OCZ PC2-8800 (1100MHz) Gold Edition Memory Review

Final Thoughts and Conclusions

Our OCZ DDR2 PC2-8800 Gold Edition memory kit does exactly what it’s rated to do and performs very well in all the benchmarks that we threw at it. The modules use some of the best overclocking IC’s on the market today as the Micron D9’s love voltage and take off when you increase it. With that said the OCZ PC2-8800 Gold Edition modules are a great kit that is sure to push nearly all AMD AM2 and Intel Conroe based systems to the bleeding edge of stability.

The OCZ XTC heat spreaders look great and it was good to hear that OCZ is coming out with their own active memory cooler. Since active cooling is suggested when running modules with voltages and frequencies as high as the PC2-8800 kit we looked at today it would have been nice to have them for this article. In terms of overclocking these modules do what they are rated to do, but need a lot of voltage to run faster with stability. We were able to reach 1111MHz with aggressive 4-4-4-12 2T timings, but needed to increase the voltage so high that it voided the lifetime warranty to hit stability. At these speeds we were able to get the modules to perform the same as the Corsair XMS2 DOMINATOR PC2-8888 kit, but at the cost of our warranty. When we kept the timings loose and ran the modules at 2.42V (our motherboard didn’t have 2.40V) we were able to get the 1100MHz modules up to 1140MHz with 100% stability at 5-6-6-15 timings.

Like OCZ pointed out in the interview section this memory is designed for gamers and is meant to bridge the game between their gaming series and the Platinum Alpha series, which are designed for enthusiasts and overclockers alone. With that pointed out we can’t complain about our overclocking results when OCZ is up front and says that this isn’t an overclocking part. To be honest I’m shocked that it ran 4-4-4-12 timings at 1111MHz at any voltage, so we are very happy with the overclocking and tighter timings that were observed while they were on the test bench.

In terms of pricing the 2GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-8800 Gold Edition memory kit (part number: OCZ2G11002GK) doesn’t come cheap as we found street pricing to be $449 plus shipping. The memory that we reviewed against the OCZ PC2-8800 modules were the Corsair DOMINATOR PC2-8888C4 modules, which are not yet available on the market and feature an MSRP of $599. If you want memory than can run 1.1GHz+ with decent timings you better make sure you have a fat wallet or room on the credit card!

Legit Bottom Line: The OCZ DDR2 PC2-8800 Gold Edition memory kit looks good, runs at 1100MHz with a lifetime warranty and has some room left in them for tighter timings and overclocking for those gamers who want the most from their memory purchase.