By: Jonathan Kwan
December 9, 2016
Is an activity only socially odd if only one person engages in it? A few weeks ago, I got a call from my colleague Aaron Lai. "Hold on, let me turn off my music," I said to him as I reached for the mute button on my keyboard. "Uhh yes, I was listening to some K-pop. Please do not judge." Aaron just laughed and replied, "I have to tell you this, I stream the same album when I am at work as well." Even though I have known Aaron for many years, I was surprised to hear Aaron would listen to K-pop, and he is probably equally as surprised to find out I did the same. I think a lot of times, there are only several reasons why something is classified as odd or weird socially. Either you are the only one doing it, you think you are the only one doing it, and/or you are doing something that people would not think you will be the person to do it. I certainly do not appear to be the type that would listen to K-pop -- or even watch a Korean drama, as I have discussed in my Seagate IronWolf ST10000VN0004 10TB review last week -- and neither does my colleague Aaron. Therefore, I mostly kept it to myself, but when I found out he did it too, then it was not so weird after all. After all, this is how trends start, right? A few years ago, some manufacturers decided to install RGB lighting into their mice. Before long, RGB LEDs were installed in every gaming keyboard and headset, and now, we have RGB lighting in chassis, case fans, and even mousepads. What is next, RGB computer memory? Actually, there is RGB computer memory already. The GeIL EVO X GEX416GB3200C16DC we are looking at today is equipped with what the company calls Hybrid-Independent-Light-Module Technology. It is fully compatible with Aura Lighting Control from ASUS, Ambient LED from Gigabyte, and Mystic Light from MSI. To see how they are in real life, we took one in to see if the GeIL EVO X GEX416GB3200C16DC 2x8GB really is lit. Pun intended.
Our review unit of the GeIL EVO X GEX416GB3200C16DC 2x8GB came in a small white corrugated cardboard box from the company's public relations representative in La Puente, California, USA. If you have never heard of this place, La Puente is a city twenty miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Apparently, they retain many 1950s-era strip malls. Using FedEx International Ground, everything arrived in excellent condition to us here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for our review today.
This is the first time I have received anything from GeIL, so I cannot say I am familiar with their retail box art. Actually, I am pretty sure I took a photo of the back of the box above, noob mistake -- but you will at least see it in the subsequent photo, haha. The overall design scheme is carried out on all sides of the box, where its predominantly grey and black color scheme with flares of red provides a very science fiction look to it. On the other side, you will find a photo of the memory modules occupying the majority of the space. GeIL's logo can be found at the top left corner, followed by the EVO X Hardcore Gaming Memory at center-right. Stickers of ASUS' Aura and MSI's Mystic Light logos can be found adjacent to the text aforementioned. At the bottom, you will find some feature highlights, such as its RGB sliding hot switch, motherboard RGB UI software compatibility, and Hybrid-Independent-Light-Module Technology -- more on all these in just a moment. In our photo above that shows the back of the box, everything is reduced in size a bit compared to the front to make room for a cutout to show the memory information label on the heatspreader, along with a sticker on the right of the box with the product specifications.
There are no additional listed specifications on the manufacturer's website, so here is what we have taken from the box:
Model Number: GEX416GB3200C16DC
Bandwidth: PC4-25600
Frequency: 3200MHz
Latencies: CL 16-16-16-36
Type: 8GBx2 Dual Channel Kit
Out of the box, you will receive each memory module in the GeIL EVO X kit packaged independently in its own clear plastic shell. Two RGB cables -- one for each DIMM -- are included for you to connect to your motherboard's lighting control system, if you own such a motherboard. If you do not own such a motherboard, one 3-pin fan Y-split cable is also included to power the LEDs. Other than that, there is a thank-you card encouraging you to write a user review of the product, along with an installation guide. You probably do not need the installation guide, and if you do not know how the sliding hot switch works, you will not have an idea after reading it anyway -- all the figure labels are wrong, and the description is of absolutely no help.
A screenshot of the memory tab in CPU-Z with GeIL's EVO X GEX416GB3200C16DC 2x8GB installed. The SPD timings table in CPU-Z reads standard JEDEC specifications programmed into the memory, as well as Intel XMP data for running the memory at various speeds. Using the latest BIOS revision, our Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 motherboard used for testing had no issues detecting and working with the GeIL RAM right out of the box. The GeIL EVO X GEX416GB3200C16DC 2x8GB retails for approximately $115 at press time.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 CPU
4. Benchmark: AIDA64 FPU
5. Benchmark: AIDA64 Memory
6. Benchmark: PCMark 8
7. Benchmark: 3DMark
8. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 8.0
9. Benchmark: SuperPI 1M, Cinebench R15
10. Overclocking and Conclusion
