OCZ DDR3-1066 2Gb Kit Gold Series Manufacturer OCZ Technology Category Memory Size 2Gb Kit (1Gb x 2) Spec DDR3-1066 Editor Winston Chim Share    digg this! " ... These OCZ DDR3-1066 Gold Series 2Gb Kits offer excellent overclocking ability, and look great with those XTC heatspreader with performance to match. "

Advertisement ▼

OCZ releases their DDR3 Gold series designed and aimed at the mainstream users.

Introduction

It's been just over six months since the announcement of DDR3 modules by memory manufacturers. But, it is only -now- that we are seeing its availability. Kingston Technologies was one of the first to release their DDR3 modules, with others following soon after. However, the price of DDR3 ram is still putting consumers off, with 2Gb kits easily costing around £300. Another concern is the peformance difference between DDR3 and DDR2. Our benchmarks have shown only a marginal improvement with DDR3. For many of us, DDR3 is still regarded as a high-end, enthusiast's luxury, only for those who can afford it.

         

Many users are reluctant to switch over to DDR3, and I don't blame them. DDR2 has still got a lot to offer. Like I said before, we had a similar scenario 5-6 years ago when we had the transition from DDR to DDR2. But as the DDR3 technology matures over the next few months, so we will see more and more motherboards supporting DDR3. Interestingly, earlier this year, during the Computex exhibition in Taipei, we saw some maufacturers like Corsair showing off their DDR3 ram. They managed to clock their DDR3 modules to an impressive 2Ghz !!

In this review will be taking a look at OCZ's DDR3-1066 Gold series 2Gb Kit. These modules uses high quailty Qimonda memory chips, and are rated at DDR3-1066 that's PC3-8500 spec, with memory timings of 7-7-7-21. They're aimed at the mainstream market and features OCZ's patented XTC heat spreaders, which offers an effective cooling solution. We've already taken a look at the HyperX and ValueRam DDR3 series from Kingston, with both kits performing very well during our benchmarks.

Labelling and classification of DDR3 memory can be a little confusing, but I'll try and give you some DDR3 terminology ... More information can be found HERE

PC3-6400 : DDR3-800 : 200FSB : 400Mhz
PC3-8500 : DDR3-1066 : 266FSB : 533Mhz
PC3-10600 : DDR3-1333 : 333FSB : 667Mhz
PC3-12800 : DDR3-1600 : 400FSB : 800Mhz
PC3-14400:  DDR3-1800 : 450FSB : 900Mhz

We expect these modules to perform just as well as the Kingston's DDR3 kits, however I wonder how well they will overclock? Let's not waste any more time and see what these DDR3 modules from OCZ are made of.