The Verdict
Well, was there really any doubt ? I don't think so. OCZ's DDR3 PC3-12800 Gold Low-Voltage Triple Channel memory is pretty darn fast in it's genre, thanks to the new triple channel memory controller of course.
It works 100% fine and dandy at advertised clock frequency and timings .. and still has a little more to give. We had no issue running the memory at over 1800 MHz just as well, all we did was change it's voltage towards 1.56 and increase latency a notch up. And I'm, confident that if you spend a little more time and play with latency and volatge, 2000 MHz is an option as well. So if there is any doubt about the bandwidth that triple channel memory brings to the table .. then it should be obliterated right here and now as it is fast .. extremely fast. It is however always really difficult to show you the real world performance effect of memory.
What OCZ brings to the table are high volume one and two gigabyte triple channel memory modules that have been tweaked to work swell and dandy with your Core i7 processor. Whether you decide to tweak it by changing memory dividers or the "FSB" really doesn't matter as it's very flexible. The trick is to find the best balance between the memory frequency and lowest timings. Interestingly enough, the advertised 8:8:8:24 pretty much hit that soft spot instantly. It's a very good balance between a high frequency and and tight timings. You will need to set these timings yourself in the bios as otherwise it'll jump to slightly slower JEDEC specified timings (CAS9) but that's fairly quickly done really.
Whether or not to make the call to go from 3 to 6 GB of memory is obviously something you need to decide for yourself, if you do .. a 64-bit operating system is mandatory as you do not want to waste memory by being limited to ~3 GB memory on a 32-bit environment. If you opt the 3GB kit .. heck that might just be a sweet spot for any 32-bit OS isn't it ? I say, go for a large amount of memory. I mean, I just hate it when that HDD start purring and swapping slowing down that beautiful Vista experience. This type of memory doesn't come cheap though, expect to pay 299 EUR for the 6GB kit and roughly 150 EUR for the 3GB kit. That boils down towards 50 EUR per Gigabyte of memory, roughly 50% more than decent specced DDR2 memory. Interestingly enough, the prices are the same in USD.
OCZ's DDR3 PC3-12800 Gold Low-Voltage Triple Channel memory however is stinking fast and offers you some decent tweak potential. This is OCZ at it's best. Last but not least I just have to mention that the kit comes with a life-time warranty. At this price-level and with such timings this memory is really interesting to purchase. Sexy, that's the only word I need to describe this kit and it once again was a pleasure to see OCZ living up to it's reputation.
See, you buy the product, but end up with something that can run even faster, good stuff.
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