Introduction:

OCZ PC2-8500 2GB Dual Channel Reaper HPC Memory

Well, we've been exercising, eating better than usual, finishing projects around the house, and going to sport events. The toughest part about being healthy is getting through that first month. It's a lot like quitting smoking I believe. You just don't turn in to a healthy machine over night or in a couple weeks.

Even on the tech bench, I've been doing system overhauls, formats, and extreme stress tests. A lot of emails have been moving back and forth handling and fixing any odd issues as best as possible. Everything seems to be in working order all on the tech front.

Despite my best efforts, the Reaper has returned. No, not the dark robed, scythe swinging maniacal Reaper. I mean, the OCZ PC2-8500 DDR2 2x2GB Reaper Dual Channel Memory kit. Months ago, I had the privilege of testing the 1x2GB kit with pretty great success. It's kind of what I'd call a "sleeper" kit. It looks innocent and simple, but carried some strong ICs underneath that did quite well up to about 1000MHz with 4-4-4-12 timings. Of course, you have to add a bit more voltage within spec to get it there.

OCZ PC2-8500 4GB Reaper HPC Memory Kit

The new kit comes to us on the toes of Vista which can theoretically allocate more memory than XP Pro. Unfortunately, that has been only in theory and is only partly true. Vista requires more memory space to be fully functional right at boot and then keeps track of additional memory from there. But, that doesn't mean it can make use of more memory, it just needs more to function. It's the 64 Bit XP and Vista operating systems that can make better use of over 3.5GB of memory.

While it may not be the fastest DDR2 memory around, it's got something on the other kits. Here we have 4GB of memory and it operates at a stable 1066 MHz. It's taken a little tweaking here and there to get DDR2 this far and stable. Well now we have some, so check it out.

Specifications:

* The Reaper HPC series uses heat pipe technology to rapidly remove heat from the main body of the memory modules and conduct the thermal load to the extended radiator fin array. The addition of the extended fin array nearly doubles the total surface area available for heat dissipation while the heat pipes warrant near isothermicity throughout the entire design. The result is a doubling in effective heat dissipation at equal delta t or, in real systems, a significantly lower operating temperature of the memory modules.

**OCZ EVP (Extended Voltage Protection) is a feature that allows performance enthusiasts to use a VDIMM of 2.15V without invalidating their OCZ Lifetime Warranty.

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