OCZ Flex II 4GB PC2-9200 DDR2 Memory Review

The Kit and Features

My initial un-professional impression when unboxing the Flex II PC-9200 kit was “holy cow those are thick sticks”. Just for a comparison, the two OCZ Flex II PC-9200 sticks were considerably thicker than 4 of my Corsair Dominator sticks. Here it should be noted that you can only use 2 Flex II modules on a standard 4 DIMM slot board due to the sheer thickness of the modules. Getting past the module dimensions, a few other things came into focus.

At the top of the heatspreaders are six rows of separated fins that are used to dissipate heat if the watercooling option isn’t utilized. Thoughtfully OCZ has included covers for the watercooling barbs for individuals that don’t own a water loop which helps keep the modules looking sleek and professional. For those of you that do intend on utilizing this kit with a water loop, keep in mind that the heatspreaders are pure aluminum. If you have any copper in your waterloop, make sure to use an anti-corrosion additive or the aluminum will be damaged.

The inner nerd inside of me thought it’d be a smart idea to tear the heat sinks to pieces. The pictures I took were terribly out of focus however each side of the heatspreader has a chamber roughly 1cm tall and 3mm wide that runs the length of the stick and is serviced at each end with a barb. The insides of these channels are milled smooth and anodized black like the rest of the heatspreader and a rubber gasket seals the chamber ends with aluminum tabs screwed in place to complete the assembly.

Besides the modules the kit comes with a length of plastic tubing used to connect the barbs on the modules to a set of 4 port manifolds. These manifolds are necessary as the tubing for the modules is 1/8″ and would be awfully restrictive. The barbs can be swapped out for 3/8″ or 1/2″ fittings, two sizes commonly used by the enthusiast watercooling community. Unfortunately my kit was missing a 4 port manifold making watercooling these sticks impossible but no worries, watercooling isn’t necessary.

Those barbs above are the reason why you need those 4 port manifolds. The barbs feeding the modules are 1/8″ and tiny compare to the normal fittings watercoolers use.