Benchmarks:

     To test the Speed of the OCZ PC-3500, I first used the default BIOS and then tested the RAM at both the correct settings and overclocked.  With the BIOS limiting the OC on the DDR, I overclocked the whole system and tested stability overnight before testing.  For comparison I used 2x 1G of Crucial DDR-400.  Both memory configurations were set to Dual Channel.

First the Synthetic Benchmarks:

Using SiSoft Sandra, I clocked the default settings to create a baseline.

Overclocking:

     Here is the overclocked result.  In order to overclock the memory using this motherboard, I'll have to "unlock" the memory speed in the bios and overclock using the FSB setting. The OCZ  DDR easily handled a nice 5% increase at 235MHz.  The OCZ handles it with ease, in fact previous OCZ memory as been stable up to 250MHz.

     Using Futuremark's benchmarks, we can see the effects of the Enhanced Latency and and tight timings in the default vs. overclocked settings.  With so much room to go higher in a more advanced BIOS.

Game Benchmarks:

To test the Gamer eXtreme, it seems appropriate to bench the PC-3500 DDR in a couple of games as well.

     Using UMark to test Unreal Tournament 2004 in both assault and bombing run.  These tests used the default settings at 800x600.  The OC give me a 63 FPS and a 179 respectively.

     Using the Canal-3dnews time demo in Half Life 2, we achieved a solid 90.39 FPS with a variance of just 6.744.  The OC gave a more modest +10 FPS here.

Conclusion:

     Once again OCZ Technology pushes the envelope with their OCZ EL DDR PC-3500 / 433MHz / Gold Gamer eXtreme Edition.  Our test set was stable at 235MhZ (about DDR-470) the highest stable setting on our test MB.   The temperature of the modules never reached over 86 degrees at the default 2.8V although you could probably cook ribs on the 3.1V max settings.  Can't wait for AMD to support DDR2?  Get hooked up with some OCZ Gold eXtreme edition DDR.  You will have no problem giving the Intel guys a run for their money.