When everyone thought that DDR2 memory is “dead” and that there will be no innovations in that area, OCZ surprised us with  new Low Voltage modules that provide respectable performances. These modules can be recognized by LV mark and found in Blade and Platinum series. We got two kits from Blade series that are certified at 1066MHz and 1200MHz. Most important feature of these modules is their performance levels at nominal (DDR2) voltage (1.8V) and even small overclock margin. Chips used on these modules can achieve maximum performances at 2-2.1V so adding more voltage will not result in performance gains.

 

Before we go to overclocking performances we will deal with basic details and cooling system of these modules. Modules came in 2x2GB kits with voltages, speeds and latencies marked on cooler stickers. Quality of coolers is high since those are made out of 2 aluminum peaces screwed together, which is much better solution compared to plastic clips. Coolers are painted in black with “silver” OCZ logo in the middle. Interesting fact is that modules get hot despite their low voltage setting, although these test were conducted on slightly higher temperatures than usual. Nevertheless, we decided to actively cool these modules so we can get maximum performances out of them. One silent 80mm fan was enough to cool these modules to just few degrees higher temperature that ambient.

We should emphasize that DDR2-1200 is unofficial standard, so you need to adjust FSB and memory multiplier for that specification. Results show performance levels but in this case, these results cannot be directly compared since benchmarks were conducted on different FSB, CPU and memory configurations.