OCZ Technology 2GB PC3200 DDR Value Kit

OCZ's 2GB Value Series PC3200 kit provides a large amount of system memory for a very low price, but don't expect these to push the high performance levels as their other memory lines.

8/31/05 – Memory can play a crucial role in how well a computer functions. Even the fastest processor will have problems if it doesn't have sufficient RAM to run the applications. Typically, 512MB has been enough to run most applications, but that is slowly being replaced by a full gigabyte. But some of today's most recent applications and games can benefit from a two full gigabytes of RAM.

OCZ Technology Value series of memory modules provide a high quality RAM with very competitive prices. For example, the two full gigabytes of the PC3200 DDR value memory can cost less than a full gigabyte of high performance DDR memory. This can be highly attractive for those looking to use very memory intensive applications.

Testing of the modules was conducted on an nForce4 Ultra motherboard using a new AMD Athlon X2 3800+ processor with both SiSoft Sandra and Everest benchmarks. Under Sandra, the memory scores 5348 Int and 5285 Float scores. On Everest, the memory scores 5210 MB/s under the read and 1888 MB/s under the write tests. These scores are slower than many other PC3200 DDR memory and are likely caused by the higher latencies.

Attempts to overclock the memory past the 400MHz clock speed were unable to produce any form a stability. In fact, just lowering the latencies was a difficult task. The best latencies that were achieved with the 400MHz clock were 2.5-4-4-6 at 1T. This resulted in a minimal boost to the performance over the standard speeds.