OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 4GB Edition RAM Review

Today we have the OCZ’s performance RAM – the OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 4GB Edition.

The Appearance

The OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 4GB Edition is huge, much thanks to the awesome looking heatsink, with copper heatpipe leading to additional aluminum fins that provide even more surface area for heat dissipation.

Unlike value RAMs, the Reaper’s size could pose an obstacle to mounting larger sized 3rd-party heatsinks.

Specifications

Basically it’s a 4GB kit, each stick is 2GB in size. Stated speed is DDR2 1066 (533Mhz), with 5-5-5-18 (CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS), operating at 2.1-2.2V.
Official Product Site

Test Setup

Here’s the test setup used.

Due to motherboard limitation to 1:1.5 memory, I set the system to run at FSB speed that pushes the RAM to DDR2 800 (400Mhz ), DDR2 1066 (533Mhz) and 2 more speeds beyond the DDR2 1066 mark.

While the product site stated the RAM operates at 5-5-5-18, I find my running at 5-5-5-15 at default. The Vdimm setting for the RAM by default is at 1.87V but I bumped it to 2.1V as to the specification.

The tests were done using Memtest v2.01.

Performance and Overclocking

DDR2 800 (400Mhz) @ 4-4-4-12

DDR2 800 (400Mhz) was surely going to be a piece of cake for the RAM, so I decided to give it a tighter 4-4-4-12 timing and it ran well.

DDR2 1066 (533Mhz) @ 5-5-5-15

For this test, it was to find out whether the RAM is able to work stable at the frequency stated.

🙂 And so it passed. I tried to get it to work at 4-4-4-12 but to no avail, even with Vdimm boosted. I can’t even get it to run at 4-5-5-15. 🙁 With that, I decided to let it run at default timing and see how it performs beyond stated frequency.

Beyond DDR2 1066 (533Mhz) @ 5-5-5-15

As you can see from the photos below, it didn’t work well on overclock despite boosting the Vdimm to 2.2V.

Conclusion

I think it’s a great pair of RAM for anyone who wish to overclock their processor.

The most powerful dual-core processor (E8600) and quad-core processor (Q9550) for the consumer range are only running at 1333FSB, at such bus even the DDR2 667 would work just fine. Basically for Intel based setup, the minimum RAM speed required is derived by halving the rated FSB of the processor. So with the DDR2 1066, there’s really plenty of headroom for overclocking.

Don’t forget, the heatsink provides better cooler for the RAM chips while OCZ Technology provides Lifetime Warranty over their premium memory modules such as the Reaper. 🙂

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