DDR2 memory has been on the market for only a few years and we have seen some very high clock speeds from this technology - much more than was originally planned. The reason for that is because DDR1 stuck around for longer than anticipated. In order to keep up, DDR2 had to be pushed to its absolute limits, which is what we are seeing in the market today. DDR3 will start to make its way into the systems of enthusiasts in the not-so-distant future and eventually overtake the market much like DDR2 has done. But, if we learned anything from the jump to DDR2, its that the process doesn't happen overnight. First, chipsets will need to be created and implemented in new motherboards to support DDR3. Also, as was the case with early DDR2 modules, latencies will more than likely be high, as will the price tag. For now, DDR2 is still the king and that is what we will focus on here today with OCZ's 2 GB PC2-6400 Reaper Enhanced Bandwidth Edition DDR2.



The Reaper EB kit arrived in OCZ's standard blister pack. Right away, you can see that the Reaper heatspreaders are very "different". More on that in a bit. The back of the package discusses the Reaper's heatpipe technology in further detail. Below is a list of specifications on this kit, borrowed from OCZ's website.



The Enhanced Bandwidth kit has slightly tighter timings than the original 6400 Reaper kit (4-4-4-15 vs. 4-3-3-15). Like most of OCZ's newer memory kits, this set is EPP (Enhanced Performance Profile) ready and uses EVP (Extended Voltage Protection), which is a feature that allows for a VDIMM of 2.2v without voiding the lifetime warranty.



OCZ has taken a new approach at lowering noise and improving cooling capacity. Borrowing a page from CPU and GPU cooling solutions, we now have heatpipe technology being used on memory modules. The principal is the same as other heatpipe coolers - heat is transferred from the base of the cooler (in this case, the memory modules) to the upper deck of aluminum fins via the copper heatpipes on either side of the module. Heatpipe technology has worked wonders for CPU coolers, but is it really functional and even necessary for memory modules? What are the pros and cons of such a system? Continue ahead as we aim to answer these and more...