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Details of GeIL Ultra Platinum PC4000 Dual Channel 1GB Kit

Introduction

There hasn't been much “cool” memory as of late. When Corsair released their LED laden powerhouses many months back it heralded the end of memory packaging gimmick innovation. So I and many other reviewers felt the lull hit us pretty hard. There was memory, and it would perform well and whatnot, but it was also sky high in pricing. However; now memory prices, CPU prices and mainboard prices are dropping hard as a result of the aging generation.

For people with budget in mind this is the time of year to upgrade, because while the “older” chipsets are becoming cheaper the new ones are just about to be released. Now keep in mind when I say older, I mean older from a review standpoint. Back when I didn't do reviews and cycle through hardware constantly my actual hardware was always about this far behind, which in retrospect was just fine. I could still blab about all the newest stuff as if I owned it or knew first hand…heh.

But in any case GEIL now has a neat new little add on to interest people. It is the addition of two things: first thing is a CAS performance of 2.5 at roughly 250 MHz paired with a price tag under $300 shipped. Secondly is the presence of a quirky little thermometer pad on the modules so you can see how warm they get!

Appearance 

These remind me of the thermometers you see stuck to nice aquariums. It is basically a nice decal with some liquid crystals that change colors and activate according to the temperature, and when the modules reach a certain temperature the corresponding square turns a sort of pearlescent funky color, something like “Kameleon paint”. And I can tell you, it was very difficult to get a picture of this. To make it happen I had to turn my computer on, heat things up and then quick snatch the modules out and try to take quality pictures of them.

Needless to say I couldn't get a clear shot before they cooled down to much and in the end you will just have to take my word for it that they change. Depending on your mainboard the thermometer decal may face towards the rear of the case or it may face towards the front. Since DDR has to be put in a certain way I can tell you that it may not be visible from your window (which is a bummer) however it only did this on the Albatron K8X800 ProII that I was testing the lowest latencies on.

Visualize your DDR slots; if the notch is towards the lower part of the slot then the decals will face away, if the notch is towards the top then the decal will face towards you! The business end, the end with the decal, has everything cool on it so I hope it faces out versus in on your particular setup. In fact, if they face in with these they will face in with most modules from most main companies…it is the luck of the draw.

As for the actual heat spreader things are right up with the best of the best. GEIL made no mistakes with this nickel plated copper armor. I now judge a memory almost on the weight of it in my bare hands; these modules will pass on to the next life for they are heavy and good! Seriously though, you can tell when a heat spreader is of quality build because the copper it is made from has a meaty feeling, and the nickel plating should shine impeccably. GEIL does this as good as any other, but now they upped the fascia a bit more. They added a really cool dragon hologram speed spec decal and of course the thermometer decal.

I would say there is no non-LED memory module in the world that looks and feels more complete than these do. They don't even have the same standard clips on top: it's just a two piece assembly with a thin seam at the top…very sexy. I know you think I am crazy for going over these potentially mundane details but when you see a lot of memory you notice the details, and those extra efforts the companies go through to make sure their memory is tweaked to the max. Alas the exterior is complete, but let's have a look at the interior…or rather the performance.