We’ve been following the DDR industry with quite an interest ever since memory makers announced low-latency modules that were equipped with Samsung’s TCCD chips. Yes, those were exciting times for all enthusiasts. However, certain companies kept telling us that DDR is probably not going to move forward, due to the clock speed hindrance of the actual chips. They told us not to expect anything major from DDR. We were also told that the life span of DDR would be at least two years if not more, due to the immaturity and on-going development of DDR2. Some companies also mentioned that they were firmly committed and were going to continue to develop DDR in hopes of breaking new grounds. In fact, many memory makers admitted to having a few samples of DDR memory with speeds upwards of 650MHz. Although they admitted to having such memory in their labs, companies said it would be unwise for them to bring something to market that they can only produce 10 kits from. According to memory makers, it wouldn’t be fair to create hype in the market with limited availability and then sell out before the market demand is met. That wouldn’t be fair to consumers, now would it? Of course not! While all memory makers said DDR with speeds as high as 600MHz and more wouldn’t be practical, we have OCZ Technology creating the buzz in the industry (and at CeBIT this year) with their DDR modules that are running at unbelievable 600MHz speeds, but they might not yield unbelievable performance numbers, after all.

OCZ Technology rates their latest 600MHz (or PC4800) memory to run at 2.5-4-4-10 memory timings with operating requirements of 2T command rate (1T might be possible on selected boards). The modules are also rated to operate at 2.85v, the maximum voltage supported on many enthusiast boards. At first glance the latencies don’t look that optimistic. If PC4800 (DDR600) or PC4400 (DDR550) is set to loose latencies that aren’t compensated by the system bus (highly overclocked), the modules actually yield in poorer performance than their PC3200 or DDR400 counterparts. It’s a known fact that unless you are thinking about seriously overclocking your system, only then is PC4400 or higher speeds are the ideal choice, as it allows relaxed timings and higher potential for systems to reach their ultimate performance peak. Now imagine if you have PC4800 in your system, it would be a must to overclock the system to seriously high speeds in order to recover from high latencies. One can always run at lower speed and tighten the timings, but this is not the point of DDR600. The 2.85v seems to be a fine voltage, as many motherboards will simply not accept anything higher than what’s suggested above. Hopefully, this voltage will not cause serious overclocking issues and will allow users to run the memory at lower voltage at speeds under 600MHz. Consider this a mini preview of the modules and our initial thoughts. We are in the process of working with OCZ Technology to obtain the modules and put them through rigorous tests to determine the conclusion. Our thoughts are there just to provoke some questions regarding the modules, but in no regards are they final words on the memory.

Now, the thing to question is – how far are other major memory makers in bringing their 600MHz parts to market to compete against OCZ Technology’s modules? Are others ever going to come out with something that operates at such extreme speeds? GSkill and AData always seem to provide some quick competition for OCZ, but we doubt they will be the choice for enthusiasts, as their modules support no heatspreaders. It is a possibility that other tier one companies will soon move to PC4800, since OCZ can’t be the only one with access to chips that perform higher than 550MHz? It could be that OCZ may have exclusive access to such chips, but we doubt that’s the case. However, we do have a theory. It is possible that OCZ (and the two others) may just be picking the best of the best chips for 600MHz speeds and using the rest for 550MHz or chips that perform lower than that. Hopefully, they are not just sending the chips back, as it could drive costs up to unreachable heights. How is it possible that OCZ can bring something while most other manufacturers aren’t even peeping about anything that comes close to 600MHz?

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