[grogi]

OCZ DDR2 PC2-9200 Reaper HPC Edition
"These days almost all computer components for enthusiasts get shipped with more and more cooling. A bit more than a decade ago one of the only components in your desktop PC that needed cooling was the processor and these heatsinks were only a fraction of the size of today's giant CPU coolers. Those days are long gone, today many enthusiasts buy huge copper CPU coolers that weigh a ton, motherboards with tons of copper, cases with lots of 120mm fans and also memory modules with fancy cooling solutions.

A couple of years ago memory makers started selling memory modules with aluminum heatspreaders but these days you can already buy memory modules with relatively big cooling solutions like the OCZ FlexXLC series which features barbs for liquid cooling or the Reaper HPC modules which feature a heatpipe. These cooling solutions look pretty good and may improve overclocking performance.

The subject of this review is the OCZ Reaper HPC PC-9200 memory kit, this product is clocked at 1150MHz and is OCZ's fastest air-cooled DDR2 memory kit. It's available in a 2GB kit, runs at 5-5-5-18 timings with a voltage of 2.1-2.3V and features the Reaper HPC cooling design. Basically the copper heatpipe is designed to dissipate the heat of the memory modules to the fin array. The heatpipe contains a fluid that absorbs thermal energy and evaporates, the vapour then migrates to the fin array and releases the thermal energy. The vapour condenses back to a fluid, flows back to the hot area above the memory module and then the cycle will repeat itself again."

Crucial Ballistix 2GB PC3-12800 (1600MHz) DDR3 Memory Kit
"Crucial is the only memory upgrade supplier that is owned by a major DRAM manufacturer, Micron Techonology. The Crucial name is synonymous with consumers for memory upgrades and accessories such as flash cards and drives. Branching out from its bread and butter of standard memory products, Crucial developed a branding called Ballistix. It is with its Ballistix brand that Crucial reaches out to overclocking and performance crowd.

At circuitREMIX, we've already tested DDR2 from Crucial's Ballistix line of memory products and we came away impressed. Now we will be taking our first look at our first Ballistix DDR3 product."

A-Data Vitesta DDR3-1600X CL7 PC3-12800 RAM
"Benchmark Reviews has amassed the largest collection of DDR3 memory modules anywhere, and we are now ready to showcase the thirteenth product of our High-Speed DDR3 Review Series. In this article, we test the performance from A-Data's Vitesta X series DDR3, and discover if this overclocker-specific system memory is built for the task. Rated for 1600MHz, Benchmark Reviews successfully pushes the AD31600X002GU well beyond its PC3-12800 rating without disturbing the low 7-7-7-20 clock latency.

DDR3 Memory offers such a high front side bus to overclockers that CPU speeds can reach well beyond extreme. A-Data has produced the Vitesta X 1600MHz DDR3 PC3-12800 CL7-7-7-20 AD31600X002GU 2x1GB RAM kit for hardware enthusiasts to take advantage of. Benchmark Reviews has discovered more overclocking headroom in these modules than nearly all the others, which could make or break the most performance-critical overclocking project."

Patriot Memory PC3-15000 2GB Dual Channel Kit
"While DDR2 memory is anything but passe, DDR3 nonetheless is here. Motherboard manufacturers along with Intel and its new chipsets have started building boards that are DDR3 only solutions.

As with any new technology, as much as I enjoy it and want to delve in with both feet, I know that there is always a learning curve, an initial deployment that might not perform as expected. When I got the call to review some DDR3 memory, I was both excited and wary, I still recall when DDR2 first arrived on the scene, and couldn't outperform DDR.

Our latest sticks come to us via Patriot and sport a PC2-6400 sticker on them, they also have this nifty little stamp "RoHS Compliant", while not a big deal (yet) in the US, in European countries, without it, it means you can't even sell it. The most important aspect that I can see of RoHS Compliance, is that the gear must be built without any lead whatsoever. There are obviously more requirements, however this is not the place to get into those."