Look and Feel

Let's have a closer look at the modules now:



As you can see, the look and feel of these modules is specific to say the least. The modules are equipped with a big and heavy heat spreader/heatsink ensemble which clearly means business. The heat spreaders have a shiny silver aluminum finish, but don't be fooled: the primary heat dissipation goes through copper heat spreaders which are hidden by the finish. At the top, the modules are equipped with a double row of fins which add to the dissipation area and thus improve the cooling capacity. The most prominent feature of course is the addition of a water-cooling channel, which is visible through the double barbs which flank the heat spreader fins. But more on the water-cooling design in the next paragraphs...

This is OCZ's take on their new high end kit:

As the World’s fastest DDR2, the PC2-9200, in combination with the innovative FlexXLC technology, is considerably the most ground-breaking and unique memory product existing today.
These new modules feature the new OCZ FlexXLC (Xtreme Liquid Convention) heatsink that delivers superior heat dissipation via a hybrid copper and aluminum design alterable between passive air or water cooling.

Among these thermal management advantages, the PC2-9200 FlexXLC also implements a new 8-layer PCB. This facilitates less “crosstalk,” consequently enhancing the module’s total signal integrity.

The PC2-9200 FlexXLC modules are optimized for the latest cutting edge platforms and will be available in 2GB (2x1024MB) dual channel kits. As part of OCZ’s line-up of premium memory, the PC2-9200 series is backed by a Lifetime Warranty and industry-leading technical support. Harnessing the achievement of leading-edge speed, high performance heat dissipation, and enhanced signal integrity, the unparalleled design of the OCZ PC2-9200 FlexXLC is a complete, all-encompassing solution certain to set a new benchmark in enthusiast memory.

Those memory manufacturers surely know how to touch the right strings. Actually, at the time of writing this review, the PC9200 is not the world fastest kit any more, at least when we're talking stock, "out-of-the-box" speeds. As we mentioned: Corsair already introduced the first PC2-10000 kit, and Kingston also released some PC9200 and PC9600 modules. Anyway, we'll know soon enough if OCZ has something to worry about...
Below you can find some more views on the memory and its heat spreader design.


left to right : front, back of the modules, heatspreader fins, sticker close-up, click to open


Water-cooling the high end

With the recent introduction of the Dominator series by Corsair, and their efficient new dual path heatsink design, OCZ could not stay behind on the innovation front. And they have clearly decided to take a different approach to memory cooling: the modules sport an industry's first water cooling design, directly integrated in the modules. There have been some efforts by the dedicated water-cooling manufacturers to produce memory cooling blocks to apply to the heat spreaders of existing modules, but these are often a hassle to apply to the different heat spreader designs, and are often quite expensive to purchase. The absolute advantage of designing an integrated water-cooling block from the ground up is obviously the fact that heat does not have to travel through different heat spreader media to reach the water channel, so this approach should prove a lot more efficient.

In case you hadn't noticed, OCZ gave the heat spreaders a new suffix as well : Flex XLC. This is what it stands for:

The new OCZ FlexXLC (Xtreme Liquid Convention) heatsink delivers superior heat dissipation via the integrated hybrid copper and aluminum liquid injection system. The FlexXLC module was engineered with this unique “flexible” design to give enthusiasts the unparalleled option to run the modules passively or water cooled. The concurrent use of both technologies (water-cooling) promotes maximum heat dissipation and pushes thermal management of memory modules one step further to keep up with the ever-increasing frequency demands. FlexXLC modules seamlessly co-migrate with any system upgrade to liquid cooling.

Here's a diagram of the heatsink design and the integrated water-cooling block:


heatsink design diagram, image courtesy of OCZ Technology

As you can see, the heat is transported from the IC's through the copper/aluminum enclosure towards the copper tubing for the water that flows at the top of the module. The tubing from your water-cooled system is attached to the memory heatsink by attaching it to the two barbs that are integrated in the heatsink. The barbs and the internal tubing of the heatsink have an internal diameter of 1/4". This is a bit of a drawback, as 1/4" is not an everyday size for water cooled systems: most systems use 3/8" or even 1/2" tubing. Actually, 1/4" tubing is only used by a few systems builders such as Koolance which offer pre-built water-cooled systems, and even then 1/4" is only used at the low end of the performance scale. The 3/8" tubing that I'm used to, will not fit to the barbs of the heatsinks, unless you use some clamps to tighten the tubing to the barbs. These clamps, unfortunately, are rather hard to find as well, at least in my neighborhood. I'd like to plea with OCZ to include at least two of these clamps with the memory package, as these are not costly at all, just a pain to find. You could try to find some in your local hobby-shop, or else the main water-cooling sites can provide you with some. I couldn't find any that were small enough to fit, so I had to pass on water-cooling this kit, at least for the time being. What a shame...

As always, OCZ equips their memory with EVP, or "Extended Voltage Protection". Because these modules are equipped with power-hungry Micron D9 chips, the EVP is high: in this case the voltage protection goes up to 2.4V, +-5%. This means actual voltages of up to 2.52V can be applied without voiding warranty. Nice going!

In addition to the water-cooled design, OCZ has also improved the PCB to be able to extract more heat from the IC's. They added another two layers to their 6 layer design specifically for thermal improvements:

The PC2-9200 series is engineered with an 8-layer PCB with thermally conductive power and ground planes to guide heat away from the ICs and maintain the necessary signal integrity for high-end modules.

For a more complete description of the heat exchange principles, please visit our article on the Corsair Dominator.

More than time now to see what they're really made of ->