OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 4GB Edition

INTRODUCTION

Despite the fact that DDR3 has a slightly better performance and consumes less power compared to DDR2, it is still hard to recommend DDR3 unless you have a huge chunk of money to spend. For a far less price, one can purchase 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 instead of the more expensive 2GB (1X1GB) of DDR3. Not only is DDR3 so much more expensive compared to DDR2, in real-world, you would hardly see a major performance increase using DDR3. Of course, this could all change in the very near future as DDR3's price will drop with more motherboards on the pipeline supporting it and manufacturers ramping up the production. Until then, DDR2 is still a better choice to buy. That is why we are seeing many memory manufacturers still not giving up the DDR2 and releasing higher performance DDR2. A month or two ago, OCZ the released DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 4GB Edition. This is one of the highest clock speed 4GB DDR2 that is available on the market. Today, join us as we put this memory to the test.

OCZ Technology

OCZ is a company many of us are familiar with as they provide the very best products for a wide range of users. Starting with overclocked video cards and memory modules to power supplies and cooling products OCZ has earned the respect of hardware enthusiasts around the world (No easy feat).  For the rest of you who may not be familiar with the company I’ll let them tell you:

Entering the memory market in August 2000, OCZ Technology was built around the determination to manufacture the best high speed DDR and RDRAM. OCZ was founded by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts, and our commitment to the end-user has not digressed. OCZ Technology has been an innovator in many areas. We were the first manufacturer to make Dual Channel optimized memory available to the public, which originally took advantage of nVidia's Twinbank or Dual DDR architecture, found in their nForce chipset. We have now taken that technology and tailored it for the Canterwood, and Granite Bay chipset's. OCZ developed and was the first to implement ULN technology, which has been a critical element in our manufacturing process for some time. We at OCZ diligently work to improve communication with CPU and motherboard chipset manufacturers prior to the release of their products. Only in this manner can we fine-tune our memory's SPD settings, ensuring a synergistic relationship between the memory module, memory controller, and microprocessor. In today’s rapidly evolving semiconductor industry, such communication is not simply research, but a necessary component of our manufacturing process.