OCZ 3500EB: The Importance of Balanced Memory Timings
by Wesley Fink on April 7, 2004 12:04 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
OCZ 3500EB
Test samples of OCZ EB memory were a matched pair of 512MB 3500EB modules. This is just one of the offerings, however, since EB is offered in both DDR400 (PC3200) and DDR433 (PC3500) speeds. EB is also available in a wide range of capacities, with both 3200EB and 3500EB available in Dual-Channel kits of 512MB (256MBx2), 1GB (512MBx2) and 2GB (1024MBx2).
The OCZ 3500EB DIMMs have the Platinum heatspreader that OCZ uses to identify their top-performing Platinum series memory.
As is often the case with memory manufacturers, OCZ buys the blanks from a memory chip maker, then sorts according to their internal specs, and marks them with their own logo. OCZ tells us that the EB chips are made for them by several chip makers, and they preferred not to reveal the manufacturers.
OCZ 3500EB Specifications
| OCZ 3500EB Memory Specifications | |
| Number of DIMMs & Banks | 2 DS |
| DIMM Size Total Memory |
512MB 1 GB |
| Rated Timings | 2.5-2-3 at DDR433 |
| Rated Voltage | 2.8V |
We confirmed the SPD timings to be set at 2.5-2-3-8. OCZ tells us that this is to provide the best compatibility with the widest range of motherboards. We found the best performance on Intel 865/875 chipsets to be at 2.5-2-3-5 and on AMD nForce boards to be 2.5-2-3-9.
The 3500EB modules are rated at 2.8V, and are said to handle higher voltages without a problem. Most boards can supply 2.8V vDIMM, but some boards top out at 2.7V or lower, so please check your motherboard specs before purchasing. We found that the OCZ 3500EB performed fine at 2.5V at DDR400 and 2.65V at DDR433, but higher overclocks did require voltages of 2.8V or higher.
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Pumpkinierre - Sunday, April 11, 2004 - link
Still waiting for my OCZ IC7 link WesleyTrogdorJW - Thursday, April 8, 2004 - link
bldkc... Not really. Only people overclocking their CPUs to extreme highs are pushing memory at the 500+ MHz range. The fastest official speeds are still DDR400, and DDR2 will probably be necessary before we gain official support for DDR466 and/or DDR533. I'm just waiting for DDR666.... eeeevil! Oh, wait, they'll call it DDR667 to appease the Bible thumpers.On a tangent, I'm an active Christian, and I find this "fear" of 666 to be rather absurd. "The number of the beast shall be six hundred sixty-six." Yeah, and the beast is apparently some computer part... or it would be if we had a 666 MHz CPU/RAM/Bus/whatever. Okay, on with life....
bldkc - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
It wasn't long ago that we were asking the Processor Gods when they were going to catch up to the RAM Gods and use all that big bandwidth they were selling. Well here we are. Now we must pray that the Ram Gods will treat us kindly, and return the favor.Wesley Fink - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
Adul -I will include some Athlon 64 results in an upcoming A64 board review. I did check compatibility with A64, which was excellent even on VIA K8T800, which can be very picky about memory and timings. Also took a brief look at A64 performance, and found best performance timings on A64 nF3 were 2.5-2-3-9 as mentioned in the review.
RyanVM - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
And what if due to past transgressions, many (including myself) still don't trust anything OCZ puts their name on?Adul - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
Any chance to get some test results on a Athlon 64 wes?grunjee - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
Where the heck can I get some of this stuff??? Been looking and haven't been able to find any.Great review btw Wesley.
bigtoe33 - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
I have an unbuffered available on bleedinedge forum.http://www.bleedinedge.com/forum/showthread.php?t=...
this shows turbo enabled on an IC7.
Spacecomber - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
I was left wondering if you would see the same benefit from the enhanced bandwidth with Athlon Systems as you do with the Pentium 4 system that was used in the benchmarks.I've gathered that the rule of thumb is that Pentium 4s enjoy all the memory bandwidth that you can feed them, while Athlon XP systems are less bandwidth starved and do better with the lowest latencies you can run.
So, I'm wondering if this new OCZ memory will be of most benefit to people running Pentium 4 systems, especially overclocked 800MHz systems, but less (if any advantage) to Athlon users. I also wonder if there is any difference in benefits between an Athlon 64 and the regular Athlon with this memory, for that matter.
These are the kind of practical questions I'm still left with after reading the article. On the other hand, the article gets high praise for bringing this new memory to our attention.
Wesley Fink - Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - link
Pumkinierre -Our memory test bed is the Asus P4C800-E, and we have not tested EB on the Abit IC7. However, OCZ Tech Support tells us they achieve even better benchmark results with EB on the Abit IC7. I will try to provide a link to their test results on the IC7 later today.