Reviews - Featured Reviews: Memory
Written by Steven Iglesias-Hearst
Thursday, 11 November 2010
Low Voltage DDR3 Final Thoughts
To summarize, increasing RAM speed will have more of an effect than tightening your timings but the two are very close. When overclocked in line with your CPU then you will get even better results. If you are solely playing games on your PC you will be just as well with a 1333MHz kit as you would with a 2000MHz kit as your GPU is your best tool here. The whole point of high speed memory kits is to allow you to increase your CPU speed higher without having to worry about RAM instability. My max stable overclock had a negative effect due to keeping the CPU as close to stock speed as possible during testing meant it was running slower in this configuration than all other configurations. At 1333MHz the CPU was 133x21 (2.79GHz), at 1600MHz the CPU was 160x18 (2.88GHz), at 2000MHz the CPU was 200x14 (2.80GHz) and finally at 2090MHz the cpu was 209x13 (2.71GHz).
The OCZ Blade ST 2000MHz 4GB kit would possibly be best suited to an i7 series 1156 CPU or one of the 'K' series unlocked 1156 CPU's in my opinion, this is because they have the option of a 2:12 RAM multiplier with their IMC which gives more flexibility and tweaking potential when overclocking either the CPU or the RAM. The i3/i5 CPU's can easily run 2000MHz with a 2:10 multi but there isn't much room left to overclock.
The OCZ Blade ST 2000MHz 4GB kit wasn't the easiest RAM kit to work with, firstly the SPD table looked as if it was designed for Intel Core 2 CPU's instead of the specified Intel 1156 Core i3/i5/i7 CPU's that OCZ advertise on their website, and second there were no CL9 timings or 1.65v voltage settings to select which made setting up this RAM all that more difficult. Most people that buy RAM expect it to run at its rated speed or at least have a profile to select from, those people would more likely return this kit as faulty and cause unnecessary RMA's.
OCZ Blade ST Memory Conclusion
In this section I am going to write a brief five point summary on the following categories; Performance, Appearance, Construction, Functionality and Value. These views are my own and help me to give the OCZ Blade ST 2000MHz Low Voltage 4GB Kit a rating out of 10. A high or low score does not necessarily mean that it is better or worse than a similar RAM kit which has been reviewed by another writer here at Benchmark Reviews, which may have got a higher or lower score. It is however a good indicator of whether the RAM kit is good or not. I would strongly urge you to read the entire review, if you have not already, so that you can make an educated decision for yourself.
The OCZ Blade ST 2000MHz 4GB kit performed very well at lower speeds of 1333MHz and 1600MHz where we were able to lower the voltage to 1.50v and tighten the timings to CL6 and CL7 respectively. Overclocking was hindered somewhat by the IMC on my Core i5 760 CPU as it has a max 2:10 multiplier; this meant that the overclock was dependant on the BCLK. There were no memory errors at 212 BCLK but the CPU was not stable enough to bench with. My max stable overclock of 2090MHz had a negative effect as the CPU was running a little slower than it was at all other configurations tested.
Appearance is subjective and is different to all individuals, due to the graphical nature of our reviews you can easily make up your own mind on what you think. I really like the look, the design is different than other tall heatspreaders. The brushed aluminum is a very nice look indeed and the render and color scheme on the sticker makes this kit stand out. I'm not overly keen on the green PCB but most of it is hidden out of sight by the DIMM slot and catches anyway. The only real blemish on these modules is where the sticker covers the screws and you get little bubbles, but that's just me being picky.
Construction is second to none, period. The heatspreaders are very well attached and are made of some heavyweight aluminum, they feel double the weight of my previous G.Skill RipJaws kit which gives me the sense of strength and build quality that I expect from a premium product.
Functionality is where this kit lets us down, Firstly the SPD table doesn't relate to the product and secondly there are no CL9 timings or settings with 1.65v to choose from which makes things in the BIOS more tricky than they need to be. Honestly OCZ need to take a look at the JEDEC's in the SPD table before they get too many returns due to users not being able to run this kit at its rated speed, sort this little problem out and you will have a winner. If you can and don't mind tweaking you will find this RAM kit will be quite rewarding.
The OCZ Blade ST Low Voltage 4GB kit (P/N OCZ3BST2000LV4GK) has an MSRP of $106.99 at the time of writing this article, this is good value for money and outweighs many issues that may have been raised in the previous sections of this conclusion. For this price you won't get much better I don't think, if you have the know-how and you don't mind spending some time tweaking then I would definitely recommend this kit to you. If you are just a beginner in the overclocking scene you should look past this kit and go for something simpler, unless you fancy a challenge.
Pros: bmr_approved.png
+ Very nice looks
+ Build quality is excellent
+ Very flexible at lower speeds
+ 1T Command Rate at all speeds
+ Limited lifetime warranty and free technical support
+ Great value for money
+ Opens up more CPU overclocking potential
Cons:
- SPD table lacks any worthwhile settings
- No settings for rated speed (CL or voltage)
- Very tall, could possibly interfere with bigger CPU coolers
- No good for beginners
Ratings:
* Performance: 9.00
* Appearance: 9.00
* Construction: 9.50
* Functionality: 6.00
* Value: 9.50
Final Score: 8.60 out of 10.
