Introduction

If you ask an overclocker "Best memory chips ever?" you will most probably get the reply "Winbond BH5".

These chips from Winbond were THE overclocker memory around 2002/2003. They are known for running very tight timings and high clock speeds, if the voltage is right. Winbond BH5 really loves voltage, the fun starts at around 3.1V with extreme overclockers giving them up to 3.8V.

Unfortunately Winbond stopped production some time in 2003 and supply of these chips was running dry pretty fast.

Now Winbond is back with their BH5 UTT. Those chips are produced and then directly sold to the module maker without any testing/binning. Obviously this results in a much lower price.

Manufacturers like OCZ buy tons of these chips and test them in their own facilities. Based on which speed the chips make, they end up on different memory products.

From the Manufacturer OCZ Technology:

• 433MHz DDR
• CL 2-2-2-5 (CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS)
• Also available in a 512MB module
• Unbuffered
• Gold Layered Copper Heatspreader
• Lifetime Warranty
• 2.8 Volts
• 184 Pin DIMM
• Ultra Low Noise Technology - uses various printed circuit board (PCB) techniques to reduce the amount of electrical noise that is present in all high-speed ICs. This results in faster and more stable memory.
• EVP - OCZ's unique Extended Voltage Protection feature that allows performance enthusiasts to use a VDIMM of 3.1V ± 5% without invalidating their OCZ Lifetime Warranty.

OCZ recommends a default voltage of 2.8V. This is 0.2V higher than the DDR standard of 2.6V. We had no problems running the memory at DDR400 2.6V with the specced timings. This, however, is something you may want to consider if you have a motherboard which offers no or very little memory overvoltage options.

GX means "Gamer eXtreme". With this line of memory products, OCZ tries to lower the timings as much as possible to give the best performing results.

Packaging

Each module has a sticker on it, which gives the rated speed and the stock timings. Timings of 2-2-2-5 are pretty much the best you can get. Most motherboards do not have options going lower than these timings, anyway.



Given the name, it is not hard to guess that OCZ uses gold-colored heatspreaders for the "Gold" series.
During operation the memory gets quite warm - hot if you give it more juice. So the heatspreaders help keeping it cool.