OCZ Releases SPD Reprogramming Utility

[HidEaL]

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=8348

SPD-Z lets OCZ memory owners reprogram the SPD chip

OCZ Technology this week opened up a public beta test of its SPD-Z utility. The SPD-Z utility allows users to reprogram the SPD chip on OCZ memory modules. The SPD chip on memory modules contains information of the module’s capabilities, such as speed and latencies.

Corsair and NVIDIA previously expanded the SPD specification with its Enhanced Performance Profiles, or EPP. The EPP specification allowed users to write their custom memory settings to the SPD chip of EPP compatible modules, with a proper EPP supporting motherboard. However, JEDEC did not ratify or endorse the EPP specification and support for the specification was limited to high end NVIDIA chipset based motherboards.

OCZ’s SPD-Z allows users to reprogram the SPD of any OCZ memory module, as long as the utility can identify the module as an OCZ part. OCZ will provide the files necessary to reprogram the SPD from its repository in the OCZ forums. OCZ plans to provide a variety of SPD files in the upcoming weeks, with new SPDs to enhance performance and/or compatibility.

The SPD-Z utility is GUI based and compatible with Windows only. The SPD-Z utility identifies OCZ memory modules by the part number and points the user to the appropriate SPD repository. OCZ recommends users not run the utility unless their system is 100% stable.

Unlike the EPP specification, the SPD-Z utility will work with any motherboard. Using the SPD-Z tool will not void the warranty of OCZ memory modules.

Cumps.