OCZ 4GB PC2-6400 Platinum Edition

So, you’ve decided the time has come for a 4GB upgrade and you have no idea where to look. Well, we’ve taken a look at two 4GB kits in the past already, each a stark contrast to the other. Super Talent’s PC2-6400 kit didn’t overclock at -all-, but had decent performance as you’d expect for the given frequency. Then we had Mushkin’s XP2-8500 kit, which is the fastest 2x2GB kit on the market. It sells for $700 though, so it’s overall draw is quite limited.

How about a kit that falls somewhere in the middle? OCZ wasn’t as quick as others with a 4GB kit, which is due to the fact that they wanted to make sure they released a kit that had good overclocking ability and impressed their customers. Have they done it with their PC2-6400 Platinum? We will soon find out.

What’s a “good” price for a 4GB kit nowadays? Just a few months ago, you’d expect to pay no less than $400, but times have changed, for the better. You can now get a good kit for just under $300, which is where this kit falls at. It currently retails for $279.99 at one popular e-tailer, which falls right below the rest of the competition. There are few kits that have a lower price, but their overclocking ability is likely to be lacking, thanks to the fact that OCZ takes the time to make sure their Platinum series excels in that regard.

The other downsides of the others are their timings. OCZ’s kit delivers 5-4-4-15, while most others offer 5-5-5-15. I’ll be frank, there is going to be such a small performance difference with a tRCD and tRP of 4.

At it stands though, OCZ’s kit, when compared to the other 4GB PC2-6400 kits available, is priced right. Even without testing the kit, I could recommend the kit, simply because of it’s price. Many who purchase 4GB kits are not planning to overclock, so it’s a great kit irregardless of that fact. Most other kits cost far more, including the $359US Corsair 6400C5DHX and $358 Kingston HyperX. The only kit to have better timings is Mushkin’s XP2-6400 and it’s CL4. That kit retails for $493, though.

Before moving on to testing, let’s take a quick look at the modules themselves. Typical of all Platinum series, these modules are clothed with a glossy platinum finish, using the XTC heatspreader. These heatspreaders have done well for OCZ, and they don’t plan on changing things up anytime soon. Their DDR3 modules use the same heatspreaders, although there is a small “3” beside the Z to denote the fact that it’s DDR3.

I mentioned, this kit has timings of 5-4-4-15 at 2.1v.

Like all OCZ modules, this kit has a lifetime warranty, which is effective up to 2.2v. As we will find out on the next page though, you are very unlikely to go even that high.