Closer Look
The Evo Veloce kit arrives safely boxed in a
transparent plastic blister which is put in a small cardboard box that features a window for a better presentation.
Inside, we find a pair of Evo modules,
which feature an overhauled design. The heatspreaders are now red to indicate that we’re dealing with very
fast memory. Unlike many other makers, GeIL doesn't use custom coloured PCBs,
so on the standard green, Evo's red heatspreaders look kind of attractive. I
don't think that a black PCB nor a red one would have make them more "cute".
Removing the heatspreaders is quite easy.
Once you've heated modules up, for example with a hairdryer, they almost fall
off.
Today we expected to see either Hynix or Samsung ICs on these 8GB modules. But
what we've come across was quite a surprise, since GeIL went for Micron chips instead. Even if the
chips are relabeled there are a few hints that help to find the maker. Timings
fomula, rated voltage, dot on the IC, IC's size and the number at the top left
of the IC tell us that they come from Micron. Micron doesn't have that a lot
of different
4Gb chips so my guess goes for the D9PBC.
Each module is flashed with an SPD that provides basic
information on the manufacturer, capacity and the production week. The serial
number is not so important so we don't really care if not present but it's a
pity that the part number is not. Instead of a part number you find "CL10-10-10
D3-1866".
SPD is
also responsible for setting the memory up out of the box, for which it features
three JEDEC profiles and a single XMP. The XMP is well recognized by both BIOS
and CPU-Z.
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