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OCZ's OCZ3X16004GK Intel Extreme Edition: 4GB of DDR3 1600 Memory Done Right
George Ross, January 8, 2009

Introduction
The right memory can make all the difference when one is overclcoking or looking to get the most frame rates from there gaming rig. Today we are taking a look at what appears to be some of the best DDR3 1600 memory you can buy for Core2 setups. OCZ calls it OCZ3X16004GK Intel Extreme Edition.

Packaging & Contents
This memory comes in the most basic memory packaging one can find and with comes nothing else just the modules. The packaging does do its job, and it is kind of hard to open.


The Memory

When you first look at this memory it is plain to see that it is some Core 2 friendly DDR3 1600. Probably the best part of this memory is that is sports 7-7-7-28 timings. At least that is what the timings are for XMP profile #1 at DDR3 1600 speeds. There are no large heatsinks on this memory and it runs cool at 1.9V. All in all it looks like this memory should help speed up the test system.


Test Hardware
Running this memory allowed my aging Q6700 to run at 3.6Ghz speeds when all was said and done. Here are the rest of the details on the test system.


Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 @ 3.33GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 @ 3.6GHz
Motherboards GIGABYTE GA-EP45C-DS3R
Memory G.SKILL 4GB DDR3 1333 (PC2 10666) @ 667 MHz (DDR 1333) 9-9-9-24 Dual Channel Mode OCZ 4GB DDR3 1600 (PC2 12800) @ 667 MHz (DDR 1333) 7-7-7-28 Dual Channel Mode OCZ 4GB DDR3 1600 (PC2 12800) @ 720 MHz (DDR 1440) 7-7-7-28 Dual Channel Mode
Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3250310NS 250GB 7200 RPM 32MB cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
Video Card POWERCOLOR Radeon HD 4870
Catalyst 8.12
Optical Disk Drive Pioneer DVR-112DBK
Power Supply Rosewill Xtreme RX750-S-B 750W
Operating System Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1

General Computing Benchmarks

The lower latencies of the OCZ memory allow it to outperform the higher latency G.Skill memory buy 13% overall when running at the same speed. When you add more frequency to the memory and increase the CPU frequency by almost 300MHz you get a 23% difference over the test system running the G.Skill memory.

Gaming Benchmarks

Again the OCZ memory comes out on top with 2% more overall average frame rate than the higher latency G.Skill, and with the 3.6Ghz setup that lead is 9% in overall average frame rate.

Power Consumption
The OCZ memory does use more power than the G.Skill memory when idling (3W) and when under load (15W). That added power is put to real good use.


Conclusion
The results speak for themselves. This memory is really well suited for Core 2 setups as advertised. It even helped with overclocking my Q6700 to new heights. So for $160 you get 4GB of DDR3 with killer latencies and XMP profiles for easy setup. OCZ has come up with a winner and if memory prices continue to fall this memory will only become more attractive.

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