCZ PC3700 Gold Rev. 2 - Dual Channel Memory Kit

Performance

Testing memory in our book is pretty straight forward: Keep jacking it up till it fails.  Since our DIMMs are rated at 466MHz with timings of 2.5-3-3-7, that is where we are going to start.  From there, we will keeping bumping things on up until they fail. 

A note on voltage and our testing.  We conducted all tests at 2.7v and choose not to milk every last drop of MHz by upping the voltage to 2.9 (which is still within the warranty.)  Our thinking is that memory limits are heavily defined by the mainboard they are tested on.  By keeping our testing conservative, it will give you a better indication of what to expect out of your own system with this product.  On that note, on to our cautionary statement.

No two systems will perform identically, or for that matter, there will be variations within a single system to some degree depending on several factors.  Hence, our results may end up being a little better or a little worse than the results you may get in your own box.

We will measure the DIMM's performance using SiSoft Sandra 2004 Pro at the memory's default and limit with the Sandra memory bandwidth benchmark.  To ensure that stability is maintained, we will be running SiSoft Sandra 2004 Pro's burn in module as well as Mad Onion's 3Dmark2001 SE to confirm that our speeds are running glitch free.

Test system

• ABIT IC7-MAX3 motherboard (i875)

• Intel P4 2.4GHz C Processor

• Connect3D Radeon 9600 XT

• Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 20GB HDD

• Windows XP Pro w/SP1 and all patches and updates

Results

Below is the screen shot of Sandra 2004 Pro's memory bandwidth benchmark.  The PC3700 fell just behind the reference comparison of some PC4000 on a similarly based i875 board.

Kicking things up to the extreme last point of stability, we found a ceiling of 492MHz.  I want to remind you that we hit 492 without changing any setting or adjusting the voltage.  You can see that the bandwidth results at this level exceed the PC4000 reference results you saw in the previous screen shot.  Impressive.

Conclusion

Priced at less than $150 it is hard to escape that the performance you get for your money most certainly exceeds traditional PC3700 (DDR466) memory.  The gold colored copper heatspreaders make a nice touch as well.  Should you go on to explore the outer limits kicking the voltage up to 2.9v and beyond, its nice to know that the DIMMs have adequate cooling for the task.  Another point is that we found aggressive timings of 2-3-3-5 possible with the system set at DDR400.  The reason I wanted to confirm this was due to the OCZ documentation of...

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.

I'm glad we discovered that at DDR400 aggressive memory timings were possible.  This makes for an easier choice to the individual with a system board not allowing for much beyond DDR400.  Upgrading your memory for your current and next board can never be bad. 

OCZ's PC3700 Gold Rev. 2 definitely makes it on the short list for anyone looking at a memory upgrade.  Lots of looks and more importantly, lots of performance.

Pros

• Fast

• Performance at near DDR500 levels

• Exceptionally clean looking DIMM

• Lifetime warranty

• Warranty covers voltage increased up to 2.9v.

Cons

• Optimized for Intel i865/i875 platforms by definition means that it may not perform as well on AMD boards.

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