What is the deal with OCZ memory?

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03-06-2003, 10:09 PM
Hypo_Luxa

What is the deal with OCZ memory?

I got into an argument with a local parts retailer about this today. He claims nothing but good experience with OCZ sticks, including overclocking. In fact, it's all he sells besides generic sticks. I along with alot of other people (as seen in reviews and customer feedback) have had horrible experiences with it. I've had one "good" stick of OCZ and that was a PC150 CAS2 a few years back that would do 160+ at C2. Their DDR has in my opinion been utter sh** for the most part. I had two "PC-3000" sticks in a row (thought the first was just a fluke) that wouldn't boot @333 and exhibited problems even at PC2100 speeds unless I upped the voltage. A good friend bought some PC-3500 that will only do 333mhz @ CAS 3. I guess I wonder 1.) Why are they still so prevelant in the market with such a poor product. and 2.) Are they just sticking gold heatspreaders on random sticks of pc2100 and hoping they will perform as advertised? Has anyone here had positive experience with OCZ RAM?:confused:
03-06-2003, 10:49 PM
FaTs

Re: What is the deal with OCZ memory?

Quote:

Originally posted by Hypo_Luxa
I got into an argument with a local parts retailer about this today. He claims nothing but good experience with OCZ sticks, including overclocking. In fact, it's all he sells besides generic sticks. I along with alot of other people (as seen in reviews and customer feedback) have had horrible experiences with it. I've had one "good" stick of OCZ and that was a PC150 CAS2 a few years back that would do 160+ at C2. Their DDR has in my opinion been utter sh** for the most part. I had two "PC-3000" sticks in a row (thought the first was just a fluke) that wouldn't boot @333 and exhibited problems even at PC2100 speeds unless I upped the voltage. A good friend bought some PC-3500 that will only do 333mhz @ CAS 3. I guess I wonder 1.) Why are they still so prevelant in the market with such a poor product. and 2.) Are they just sticking gold heatspreaders on random sticks of pc2100 and hoping they will perform as advertised? Has anyone here had positive experience with OCZ RAM?:confused:

Nope, i bought 2 sticks of PC-150 when it first came out and it was a total POS. Wouldn't do any better than CL3
03-06-2003, 11:02 PM
Royal Oaks

Their PC3700 EL sticks are the fastest DDR RAM modules out today. I have no clue about past experiences, but no reviewer can even test this RAM yet. I think they have cleaned their act up a bit, but I guess it's easy for me to say, I didn't get screwed over by them. :)
03-06-2003, 11:20 PM
FaTs

Quote:

Originally posted by Royal Oaks
Their PC3700 EL sticks are the fastest DDR RAM modules out today. I have no clue about past experiences, but no reviewer can even test this RAM yet. I think they have cleaned their act up a bit, but I guess it's easy for me to say, I didn't get screwed over by them. :)

GEIL make 3700 aswell, but it needs 3v to do it.
03-06-2003, 11:36 PM
Hypo_Luxa

I have heard of people getting decent results with OCZ, but rarely. I've heard way too many horror stories. Every brand has its fans and detractors, but I really think OCZ is in a class by itself on this one. The fact that they claim such high specifications for their ram and then most of it falls well short of that is very suspect in my view. With most memory, you get at least what the memory is rated for. (I said most) Anything above that is gravy. It almost seems like false advertising.
03-07-2003, 01:30 AM
talldude

OCZ = Officially Crappy Zhiat. ;)

I wouldn't touch anything made by OCZ with a 10 foot pole. They're a shady company with crappy products (don't even make spec).

Kingston Hyper-X pc3000 is the way to go with Ram, if you're looking for 200mhz fsb. Their sticks do 200mhz on aggressive timings routinely.
03-07-2003, 01:38 AM
Pyro

Quote:

Originally posted by talldude
OCZ = Officially Crappy Zhiat. ;)

I wouldn't touch anything made by OCZ with a 10 foot pole. They're a shady company with crappy products (don't even make spec).

I agree 110%.
03-07-2003, 01:47 AM
lightbulb8817

Quote:

Originally posted by talldude
OCZ = Officially Crappy Zhiat. ;)

I wouldn't touch anything made by OCZ with a 10 foot pole. They're a shady company with crappy products (don't even make spec).

Kingston Hyper-X pc3000 is the way to go with Ram, if you're looking for 200mhz fsb. Their sticks do 200mhz on aggressive timings routinely.

Ditto!

OCZ actually hacked us (www.NexusHardware.com) when we included information about OCZ making us give them good reviews....
They put Corsair banners all over the site.
When we did receive something from then to review, it was never sealed and has finger prints all over them... which means that they tested the ram to make sure it'll run good for us to review.

STAY AWAY FROM OCZ.
03-07-2003, 12:27 PM
Philip

i don't know about all of thier products being crappy. i used a dominator 2 heatsink on this rig till the bios failed, i had my 2100+ at 1.89 @41C with crappy air flow and only 3 wussy fans. thats a $15 heatsink. i think it performed fairly well given the conditions. my room temp is also hovering around 80F easy.

edit: i hope my bios chip from excaliber gets here fast
03-07-2003, 02:08 PM
Dave2420

Maybe I just got lucky, but I have a stick of OCZ Pc 2100 cas2.5 that does 185mhz.
03-07-2003, 03:26 PM
Motoman

Well, I only once bought OCZ RAM - bought 3 sticks of PC2400 256Mb. Haven't had any problems...
03-07-2003, 08:15 PM
Hypo_Luxa

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Philip
[B]i don't know about all of thier products being crappy. i used a dominator 2 heatsink on this rig till the bios failed, i had my 2100+ at 1.89 @41C with crappy air flow and only 3 wussy fans. thats a $15 heatsink. i think it performed fairly well given the conditions. my room temp is also hovering around 80F easy

Yeah, that's true, I love those Dominator II's. The local shop here sells them for $9. They are low profile, do a decent job of cooling (as long as no OC) and are very quiet. I use them on most of my builds for other people. Hard to find a decent quiet HSF these days.
I also have a Goliath w/80mm on one of my comps and it keeps my 1600+ paly (1.75ghz/166fsb) @ 40-41C idle. Not too bad.
03-08-2003, 03:50 AM
tYteaZzAzN

I had hoped to get some kick@$$ ram by purchasing some OCZ EL pc3500 sticks, 2x256mb sticks to be exact, but instead i got two pieces of useless silcon. First off, these stupid mothers aren't even able to hit 217 at OPTIMAL timings (7-3-3-2.5-2T). Depite the fact that i'm running dual channel, with the luck other have been getting, running their sticks at a max of 494mhz, not being able to hit 217mhz at weaksauce timings is unacceptable. I'm running them at 200fsb at 5-3-3-2 timing, but even then 2.77vdimm is required for complete stability.

So i give OCZ a line, and their support completely pisses me off. Even after telling them about my extensive testing with the RAM in different systems, as well as different speeds, one channeled, and running it async, they keep stalling by telling me to try something different. All i asked for was an RMA number too...how ghetto can it get?
03-08-2003, 05:59 AM
coolqf

I bought a 512MB ocz memory from them cas2/cl2. DDR333. I have to say, I very much liked the system that I built with it. I'm not an overclocker, so I can't say much from that point, but stability, system extremely stable!!
03-09-2003, 12:14 AM
deeznuts

Quote:

Originally posted by tYteaZzAzN
I had hoped to get some kick@$$ ram by purchasing some OCZ EL pc3500 sticks, 2x256mb sticks to be exact, but instead i got two pieces of useless silcon. First off, these stupid mothers aren't even able to hit 217 at OPTIMAL timings (7-3-3-2.5-2T). Depite the fact that i'm running dual channel, with the luck other have been getting, running their sticks at a max of 494mhz, not being able to hit 217mhz at weaksauce timings is unacceptable. I'm running them at 200fsb at 5-3-3-2 timing, but even then 2.77vdimm is required for complete stability.

So i give OCZ a line, and their support completely pisses me off. Even after telling them about my extensive testing with the RAM in different systems, as well as different speeds, one channeled, and running it async, they keep stalling by telling me to try something different. All i asked for was an RMA number too...how ghetto can it get?

ok, i don't like OCZ personally, but i think i can help you out. go to www.xtremesystems.org into their forums. search for a guy named OCZ Tech. i think his real name is Ryan. i haven't personally dealt with him, but several people have ranted in the forums, and he took care of them. he posts in the Extreme OC'ing forum a lot before. ask him to hook you up, some reputable forum members have said he is helpful.
03-09-2003, 11:10 PM
lightbulb8817

Quote:

Originally posted by deeznuts

ok, i don't like OCZ personally, but i think i can help you out. go to www.xtremesystems.org into their forums. search for a guy named OCZ Tech. i think his real name is Ryan. i haven't personally dealt with him, but several people have ranted in the forums, and he took care of them. he posts in the Extreme OC'ing forum a lot before. ask him to hook you up, some reputable forum members have said he is helpful.

Yup, Ryan is his name ;)
03-10-2003, 12:59 AM
dudewth

OCZ is crap period. When there was that post that exposed they were using pics from someone elses factory I stopped trusting them entirely. Oh and someone makes PC4000 RAM, so PC3700 is not the fastest.
03-11-2003, 01:11 AM
tYteaZzAzN

Quote:

Originally posted by deeznuts

ok, i don't like OCZ personally, but i think i can help you out. go to www.xtremesystems.org into their forums. search for a guy named OCZ Tech. i think his real name is Ryan. i haven't personally dealt with him, but several people have ranted in the forums, and he took care of them. he posts in the Extreme OC'ing forum a lot before. ask him to hook you up, some reputable forum members have said he is helpful.

whoa sweet, i'll go talk to him, thanks! I love company reps in forums cause they're just like the consumers, but they're willing to help out :D