OCZ Launches Water Cooled Memory Modules – FlexXLC

Final Thoughts on FlexXLC

OCZ’s conclusion from their marketing presention can be seen above and for the most part it makes sense. The OCZ PC2-9200 memory kit is a one-of-a-kind product that offers many of the latest and great features all in one package, but it’s not 100% unprecedented as everything has been done before individually by other companies. Buffalo Technology has announced PC2-9200 memory, Cell Shock has an 8-layer PCB on some of their modules and Thermaltake has a water cooled heat spreader that anyone can buy for $25.99 each with all the fittings needed to get it running. The OCZ PC2-9200 memory kit with Flex XLC is the first to combine all the features in one package and in that sense it is a one-of-a-kind solution.

In terms of pricing a 2GB kit of the OCZ PC2-9200 FlexXLC heat spreader will come with an MSRP of $599.99, which puts it slightly below the Corsair Dominator PC2-8888 modules (read the review) that feature an active air cooling solution called the AIRFLOW. Both memory kits are pushing the limits of what motherboards and processors can handle and to be honest neither can be found on the market today as Corsair’s are out of stock till 1-4-2007 and I’m sure that OCZ is going to have the same problem that Corsair is when it comes to getting enough of these hard to find IC’s to build these high end memory modules.

We asked OCZ if they would be selling the FlexXLC water cooled heat spreaders on their own and OCZ said that they have not considered it, but it’s not likely that they will. They did spill the beans on an upcoming PC2-6400 memory kit that will feature the FlexXLC heat spreaders, so those that don’t have $599.99 can enjoy water cooled modules for less than what a college student makes in a semester!

The performance numbers that OCZ saw on their own test bench look good, but like Corsair’s internal numbers on their Dominator heat spreaders they are hard to reproduce and don’t compare the competition. If both Corsair and OCZ would be willing to send Legit Reviews a single pair of heat spreaders and some double sided tape it would be fun to take one of our own memory modules and see which method cools better, but to be honest that can’t be done since the Corsair Dominator modules have a thermal pad with heat sinks attached directly to the PCB. I guess there is no way to do a “Legit Review” that will pit OCZ against Corsair!

It’s hard to draw a conclusion when the product hasn’t shipped and isn’t available on store shelves or on the test bench here at Legit Reviews for that matter, but that should all change here in the near future as OCZ is sending a kit our way. From what we can tell OCZ took the best IC’s, the ultimate mainstream cooling solution and the latest 8-layered PCB’s and have created what looks like a module that will make 99% of the rest on the market look pathetic.