OCZ Gold PC4000 2GB Dual Channel Kit
OCZ is one of the leaders when it comes to releasing high-end enthusiast memory. They participate in various hardware website forums and listen to what the enthusiasts want and what they need. Then, they actually go out and deliver the goods. One such example is the situation concerning the TCC5 and TCCD chips. TCC5 chips may be of a lower quality than TCCD chips, but no matter what people say, special speed binned TCC5 can work just as well. I have had a couple of personal sets of TCC5 chips that I was able to overclock higher than the majority of my TCCD kits. Even with the guaranteed great performance from TCC5 chips, enthusiasts were still not pleased. Because OCZ was listening to their customers, they decided to go back to using TCCD. And it's not because the TCC5 performance was bad, but because they really cared. That move alone just clearly demonstrates OCZ's commitment to their customers. This time around, enthusiasts were calling for high clocking 2GB kits. OCZ has always had low latency 2GB kits that ran 200MHz with timings of 2-3-2-5. Unfortunately, the Platinum PC3200 2GB did not overclock quite so well, usually maxing out at around 230MHz. Realizing that the demand for 2GB was going up, OCZ quickly released a PC4000 part for the hardware enthusiasts who were beginning to use 2GB kits but still wanted overclocking potential.
OCZ Gold PC4000 2GB
As is the case with all their
Gold memory, the PC4000 2GB comes with copper heatspreaders in a gold color
finish. OCZ has new heatspreaders coming out and I think they look pretty
attractive. This will definitely be refreshing for those who are sick of seeing the same old heatspreaders.
OCZ released this
particular memory under their Gold series mainly because it comes rated with
high latencies. The memory ICs used to power these blazing fast sticks are
Samsung's UCCC chips. The date code on my particular sticks are 525.
The Gold PC4000 2GB comes rated with timings of 3-4-4-8 and a command rate of 1T with just 2.8v.
The latencies might be a big turn-off for those who are used to working with
Winbond ICs or Samsung TCCD, but it is unavoidable with high density chips.
It is already tough enough to find high density chips that overclock; finding
high density chips that run low latencies is still a little ways away.
Test System and Overclocking
Test System:
Overclocking: Keep in mind that during overclocking, the latencies are as follows: CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS The first test begins with the lowest latencies possible at 200MHz, a speed generally run for those who like to run at stock speeds and low voltages. We all know that a high majority of Samsung TCCD chips are able to run low latencies of 2-2-2-5 at 200MHz, but it doesn't seem to be the case with these high density UCCC chips. The lowest latencies I was able to achieve was a poor 2.5-3-3-7. These timings are certainly too high for a low speed like 200MHz. Since the Gold PC4000 2GB is released with a high frequency overclock in mind, this particular test was not a big issue to me. Keeping the average latencies of 2.5-3-3-7, the memory reached a decent 230MHz. I loosened TRCD to 4 and was able to gain another 5MHz out of the memory, reaching 235MHz. I loosened the TRCD even more to 2.5-4-4-8 and even 3-3-3-8, but nothing helped. Only timings of 3-4-3-8 allowed me to reach 265MHz, 15MHz beyond the rated speeds and with tighter timings. Finally, loosening to 3-4-4-8, I was able to push the memory to a ceiling of 280MHz. Wow! Very impressive overclocking results here. Both lowering and increasing the voltage provided no additional help. Most of the time it only caused memory errors. Overclocking Results:
Results
A series of memory intensive benchmarks will be run to test the performance of our sample. The other tests will be based on common benchmark programs, such as 3DMark and PCMark. Real life performance differences will be tested through current games, such as Far Cry and UT2004. Memory bandwidth benchmarks will be based off of SiSoft Sandra and Everest Home Edition. Super PI and PiFast will also be used to test memory performance, as the benchmark benefits largely from FSB increases. SiSoft Sandra Memory Bandwidth
SiSoft Sandra is the most widely used memory bandwidth test. It can tell you the increase in performance from just lowering the latency timings. Everest Home Edition
Much like Sandra, Everest Home Edition tests the memory's ability to read and write data in large chunks. The results show that the lower latencies seem to help just a little with performance. 3DMark2001SE
3DMark is likely the overclocker's favorite benchmark. Unlike 3DMark2003, which stresses mainly the video card, 3DMark2001SE tests all of the system's main components. Increasing the CPU speed, memory speed, and video card speeds will result in higher results in the final score.
Results Continued
Far Cry
Since Far Cry is a
game, the performance results will be very similar to 3dMark2001. I ran the
benchmark at 640x480, so the benchmark would not be too GPU dependent. The
tests under 1024x768 and 1280x1024 are an approximation of what kind of frames
you'll be getting. While the results are similar to 3dMark2001 in performance,
this benchmark will give more significant results, because Far Cry is a lot more
demanding.
Unreal
Tournament 2004
Unreal Tournament is
another popular game engine to test overall system performance. Here, we can
see the same results as Far Cry and 3dMark2001. Like Far Cry, UT2004 was also
run at 640x480 to limit GPU dependency. The other resolutions provide an
approximation of actual game play performance.
PCMark2002
PCMark is another
benchmark created by Futuremark. It tests the memory compression and
decompression speeds in small to large chunks of data.
Super PI
Since the value of
PI is an infinite value, Super PI is a speed test to find the digit you're
looking for. In this case, we chose the millionth digit. Super PI benefits
greatly from higher FSB, as well as low latencies.
PiFast
PiFast is similar to
Super PI. The results can be greatly affected by a slight adjustment to the
memory megahertz and latency.
With many companies releasing 2GB dual channel memory kits nowadays, OCZ's is certainly one that stands out from the crowd. The gold finish heatspreaders are very attractive and the performance is astonishing. There is also a lot of headroom left in the modules that allow enthusiasts to push the memory and squeeze out every last bit of performance. Even at a rated speed of 250MHz, the Gold PC4000 2GB was able to run at slightly tighter timings than the rated. Not bad at all. My only gripe with the memory is the loose latencies needed to run at 200MHz. If you are an enthusiast looking for 2GB memory but are not looking to overclock, this product will not suit you at all. OCZ's Platinum PC3200 might be a better choice with the lower latencies. For those of you who overclock (who doesn't anyway?) and want something well worth your paper bucks, the OCZ Gold PC4000 2GB is one great investment. I was pleasantly surprised by the overclocking potential of the memory. The Gold PC4000 2GB is definitely another great release from OCZ.
Pros:
Cons:
We would like to
thank OCZ for providing us the
sample. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to hit us up in
the
forums. You can also check out more of our latest reviews on the
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