Review: GeIL Evo Veloce 2x8GB DDR3-1866 MHz CL10
Category : DDR3
Published by Christian Ney on 15.11.12
Following yesterday's ADATA review we will have a look at another 16GB memory kit today. The kit belongs to GeIL's new Evo Veloce series and consits of two 8GB modules running at DDR3-1866 MHz CL10-10-10-32 with 1.5v. Nothing really special on the paper but once we started to play around with this kit we have been surprised. In good or bad? You will find out in the following pages!
Article in English |
Artikel in Deutsch |
 Article
en français |
 Articolo in italiano |
Evo Veloce, where Veloce is the Italian word for “speed”, is how GeIL named their 4th generation top of the line DDR3 Hardcore Gaming Memory. Below you will find the specifiations of the kit:
| Manufacturer | GeIL |
| Series | Evo Veloce |
| Part Number | GEV316GB1866C10DC |
| Type | DDR3 |
| Capacity | 16 GB (2 x 8GB) |
| Frequency | 1'866 MHz |
| Timings | 10-10-10-32 |
| VDIMM | 1.5 Volt |
| Registred/Unbuffered | Unbuffered |
| ECC | No |
| Cooling | Passive Heatspreader |
| Waranty | Lifetime warranty |
| Package Type | Plastic Blister Boxed |
Taking a closer look at GeIL's memory line-up shows that the Evo Veloce fit in their mid-range. This is being underlined by some 10-10-10-32 timings, which is nothing special. Of course, doing so at 1.5V is more difficult than at 1.65V, but it’s hardly an achievement. Given that the majority of DDR3 memory ICs are able to provide a decent overclocking and voltage headrom for scaling.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Results |
| Page 2 - Closer Look | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Photo Gallery |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
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.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Results |
| Page 2 - Closer Look | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Photo Gallery |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Results |
| Page 2 - Closer Look | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Photo Gallery |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Testing Method & Test Setup
It's the first time we are dealing with Micron's D9PBC chips so we armed ourselves with an Ivy Bridge testing platform that should allow our memory to show every last bit of its overclocking potential.To make sure that our figures represent the sort of stability safe to use ever day, we are going to run each setting until we get a 150% pass of eight 750MB instances of HCI Memtest that is considered one of the toughest memory stress-tests around.
| Motherboard | ASUS Maximus V Gene (BIOS 1204) |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-3770K @ 4.0 GHz |
| Graphic card | ASUS GTX 580 |
| Memory | GeIL Evo Veloce GEV316GB1866C10DC |
| HDD | Intel SSD 330 120 GB |
| PSU | Seasonic Platinum 1000 Watts |
| OS | Windows 7, 64 bit SP1 |
Results
But immediately, we encountered a couple of issues. First, we found out that GeIL’s SPD sets the subtimings too tight, making high frequencies unreachable without manual adjustments. On the screenshot below we demonstrate which values we had to loosen when testing the overclocking capabilities of our kit.
Another thing, we’ve noticed is that unlike all recent Micron 2Gb D9 chips we tested previously, our Evo Veloce fells flat on their face using identical primary timings. Raising tRCD by one value above tCL and tRP has noticeably improved the situation.
As you can see from the results chart, past 1.5 Volt scaling comes to an end. More juice only increases the power consumption. Usually Micron ICs are able to digest higher voltages. It would be interesting to test a memory kit made by Crucial to see if the problem really is related to the IC itself, the SPD or the PCB. We reckon - with our past experiences - that limited voltage scaling is caused by an imperfect PCB design.
At the moment this kit looks very bad but in fact it isn't. Check out the results, the kit can achieve much higher frequency than the specs at only 1.35v. At 1.5v it is even stable at 1'020 MHz with the rated timings which is 87 MHz more than the frequency the kit has been specified for.
But in order to obtain the best of the kit you will have to raise timings a bit to 11-12-11-34 and set the voltage to 1.65v. In this case the kit will fly, 1'200 MHz was almost reached 400 % stable.
If you are scared to use 1.65v on a 1.5v rated memory kit then you can keep 1.5v and lower the timings to 9-10-9-28. In this scenario we were able to run the Evo Veloce at 980 MHz.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Results |
| Page 2 - Closer Look | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Photo Gallery |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Conclusion
Using geizhals as our price research tool, we find that offers for 2x8GB sets of 1866C10 Evo Veloce start at 90 Euros excluding shipping across the EU. Taking a look at similarly clocked kits from other manufacturers shows us that the G.Skill Ares are the cheapest for 67 Euros. Price goes up to 150 Euros with Corsair's Dominator Platinum. From 30 different memory kits the GeIL Evo Veloce are right in the middle price wise.Being an overclockaholic website, overclockability is one important feature. Sadly, this kit left us with mixed feelings. On one hand the kit can do way better than the specs which is very good. On the other hand it's not easy to work with and the scaling stops at 1.5v for most timings.
Pro:
Con:
Rating
The GeIL Evo Veloce GEV316GB1866C10DC kit receives the rating of 4 out of five stars.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Results |
| Page 2 - Closer Look | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Photo Gallery |
Discuss this article in the forums
Author: Christian Ney c.ney@ocaholic.ch