OCZ Reaper HPC PC2-8500
Founded in 2000, OCZ is a very familiar name when it comes to enthusiast memory. Today, they have dozens of memory products available including a number of PC2-8500 kits. We were originally hoping to get one of OCZ’s SLI ready kits for testing, but due to a temporary supply shortage, OCZ sent us their enthusiast ‘Reaper HPC PC2-8500’ kit instead. This kit employs OCZ’s very popular ‘Heat Pipe Conduit’ cooling system, which I’ll get into more later.
- Part Number: OCZ2RPR10662GK
- Capacity: 2GB kit (1GBx2)
- Type: DDR2 240-pin DIMM, Unbuffered, NON-ECC
- Rated Frequency: DDR2 PC2-8500 (1066MHz)
- Rated Timings: 5-5-5-15
- Rated vDIMM: 2.1V
- Warranty: Lifetime
- Approximate Retail Price: $135USD
The OCZ2RPR10662GK kit comes packaged in a simple blister pack. Inside you’ll find some basic installation instructions. The specifications are listed on the modules themselves. At the rear, you’ll find information on OCZ’s HPC cooling system.
The Reaper HPC series modules look great. I love the black PCB. The large heatpipe based cooling system makes the modules very tall. Buyers will have to ensure that their CPU heatsink will not prohibit the use of these modules.
The Corsair Dominator kit we looked at earlier is about 50% taller than a standard DIMM. When you look at it side by side with the OCZ Reaper kit, you can see just how tall these are–about twice the height of standard modules. Thankfully, I didn’t run into any issues on our AMD or Intel test systems.
The copper heatpipe fits into a shaped groove for maximum contact. I was pleased to see this. The HPC system is definitely functionally designed–it is not just for looks. Heatspreader contact with the ICs is excellent also. The thermal pads used by OCZ are very thin to ensure maximum thermal transfer.
Image courtesy of OCZ
The HPC system works very much like a modern CPU heatsink. The heatpipe allows heat to be pumped away from the ICs towards a fin bank where it can be dissipated.
I had no issues getting the modules to boot correctly. I simply entered the BIOS, set the correct frequency and vDIMM, and I was off to the races.
Overclocking and Frequency Scaling
I put the Reaper HPC PC2-8500 kit through its paces on our Intel 775 test rig outlined in the ‘Testing Methodology’ section.
WARNING: Increasing memory voltage beyond manufacturer specifications can be harmful to the modules and other system components. Although we subject modules to high levels of vDIMM for testing purposes, many of these results are not suitable for 24/7 use. Always consult with your memory manufacturer to see what a maximum ‘safe’ voltage is for 24/7 use. Increase memory voltage at your own risk!
The OCZ2RPR10662GK kit had no issues breaking the magical 1200MHz mark, and topped out at 1220MHz with only a small increase in vDIMM. Very good!
The Reaper kit did very well at tighter 4-4-4 timings also, managing an impressive 990MHz. Voltage increases did not help much.
At tighter 3-3-3 timings, the Reaper kit did respond to some extra vDIMM, and topped out at 725MHz.
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