Memory by stefan @ 2012-01-30
The Enhance Corsa 1600Mhz 16GB Memory Kit from GeIL offers decent performance at a good price and comes with a specially designed heatsink which cools the memory chips with the help of the airflow inside the case.
At first I would like to thank GeIL and Freaks 4U for offering a sample of their Enhance Corsa PC3-12800 1600Mhz Quad Channel Memory Kit for testing and reviewing.
"GeIL – Golden Emperor Int'l Ltd. – one of the worlds' leading IT (memory module & CE) manufacturers that concentrates in designing the most innovative product for consumers in a wide range of market segments.
Our business model is based on a lifelong commitment to customer satisfaction. GeIL is determined to produce the most advanced product with absolutely the lowest rate of return for every GeIL customer to receive the quality, performance and dependability they deserve.
Established in 1993, GeIL has soon become one of the most professional memory module manufactures in the industry. Since then GeIL has been concentrating in memory module design and manufacturing. As of today, our manufacturing facilities employ over 200 people and produce a wide variety of modules with distribution in over 50 countries worldwide. GeIL’s Global Headquarter resides in the heart of computer technology – Taipei with branches spreading over in Hong Kong, China and U.S.A.
GeIL understand in order to succeed in the DRAM industry, IC testing and sorting is one of the keys. 100% designed and made by GeIL's strategic R&D for production technology, the EVO III Fully Automatic IC Tester was born in 2006 to maximize the quality and performance of each IC used for GeIL memory module. GeILs' effort in further enhancing the reliability of memory products was realized with the Die-hard Burn-in Technology (DBT) introduced in 2008. The dynamic and efficient testing nature of the DBT Chamber is allowing such burn-in technology to be used on every GeIL memory module to ensure the highest possible reliability for user of all levels. This is just the beginning."
Not your average standard DDR3 memory. The Enhance CORSA Series, tested at much higher standards of 1500MHz CL9 and 1700MHz CL9 instead of the labeled 1333MHz CL9 and 1600MHz CL9. The extra guard-bands of an impressive 10% are to provide enhanced performance and more importantly, enhanced reliablity that defines the spirit of “GeIL Standard”. The Enhance CORSA Series are compatible with all of the latest platforms with the labeled speeds under standard settings, while the enhanced speeds are embedded in Intel XMP profiles. The Enhance CORSA Series provide users with performance, quality and compatiblity exceeding expectations.
- Available in 8GB(2GBx4) & 16GB(4GBx4) Quad Channel Package
- Available CAS: 9-9-9-28
- Rated Voltage : 1.5V
- Heat-spreader: CORSA edition heat-sink system with MTCD Technology in Racing Orange finish
- Technology: DBT Enhanced, Die-hard Burn-in Technology
- Warranty: Lifetime
The burn-in process is realized frequently in electronic components as a form of reliability engineering. This operation stresses the components at high temperatures and sometimes higher voltage too. The intention is to detect and eliminate components that could fail early, for improving the overall product quality and user satisfaction. In the DRAM industry, the burn-in process has been used so far in the most expenside server DIMMs or memory with military specifications.
The reviewed modules feature GeILs’ Die-hard Burn-in Technology, which is conducted in proprietary burn-in chamber named DBT-1.
Inside the device, 1000 pieces of modules are slotted onto the own-designed module interface and DRAM controller boards. Afterwards, the modules are dynamically tested by own-designed software simultaneously.
DBT-1 can up the testing temperature to 100 degrees Celsius, with a burn-in period of as long as 24 hours. This process is meant to eliminate early-failure memory and provides users with the highest quality memory products.
The GeIL Enhance Corsa PC3-12800 1600MHz Quad Channel Memory Kit comes shipped inside a small cardboard enclosure and through its frontal side we can get a glimpse on the modules themselves, but we will also find out the timings and speeds the modules have been tested at:
On the back of the box, we can see the module ratings, on both box and on the modules, through the small transparent plastic windows:
The memory modules are packed inside two by two, in transparent plastic enclosures:
The large aluminum heatsinks with a Racing Orange finish each module comes with incorporate MTCD Technology:
On the opposite side of the module, we can find a similar design, but this time without the logos; here there is a small sticker with the module serial number and technical specifications like RAM quantity, rated timings, speed, code name or rated voltage:
The heatsinks are pretty thin and between them and the memory chips there is a thermal pad:
Because of the module height, some may experience difficulties mounting the module which is nearest to the CPU heatsink; these issues can be solved in some cases by installing the CPU cooler fan in a different position (a little raised):
CPU : Intel I5 2500K Retail
CPU Cooler: Noctua U12P SE2
Motherboard : ASRock P67 Extreme6
RAM : G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM
Video : Sparkle X460 Calibre 1GB
Power Supply : Cooler Master 850W
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200.10
Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840
During the tests, the CPU speed was set at 3.3GHz and Turbo was disabled in UEFI. Testing the memory at the stock settings occurred without problems, but when switching to the 1866Mhz step, I could not obtain stability by relaxing the memory timings, increasing the memory voltage to 1.65V or by increasing the VTT; at 11-15-15-30, the system was bootable, but after running HCI Memtest with 4 instances, errors started to occur after 30 minutes.
At the stock speed, the memory timings can be further tightened up, but it is needed to increase the memory voltage too (1.65V):
The pre-programmed timings and frequencies can be also found by using AIDA64:
The GeIL Enhance Corsa 1600MHz Quad Channel Memory Kit comes with a special designed heatsink, so when two or four modules are installed in the slots, the fin openings of each module forms a tunnel-like mechanism, for maximizing heat dissipation; the manufacturer likes this to call MTCD Technology (Maximized Thermal Conduction and Dissipation). Having memory modules with raised heatsinks can sometimes produce clearance problems (especially on quad-channel setups), but solutions can be found, depending on the type of cooler. If we are having a water cooling setup, we shouldn't be bothered at all by this problem.
The 16GB kit runs as advertised and we can even set higher timings to squeeze more bandwidth at the same memory frequency. With the Sandy Bridge testbench, the memory could not achieve "stable" status at 1866MHz; the system booted OK at this frequency and even loaded Windows 7 fine but problems occurred when testing for stability with the HCI Memtest utility, after 25-30 minutes of run time, at very relaxed timings, 11-15-15-30 and a modified voltage of 1.65. Trying the same frequency at the stock voltage and stock timings resulted in an unbootable system.
The GeIL Enhance Corsa 1600MHz Quad Channel Memory Kit can be found in online shops for a fair price of about 80.42 Euros.
I would like to thank again to Freaks 4U and GeIL for making this review possible!