GeIL Evo Veloce Review: 2x8GB at DDR3-2400 C11-12-12 1.65 V
by Ian Cutress on October 24, 2012 5:50 PM EST- Posted in
- Memory
- Ivy Bridge
- DDR3
- GeIL
When purchasing memory, the use of that memory in the system should be the main deciding factor in what should be purchased. My father, for example, mainly surfs the web, emails, and sometimes edits a few pictures. On his system (running Win7 x64), 4 GB would be more than enough. My brother on the other hand likes to play games at 1080p, while having the audio from his favorite paintball livestream on in the background. In this situation, anything from 8 GB to 16 GB would be a good ballpark (I gave him 16 GB, just to be on the safe side).
In my situation, I mostly use my main PC to write reviews, edit images, sometimes edit video on a simple scale, but I also tend to have a hundred internet tabs open and then play a game on top. The most I have ever seen my memory usage hit is 7.7 GB while playing F1 2011 on top of everything else I had open. For me, 16 GB is plenty. Especially when I want it in a mini ITX system that only has two DIMM slots – then 8GB modules are the bare minimum.
But the market is always evolving. With larger memory kits we can have RAMDisks and RAMCaches to help speed up daily use. Having access to an 8 GB or 16 GB RAMcache immediately boosts responsiveness in terms of temporary files (compression, video editing), so having access to that extra memory could prove to be vital for your usage scenario.
Moving from a 4x4 GB to a 2x8 GB setup leaves room for expansion but comes at a cost. Some of that cost could be in performance, and some is in terms of price – as we see, a 4x4 GB 2400 C10 kit is slightly cheaper than a 2x8 GB 2400 C11 kit. In terms of the GeIL Evo Veloce 2400 C11 kit we have tested today, the main problem with the kit is actually the competition.
As mentioned previously, the $145 and $155 2x8 GB kits from G.Skill really shoot across the bow of the GeIL ship Evo Veloce in the same capacities:
$145: G.Skill TridentX 2x8 GB DDR3-2133 9-11-11 (8.43ns / 11.72ns)
$150: Crucial Ballistix 2x8 GB DDR3-1866 9-9-9 (9.65ns / 13.40ns)
$150: GeIL Evo Veloce 2x8 GB DDR3-2400 11-12-12 (9.17ns / 12.08ns)
$150: Kingston HyperX 2x8 GB DDR3-1866 9-10-9 (9.65ns / 13.40ns)
$155: G.Skill TridentX 2x8 GB DDR3-2400 10-11-11 (8.33ns / 11.25 ns)
Both the former and the latter should have overall better performance. In our tests, the mix of having 2400 with C11 means that the performance of the GeIL kit can vary between 1866 C9 and 2133 C9. Moving to 2400 C10 with the slightly more expensive $155 kit can alleviate all the 1866 C9 oriented results.
With all that being said, if you want something that looks like the GeIL Evo Veloce in ‘frost white’, GeIL will sell you a 2x8 GB 2400 C9 kit under the GEW316GB2400C9DC SKU.
Availability of GeIL kits seems to be quite sparse, especially with limited color editions such as these. The nearest to this kit is the 32 GB version, GEW332GB2400C11AQC, which currently e-tails for $300.
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mmstick - Saturday, October 27, 2012 - link
Actually, yes you can tell the difference depending on the applications you run. In fact, the distributed OpenCL GPU computing projects I use over at BOINC, the biological research, requires extreme frequencies. The higher the processor frequency, the higher your GPU load and ability to install more GPUs for the project becomes. If I run my RAM at 1333Mhz with my 7950, I need to run 8 work units in order to get that memory to get 80% efficiency. After overclocking my RAM to 1800Mhz I was able to get the efficiency up to 95%. With faster memory, I could run less work units, and install a second graphics cards, although I would likely need 2133Mhz quad channel memory in order to saturate two 7950s in the HCC project. In POEM, I would actually need 4266Mhz quad channel DDR3 in order to saturate a single 7950 more than likely.Another scenario is AMD APUs, where FPS almost scales linearly based on RAM frequency because it uses system RAM as VRAM. GPUs are very memory intense, which is why GPUs have 256-384 bit memory interfaces. With an APU, the GPU on the die is restricted to the lame 64 bit memory interface we have with our system RAM.
RAM kits like these are sold to people who need them, if you don't need them, buy the lower frequency RAM.
mmstick - Saturday, October 27, 2012 - link
"The higher the processor frequency" I meant "The higher the memory frequency"mmstick - Saturday, October 27, 2012 - link
"to get that memory to 80%" should be "to get GPU utilization to 80%"Impulses - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
What's with the cost analysis of all these high speed $150 kits? Would you actually shell out that amount of money for a run of the mill gaming/enthusiast system when there's a ton of 1600 4x4GB or even 2x8GB kits on Newegg selling for $75-85?I've wishlisted like half a dozen G.Skill kits within that range AND with blue spreaders specifically... If I width the search there's tons more obviously, just hoping one of those goes on sale during Thanksgiving for like $50-60, even tho I'm in no dire need to upgrade from 8GB.
(and yeah, looking at blue purely for aesthetic reasons obviously!)
mmstick - Saturday, October 27, 2012 - link
I would because it would cut my research rate in half. I run OpenCL GPU projects on my systems, where if I had 2400Mhz memory I could output twice as many work units with my graphics cards per day in Help Conquer Cancer.n0x1ous - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Green PCB? Really? YukBlack or Nothing
bigboxes - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
Do you ever look at your ram once you install it?JonnyDough - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
That's how I feel. I used to care about the color of my computer case, etc but I realized that its more about longevity and ease of installation for me. It's nice to go with a color theme, but the extra cost each time I upgrade just isn't worth it. So now that I've matured a bit I've decided on mostly black boxes and hardware as its plentiful and price competitive.saturn85 - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - link
how about adding a folding on cpu benchmark?valnar - Friday, October 26, 2012 - link
Memory companies will continue to put out insanely spec'ed pieces so they get reviewed by Hardware sites, because it's the only way to get their name out there. Otherwise, memory as a whole is a pretty boring component. Why else do they also need to have interesting names and brightly colored heatsinks? Marketing at its best (or is it worst?)