Date: June 8, 2006 - Author: Rob Williams - Editor: Mark Ozimek
Are you into combat games? Of course you are. Battlefield II, Call of Duty II... they are all over. OCZ has just released a new kit with their XTC spreader dressed up in some camouflaged. Because these are value modules, overclocking is a gamble. Let's see if these are as fast as they are stylish.
What do you get when you take one part spunky CEO and one part enthusiast memory and a dash of color? Apparently you get the Special Ops Edition memory. Special heatspreaders are nothing new, but it's rare that you will see a multi-color one. Up until now, all of OCZ's memory has been assigned a unique color, depending on what series it is from. OCZ CEO Ryan Peterson thought it would be fun to try throwing a camo skin on some kits, then throw them into the wild. And when the press release came in for these ones.. I don't think anybody was expecting this!
Do these modules offer anything else exciting besides the coat of paint? Nope, not really. All three kits are virtually part of the Gold series, though they make no note of it. For DDR1 users, they released a 2GB PC3200 kit with 2.5-3-3-8 timings, which is still not too shabby. On the DDR2 side, they released a 1 and 2GB kit rated at DDR2-667 speeds, with 4-4-4-12 timings. Of course, the other kit released is the one we are taking a look at today. This one also comes in at 1GB and 2GB sizes at PC2-6400 speeds. As expected from a 'value' kit, the timings are quite loose, at 5-5-5-12.
Serious gamers put heavy bandwidth requirements on their memory, and put a premium on both superior performance and dependability. The new OCZ Special Ops Edition (SOE) memory modules and dual channel kits feature the ultimate balance of speed, reliability, and high capacity, making them an ideal solution for gamers. This new line of OCZ memory features a distinctive camouflage motif heatspreader and a price tag that has an edge over competitors.
I am unsure what chips these modules use, but they are likely some Elpida variant. For the rated speeds, you will be required to use 2.0v, which is -somewhat- higher than other PC2-6400 kits out there, especially for these timings. Like all other OCZ kits, these modules come with a full lifetime warranty, and are guaranteed up to 2.2v ±5%. Our first goal will be to see how well these modules will overclock while retaining the warranty, and if need be, we will go higher.
The modules arrived in the usual orange backed blister pack, which do a solid job of protecting the modules. On the front of the sticks is the small warranty sticker, which includes the timings and model number. It's kind of humorous to see EL listed there, or Enhance Latency, with such loose timings ;)
Since the XTC spreaders were launched last fall, they have been accepted by enthusiasts everywhere. There are a couple immediate benefits that the spreaders offer. Firstly, because they are not completely solid, they are lighter than the previous spreaders. Also, the modules can dissipate heat quickly, and adding a fan should prove more beneficial than if they were solid.
So now we come to the camo spreader. The pictures in the OCZ press release don't do these any justice. These are incredibly sharp looking; perfect for someone who is into war combat type games. There are a few things that I have to question though. The PCB is green and fits the rest of the skin pretty good, but if it was a 'tad' darker it would work even better. Also, the honeycomb design on the spreader has been left Gold. It would suit the modules far better if it were dyed light brown or dark green.
Either way, for the first stylized release from OCZ, they are sharp. I am happy to see that they are interested in experimenting, and hope to see more special styles in the future. It's difficult to figure out a design that suits memory, but the camo was a great start.
Because these were value modules, I didn't expect too much from them in terms of overclocking. Other Gold modules I have reviewed proved to have -some- extra room to push out extra performance, so I was hoping to get these to at least DDR2-890, or at least tighten the timings a bit.
How foolish was I? Surprisingly, these modules had virtually no overclocking appeal. This is no surprise though really, since these are not marketed for overclocker's, but rather gamers who want a solid performing kit. Here is the list of successful 'overclocks'.
Any tweaking I did to the modules at all, would result in errors in Windows MemTest. Even tightening the timings to 4-4-4 with 1.9v - 2.4v brought on errors pretty quickly. So overclocking is pretty much out of the question. Though I did overclock and get errors, I benchmarked with the results anyway. You may have better luck than me, but chances are you won't ;)
So now that we got the non-overclock ability out of the way, let's see if it's stock performance keeps up to par with others on the market.
To test out the modules, I used the usual variety of benchmarking tools:
SANDRA is by far one of the most popular memory benchmarking tools out there, and for good reason. The reason I personally like it, is because you have the option of tweaking countless settings in order to benchmark to your liking. I run benchmarks using default settings in addition to unbuffered.
I am impressed with the stock speeds, to say the least. It beats out some other PC2-6400 2GB kits I have on hand, by around 50 points. Good stuff.
The same goes for here... very nice stock speeds.
EVEREST is another great memory benchmarking program, because it allows you to get values for not only Read and Write, but latency. I prefer the good ole 2.22 (2005) version because I find it more accurate than the newer version, but it's become the standard, so it will be used.
Once again, the stock speed is a pinch better than other modules I have tested. At 3.74GHz, the Read and Write were extremely nice.. 8,279/5,640. I could imagine the scores if this stuff actually overclocked.
The latencies proved about 1 - 2ns quicker than other modules also.
The PC Mark scores, again compared to others I've tested, are actually lower. Despite having higher stock performance throughout Sandra and Everest, it proved at a loss in PC Mark by around 300 points.
Even though mathematical calculations like this are extremely CPU intensive, they are also ram intensive. The faster your ram, the faster the overall calculations will be. How SuperPi works is that you can specify how many digits you want to calculate past the decimal point. If you choose 1 Million, it will begin with the 3. and continue with 14359 all the way until it hits the 1 Millionth digit mark.
I am completely two-sided on these modules to be honest. One one hand, these modules deserve an 8/10 for two reasons. The camo spreader is great looking, and would easily 'spice' up any computer. Especially if the person who owns it is a combat sim freak. The stock speeds pass other PC2-6400 kits I have tested... ones that cost twice as much. So, if these spreaders appeal to you and you will be doing -no- overclocking at all, then these are well worth the money. They are priced directly alongside other modules with the same specs, and no more. I had figured there would be a premium to pay for these new spreaders, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
However, if you want the old school Gold spreader version of the modules for the same price, it will save you $20. I am unsure whether both kits use the same chips or not, but I am willing to bet you will get a wee bit more performance out of the Gold's.
From an enthusiast perspective, these are not worth a second look. They don't overclock at all... whatsoever. So there's just no point if you want to tweak your rig. If for some reason you are attached to the look of the spreaders, you should make sure that your CPU overclock will scale properly with the memory, so that you do not go over 400MHz. As I have found out, this memory just straight out doesn't want to be pushed around. Maybe this was an inside joke. "Yeah, we'll make combat memory that doesn't overclock! Soldiers don't like to be pushed around, so neither will this memory."
So, let's clear this up. These modules are worth it if you enjoy the look and don't plan to overclock. They don't cost extra money for the spreaders, so there is no harm done choosing these over another kit. No, these modules are not worth it if you are an enthusiast overclocker... don't even think about it.
I am glad to see OCZ taking a stand and pushing out some different looking spreaders. If you are hoping to see such spreaders on actual enthusiast modules, have no fear. The above picture is of the new Voltage eXtreme 2 modules that will be coming out soon enough. They will debut at DDR2-1000 speeds with 4-4-4-15 timings. The chips capable of this performance... are expensive. So don't expect these babies to come cheap at all. I do look forward to seeing what new spreaders OCZ unleashes on us in the future though. Bring 'em on!
For what these modules are worth, I am awarding them a 7 out of 10. Though they prove good for a casual user, I was really, really hoping to be able to squeeze at least an ounce of extra performance out of them, but was unable.
If you wish to discuss this review, feel free to head on into our related thread. You do not need to register in order to reply to these threads!
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