The Basics (continued):
Without even opening the clamshell package, you can tell there is something different inside. OCZ has produced the most incredible heatspreader on the market. I can't say if it keeps the memory cooler than any other heatspreader, but as far as looks, nothing can compare. The shine on these things is like a mirror; gold plated with a big "Z" in the middle, and a touch of mesh behind all that to convect heat away.
OCZ has this to say about the XTC heatspreader:
"XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection) heatspreaders optimize the thermal management of memory modules by promoting greater airflow by means of micro-convection throughout what is usually the dead air space inside conventional heatspreader designs. In this manner, build-up of heat is avoided and thermal dissipation of the memory components is offloaded more efficiently through the honeycomb design. At the same time, mechanical stability is maintained."
This RAM also claims some other OCZ technologies. EVP, or Extended Voltage Protection, is a feature that allows overclockers to use a Vdimm of up to 3.0V (±5%) without invalidating the OCZ lifetime warranty. This just goes to show that OCZ understands that some people want to push their equipment to gain more performance, and still want to keep the great warranty protection OCZ provides.
ULN, or Ultra Low Noise, technology uses various techniques in PC board manufacturing to reduce the amount of electrical noise high-speed ICs create. In theory, this should provide for faster, more stable memory performance.
With a ton of impending doom, I carefully removed one of the heatspreaders to get a look at the chips inside. Decoding the
OCZ branded chips shows that these are new die BH-5 based, and should provide some great low latency overclocks. These particular chips look to be manufactured in late November of 2005 (0547). The PCB is identified as BP MLL E186014, which appears to be the top performing BrainPower board. Below is a close-up look at the chips themselves and the board they are mounted on.
