X-bit labs

OCZ DDR2 PC2-9200 Reaper HPC Edition: Memory with Heatpipe Technology

Category: Memory

by Ilya Gavrichenkov

[ 05/11/2007 | 11:21 AM ]

Overclocker memory makers surprise us not only by the record-breaking frequencies of their DDR2 SDRAM, but also by the originally designed cooling solutions for their memory products. OCZ has already introduced liquid-cooling for its top-of-the-line products, now the time of heatpipes has come. Read more in our new review!

Table of contents:

• Closer Look at OCZ DDR2 PC2-9200 Reaper HPC Edition
  
• Overclocking
  
• Conclusion
  

If you have read our recent article devoted to high-speed memory kits called PC2-9200 and PC2-10000 SDRAM: Ultra High-Speed Memory from Corsair and OCZ you probably understood already that the manufacturers resort to two major means for reaching ultimate speeds: increase of the memory voltage and use of advanced cooling solutions. And if the first one is quite clear without any additional explanations, this is a very simple and straight-forward measure, then the technologies intended to improve heat dissipation from the memory chips give the developers some room for imagination.

For example, Corsair engineers suggest installing four heat-spreaders per memory module (according to their Dual Heat Exchange technology), while their colleagues from OCZ designed their own liquid-cooling system called Xtreme Liquid Convention that allows including the memory subsystem into the liquid-cooling structure. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to pay due attention too all available cooling solutions for high-speed DDR2 DIMMs available these days. Another memory kit with something completely new onboard arrived into our lab a little later, so we decided to devote a separate article to it.

Today we are going to introduce to you another OCZ product belonging to the new Reaper HPC series – overclocker memory kit using heatpipe cooling system for proper heat dissipation.

Although OCZ Reaper HPC line-up cannot boast the same ultimate frequencies as Corsair Dominator and OCZ FlexXLC families, it boasts one very important competitive advantage: lower price. As a result, OCZ Reaper HPC memory modules are currently one of the best high-speed memory solutions from the price prospective, which definitely attracts numerous enthusiasts’ attention.

In our today’s article we will investigate the potential of the top kit from OCZ Reaper HPC family intended to run at 1150MHz and will compare its practical characteristics against those of similar solutions from OCZ FlexXLC and Corsair Dominator families.