GeIL PC3500 Ultra Platinum Series

Company: GeIL USA
Product: 256MB PC3500 Ultra Platinum Series DDR RAM
Street Price: ~$90 USD
Date Reviewed: February 28, 2003
Reviewed By: Joey C. aka Chong345
Rating: (10/10)

Test Machine:

Again, we are using our test setup that we normally use for memory reviews except with a few changes. We are now using a Prometeia to cool our CPU because it is more convenient and easier to set up compare to our TEC with chilled water setup. Temperatures still get to -15C and hold even better under load. In addition, we changed the motherboard from the ABIT IT7 MAX to the EPoX 4GEA. The reason for this change was that we have tortured the ABIT board so much that we thought it was time to retire the motherboard. Anyway, this setup is still very similar to our older one. We still have voltage options up to 3.2V and the CPU can still do over 195 FSB.

The way we tested this memory was by starting out at 173 FSB with a 4:5 memory divisor. This will put the memory at 433. Memory started out at 2.5V, which is the stock voltage. Then we raised the FSB in 5 MHz increments and added voltages when they were needed. The timings were kept a 2-6-3-3, which are the specified timings for this memory. We did however try to use the tightest timings 2-5-2-2 but the memory would not do it at 433 MHz.

Starting out the memory did fine at 433 MHz with stock voltages. After the 5 MHz increase in FSB though we had to apply an extra .1V to get the memory to run at 445 MHz. Every time we raised the FSB 5 MHz we had to add .1V extra voltage. The memory made it up to 470 MHz at 2.8V, which is about where most motherboards stop except for ABIT and EPoX. We decided to push further though. The memory made it all the way up to 495 MHz DDR! We have never tested memory this fast before. It took 3V to get it to run stable, which most motherboards do not supply, but this is still the fastest memory we have tested. It completely blows away all the other PC3500 modules we have played with by 30+ MHz. It is too bad though that the 4GEA does not have a 3:4 memory divisor that we can use with our 2.26 Chip. I think that the memory definitely could break 500 MHz DDR but the CPU is holding us back from pushing the memory any higher. We know this for sure because we put the memory back to 1:1 and tried to go higher on the FSB but we could never get the CPU stable over 198 FSB. The board only goes up to 200 FSB anyway but still 500 MHz DDR would be nice.

Sandra Memory Benchmarks
433 MHz	445 MHz
457 MHz	470 MHz
482 MHz	495 MHz

Conclusion:

This memory is certainly very fast. In fact, it is so fast that we maxed out the CPU and the motherboard. It performs very well and is backed by a lifetime guarantee. The heat spreader gives it a very high quality look as well as helping to dissipate the heat from the memory chips. GeIL has once again released a great product. Keep in mind though when trying to run memory this high that you need very good cooling on the CPU as well as a good motherboard with high voltage options.

We did not test this memory on an AMD platform because we do not have one that can max out this memory.

Pros:
  • Super Fast
  • Lifetime Warranty
  • Looks Great

Cons:
  • NONE!

For more information about memory please read this article about overclocking DDR memory. The memory article will help to explain why we chose this particular test setup, and might help you make a better purchasing decision for your next Intel or AMD system.

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