OCZ Blade Series Triple Channel 3x2GB CL7.0-DDR3-2000Mhz
Category : DDR3
Published by Marc Voser on 14.06.09
With the Blade Triple Channel Kit CL7.0 OCZ these days shows the fastest memory kit optimizied for Core i7 platforms available. The Blade Triple Channel Kit is clocked at 2'000 MHz, needs 1.65 Volts to operate correctly and supports sharp 7-8-7-20 T1 timings. Furthermore it consists of three 2 GByte modules which are being cooled via a high quality heatspreader. The height of the memory is 45 mm and you therefore won't encounter incompatibilities with CPU coolers.
On the following pages we will show the strenghts and weaknesses of these modules.
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Technical details
| Manufacturer | OCZ |
| Chips Manufacturer | Elpida |
| Type | DDR3 |
| Capacity | 6 GByte (3 x 2 GByte) |
| Clock | DDR3-2000 MHz |
| Timings | 7-8-7-20-T1 |
| VDIMM | 1.65V |
| PCB | 6-Layer PCB |
| Registred/Unbuffered | Unbuffered |
| ECC | No |
| Cooling | Black Heatspreader |
| Warranty | Lebenslang Lifetime |
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Package
It is a pity that such high-end memory comes in the same box, which was originally designed for dual-channel memory, as the three times cheaper OCZ Reaper series comes with. For such a high price it would have been adequate that the memory is delivered in a high-quality package.
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Heatspreader
The memory modules are equipped with extruded heatspreaders made of aluminium which are fitted perfectly parallel on the memory chips. Such a perfect manufacturing process is very rare with memory modules. Furthermore you'll find eight chips on each side.
As we tried to remove the heatspreader we had to recognize that they were fitted so tight that ripping a chip apart would have been highly probable.
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Test setup/Test results
| Mainboard | Asus Rampage II Extreme Intel X58 Chipset |
| CPU | Intel Core i7 Extreme 975, 3.3 GHz |
| Graphics card | Nvidia GTX280 |
| Memory | OCZ Blade 15000 3 x 2 GB, 7-8-7-20, 1.65V |
| Hard disk | Samsung F1 500 GB F1 |
| PSU | Corsair 1000 Watt |
| Operating System | XP 32 bit |
For our performance tests we use Everest Ultimate and SISoft Sandra as synthetic benchmarks. As a practical benchmark and stability test we chose SuperPi 32M.
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Overclocking
Referring to overclocking we only publish "Prime and SuperPI-stable" values. Therefore we reached a maximum of 2131.8 MHz with 7-8-7-20-T1 timings and a VDIMM of 1.868 Volt. According to the graphics displayed below you can see that if we provied 1.9 Volts to these modules the effect would have been contraproductive.
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Conclusion
With the Blade 16000 CL7.0 Triple Channel Kit OCZ shows a high-end product which despite the already very impressive specifications still has potential.
With only little changes in the settings we were able to reach a clock of 2004.6 MHz at 1.603 Volts and 7-8-7-20-T1 timings without any stability issues.
With this memory it is possible to push every mainboard or CPU to its limits.
Performance, stability as well as overclocking potential won't leave you with any wishes. The kit just everywhere delivers astonishing performance. With the Blad 16000 CL7.0 Triple Channel Kit OCZ has a product in its portfolio which is specially built for hardware enthusiasts or overclockers. It is remarkable how easy the memory accepted all the different settings which were tried during the test. Furthermore we couldn't encounter any incompatiblities on several mainboards.
This memory is really screaming: Play With Me!
The OCZ Blade Triple Channel Kit with 3 x 2 GByte capacity can be bought at Brack Electronics to a price of CHF 479.- (EUR 320.-)
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Author: m.voser@ocaholic.ch
Redacted by: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch