OCZ Releases New Low-Voltage DDR3 Memory

With memory products getting faster and less power-hungry, hardware makers find themselves periodically raising the bar in both areas, and it seems OCZ has just done it in terms of energy efficiency, revealing the Platinum ELV modules.

While they are less popular than high-speed products, low voltage memory modules are generally more expensive than their regular counterparts, but they can bring real benefits in at least two ways.

For one, LV DDR3, obviously, reduces the power requirements and consumption on high-density memory subsystems.

Another asset is that, though of lower speeds, they can perform better overclocking feats.

Now, OCZ has taken LV memory one step further with the Platinum ELV, the Gold ULV and Reaper ULV.

The OCZ Gold ULV and Reaper ULV kits (ultra low-voltage) have nominal voltages of 1.5V and feature total capacities of 8GB (dual-channel) and 12GB or 24GB (triple-channel).

Also, these two can boast speeds of PC3-10666 (1333MHz) and PC3-12800 (1600MHz), while latencies are of CL8 8-8-24 or CL9 9-9-24.

When it come to the Platinum extreme low-voltage module, it has a capacity of 2GB, which means that the available triple-channel kits have 6GB total.

This kits consumes 1.35V and can have frequencies of 1,333 MHz or 1,600 MHz, while latencies are of CL8 8-8-24 or CL9 9-9-24, the same as above.

"We are pleased to announce a complete range of low-voltage memory offerings designed for the latest crop of energy efficient platforms,” said Eugene Chang, vice president of product management.

“In the past, lower voltage meant lower performance, but now with our extreme-low voltage optimized memory, consumers don't have to sacrifice high performance to also achieve energy savings," Chang added.

As a seign and reliability bonus, the Reaper ULV models have enhanced heatspreaders with heatpipes, for better cooling and, thus, stability. Unfortunately, pricing details were not mentioned.