First OCZ Cryo-Z Units to Appear Any Day Now
by Kris Boughton on March 24, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Kris's Corner
We’ve just received official word from OCZ Technology that the first batch of Cryo-Z single-stage phase change coolers will be made available for public purchase within the next two weeks. The initial offering will consist of just 30 or so finished units, each of which have been hand-tested, tuned, and inspected by OCZ engineers. After that OCZ expects around ten additional units to be available for sale on a monthly basis until production ramps to full capacity.
OCZ has also informed us that would-be owners will only be able to complete their purchases at this time direct from OCZ’s official website, but that plans are in place to begin distribution to other major online retailers as soon as volume shipments commence in a few weeks. The delay in retail availability has certainly been frustrating for most users since OCZ started talking about this product a couple of years ago.
OCZ commented to us that their commitment to quality on this product comes first. Early production delays of key components along with assembly issues forced the company to re-evaluate the product line. This in turn created a change in market objectives that resulted in some rather significant design changes over the past year. Without a doubt, OCZ’s entry into the phase change market has been anything but smooth.
Pricing will be set at $299 USD, an absolute bargain considering that the cost of a complete, custom-built watercooling solution can often run much higher. These single-stage units are targeted at the enthusiast looking to build their own entry-level sub-zero cooled system. We can’t help but feel these units will be arriving at the right time now as the latest 45nm products from Intel finally start arriving early next month. The OCZ Cryo-Z should allow for some really impressive overclocks and great application results when paired with either an inexpensive (Editor - not at this time) E8400, the slightly better E8500 dual core or the upcoming Q9450 quad core.
Each unit will include everything the needed to drop CPU temperatures well below zero degrees Celsius. We’ve just received one for some extreme motherboard testing and will be reporting soon on just how well the Cyro-Z handles the newest 45nm dual and quad-core CPUs on our X48/790i platforms.
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Polynikes - Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - link
I remember a while back when these were in the making but nobody knew when they'd come out; I'm glad to see they have. I just hope the demand is good so they continue making them in the future. I'm not really sure my watercooling setup needs a replacement just yet.nubie - Monday, March 24, 2008 - link
I remember when these things were reviewed in Popular Science 10 years ago, I wanted a mainstream unit, and it looks like we will have 6Ghz enthusiast machines sooner than I ever thought.gplracer - Monday, March 24, 2008 - link
I remember when these things were first announced 1-3 years ago. It was the buzz for a while but then no unit showed up on the market. It is nice to see these finally make it to the market. I did not think it would ever happen.