OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 SLI-Ready Edition review
Author: Grga Curkovic
Date: 31 Dec 2006

As DDR2 memories became a crucial part of enthusiast platform with arrival of nForce 6 and Core 2 Duo processors, the DDR2 war is raging. NVIDIA raised the bar for memory makers by officially supporting high speed DDR2 up to DDR2-1200 and their SLI-ready EPP program. Not so long ago DDR2-1000 was very rare and was considered to be ultra fast memory, today memory maker are pushing their products to the limits. We tested the strongest of Corsair?s Dominator series and saw pretty nice test results; today we are reviewing OCZ?s SLI memory. However the modules tested today are not the fastest OCZ has to offer. We will be reviewing OCZ FlexXLC modules soon, but lets focus on OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 SLI-Ready Edition now.
The modules come in a standard size OCZ package, but at first sight you can see that these are not just any modules since they have NVIDIA SLI Ready logo on the heat sinks. The sinks are black and feature XTC technology. When memory makers first started using heat sinks they were mostly made out of a solid piece of copper and glued to the memory chips. At the time that was more the enough because memory modules simply didn?t generate that much heat. Today modules tend to generate a lot more heat and therefore need to be properly cooled. The XTC technology increases the total area of the heat sink and helps create a better airflow over memory chips and therefore cools the modules more efficiently. Let?s compare the OCZ modules we have here today with what we think are the best DDR(1) modules, the OCZ DDR-400 Platinum rev.2. With OCZ DDR-400 Platinum rev.2 we could overclock up to around 300 MHz at 2.9V. Today modules tend to work at frequencies around 600MHz while consuming 2.5V. So taken into account that heat dissipation increases with frequency to the first power and voltage to the second power we can easily calculate that today memory modules generate approximately 50% more heat. It is clear that memory cooling is not a thing of fashion anymore and we should take good care of how are modules are being cooled.
The XTC heatsinks do a decent job here, but for those who plan to overclock we recommend the OCZ XTC Cooler. With this baby you?ll never ever have to worry if your modules are overheating since the power of XTC technology will be supported by two 60mm fans. The modules themselves are declared to work at DDR2-1066 at 5-5-5-15 at 2.1V. Like any other OCZ memory we ever tested, they feature lifetime warranty. As expected from the name of this product, these modules feature NVIDIA?s EPP technology and are guaranteed to work flawlessly with nForce 6 boards at above specified settings. Another great feature of these modules is the EVP. EVP stands for Extended Voltage Protection. With EVP 2.4V that these modules feature you are free to use voltages up to 2.4V +/- 5% without loosing the warranty. When you add up the 5% to the 2.4V you get 2.52V, so we figure you can use 2.5V without loosing the warranty. It is interesting to notice that NVIDIA?s reference design boards such as our EVGA 680i SLI support DDR2 voltages up to 2.5V.