In the past year, we have seen lots of memory rated at DDR500, so you may wonder why we are reviewing a new DDR500 memory today when there are now a few rare modules rated as high as DDR600. The answer is pretty simple, since OCZ PC4000 VX Gold is the only memory that we have ever seen rated at DDR500 2-2-2. While it is rated at DDR500 at these extraordinary 2-2-2 timings, it also carries a very high rated voltage of 3.3V - far beyond what most motherboards can supply.

A quick check of orbs at FutureMark will show that this new VX is the fast darling of the extreme overclocking market. For those who wondered why DFI included voltages to 4.0V in their new nForce4 Ultra and SLI motherboards, the answer is OCZ VX memory. With VX needing voltages as high as 3.7V to really reach top performance at certain speeds, the DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR and DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D are the first production motherboards to support the kind of extreme voltages needed by VX without modification.

With this promise of extraordinary DDR500 2-2-2 performance, we were very interested to see if this performance promise was real. Have we finally reached DDR500 with the fastest timings available? The answers in our benchmarks are very interesting.

OCZ EL PC4000 VX Gold
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  • cHodAXUK - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link

    Stunning performance and great review. Nice work Mr Fink :)
  • bigtoe36 - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link

    The figures are correct, everyone has become fixated with DDR600+ using TCCD and higher latency, this proves tight latency is the king on A64 by a mile as long as the clock is high enough.

    The price is not that expensive, there are 3 versions of this ram. vlaue VX, 3200VX and 4000VX, all of it clocks well with voltage although for the guaranteed highest clocks i would go with the 4000. A note to #3, the value VX is i hear cheaper than twinmos memory, with the launch of 4000VX the 3200 price has dropped also, please remember OCZ are the ONLY company to warrant high voltage here and for peace of mind the extra few $$ you "may" have to spend would be well worth it in my opinion.
  • haelduksf - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link

    Hey- the price isn't bad- I picked a gig of this up for $315 after cancelling my order for the Corsair 4400C25 @ $345 (All CAN$).

    And the performance is right on- google this stuff, especially at Xtremesystems.org, and you will see nothing but 260-270mhz @ 2-2-2-1T



    And that's for the PC3200 ;)
  • theOracle - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link

    when you mention the price, if the figures given are correct this ram seems to give across the board over 10% of performance increase; thats probably more than say 3500+ to 4000+ if im not mistaken. Im sure the cost of a 3500+ and a pair of this is cheaper than a 4000+ and a pair of other ram. I spose the voltage is a limitation, but if the performances increases are that great I would foresee a lot more enthusiast boards offering Vdimm upto say 3.3V or more.

    I still can't really believe the figures though; can Wesley confirm if the other ram was tested on the same DFI board (or is the DFI also contributing to the performance increase?).
  • xsilver - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link

    the kinds of chips that these ocz's using -- they have to be sourced from somewhere and I doubt they have exclusive acess.... or is it that only they are crazy enough to produce memory running at 3.6v and still give a lifetime warranty??

    the competition should catch on soon and hopefully the price wont be so horrendously expensive :)
  • Tokat - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link

  • theOracle - Friday, March 4, 2005 - link

    wow.

    the figures are so dramatically ahead something just cant be right - what motherboards were the other ram timings on?

    then again, if they are right, that is some awesome ram!

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