OCZ 2GB PC2-9200 Reaper HPC Edition

OCZ has become quite a large stature in the enthusiast market over the past few years, which isn’t much of a surprise. We’ve been reviewing their products for near two years now and have been impressed time and time again. Of course, while they release new products to test the waters, their pride and joy really is memory.

We first saw the release of their XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection) in late 2005 and shortly after that time, we’ve seen many concurrent releases. First was their Special Ops Edition and even a multi-colored Ti Alpha series.

As for branded memory, they’ve gained the support of both NVIDIA and ATI, which are produced in black and red colors, respectively. More recently they’ve released their Flex XLC (Xtreme Liquid Convection) modules, capable of handling your water cooling setups. Throughout all of these releases, OCZ has had the habit of using simple three letter acronyms in their titles, especially those with a C at the end. Is this deliberate? Perhaps so, but it looks good from a marketing standpoint.

By now you’ve figured that they have exhausted all of their ideas when it comes to memory cooling, but that’s hardly the case. Today we are taking a look at their latest kit which utilizes their Reaper HPC (note the C at the end). The idea is rather simple. Each side of the module has a solid rippled black spreader, but the top of the module has a channel (Heat Pipe Conduit) to rest a heat pipe. Heat pipes have become incredibly popular over the past few years and can be found on most any good air cooler. How is this to help?

As heatpipes heat up, their liquid inside begins to boil which results in moving away of the heat. On all air coolers that utilize heatpipes, the heat travels along the length of the pipe itself and then is dissipated once it hits the fins. So, you’ll never have “just” a heatpipe… you need some way of dissipating the heat. On the HPC, there is a single heatpipe with a small fin array on the very top. Sounds like a good idea, but we’ll be the judge of just how useful/efficient it is.

The Reaper HPC arrived in the usual plastic blister pack, although this one specifically is a lot larger to accommodate the modules. In our Flex XLC review, I noted that it’s packaging was too flimsy because the modules were easily shifted, even after the original shipment.

OCZ either took note of that themselves or took my comments seriously, as this new packaging is heat sealed twice on each side. Normally I dislike this method, because it can be a real pain to open. I’ve experienced this with Mushkins packages, where I have to grab a knife and literally tear the package open.

The method used here is similar to Mushkins, but it’s not as tough to tear apart, so you will not need to grab scissors or a knife. Though it’s easier to open, the modules still remain completely safe during shipment. This method gets my seal of approval ;-)

The entire spreader is matte black, except for the heatpipe of course. I was skeptical of the look when I first learned of them, but now that I’ve seen them in person I think differently. I’m glad they decided to use a black spreader, it’s a lot easier to make a spreader look “cool” with that color.

In the image below, you can see just how the heatpipe sits in the conduit.

On the back you will find the sticker that displays all the relative information, including timings, frequency and model.

Overall, these are some great looking modules. Although it seems rather extravagant compared to normal heat spreaders, I like what OCZ have done with their HPC. Without further ado, let’s jump right into overclocking.