A new DDR3 memory kit named Enhance CORSA rated at PC3-12800 (1600MHz) with CAS timings 9-9-9-28 for Sandy Bridge / AMD.
Product on Review: Enhance CORSA PC3-12800
Manufacturer and Sponsor: GeIL
Street Price: £29 (at time of review)
It was only last week that we were looking at GeIL’s new EVO CORSA RAM and as we mentioned back then, GeIL have a fresh lineup of products for the tail-end of 2011 in a bid to reignite a once thriving sector for them.
Today we will be taking a look at another DDR3 kit from the CORSA series, this time the Enhance. More specifically a dual channel kit rated at 1600MHz with the CAS timings of 9-9-9-28 @ 1.5v. The EVO CORSA kit we recently tested pushed the boundaries in terms of performance at stock against very competitive pricing can the Enhance kit we are looking at today follow in the same manner? Let’s find out!
GeIL’s take on Enhance CORSA
Not your average standard DDR3 memory. The Enhance CORSA Series, tested at much higher standards of 1500MHz CL9 and 1700MHz CL9 instead of the labelled 1333MHz CL9 and 1600MHz CL9. The extra guard-bands of an impressive 10% are to provide enhanced performance and more importantly, enhanced reliability that defines the spirit of “GeIL Standard”. The Enhance CORSA Series are compatible with all of the latest platforms with the labelled speeds under standard settings, while the enhanced speeds are embedded in Intel XMP profiles. The Enhance CORSA Series provide users with performance, quality and compatibility exceeding expectations.
Technical Specifications
– Available in 4GB (2GBx2) & 8GB (4GBx2) Dual Channel Package
– Available CAS: 9-9-9-28
– Working 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
Packaging & Closer Look
Enhance CORSA is presented in a similar package to that of the EVO CORSA. The dual channel kit we are looking at today are within a small cardboard packet, there is a small window that gives a sneak preview of one of the modules inside and the GeIL DBT Enhanced logo can be clearly seen in the bottom right corner. On the reverse of the packet is the GeIL company address and memory specifications.
Enhance CORSA packaging
The reverse of the packaging
Taking the modules out of the packaging the first thing to note is the similarity with the heatsink design to that of the recently reviewed EVO CORSA kit. Again as with the EVO CORSA’s the colour choice is rather strange if you are on a mission to create a colour co-ordinated system. The only motherboard that springs to mind that this kit will match well with is the GIGABYTE X58-OC and X79-UD7.
Bright orange heatsink design is striking
Looking at the modules from the side we can see the profile of the Enhance CORSA kit. The thickness of the modules with the heatsinks attached are 4mm, whilst the extended height of the heatsink adds on an additional 1.75cm.
The profile of Enhance CORSA
The height of Enhance CORSA
On the reverse of the modules is the specifications label, this gives the capacity, frequency, CAS timings, serial number and rated voltage. The CAS timings on this kit are quite high so it’s expected that overclocking will be extremely limited – more on this later.
Memory specifications label on reverse
Over the page we will begin our thorough testing of the Enhance CORSA dual channel kit and see how it compares to other rivals.
Testing Methodologies & Overclocking
CPU Intel Core i5 2500K (3.3GHz)
Motherboard ASUS P8P67
Memory
– 8GB GeIL Enhance CORSA 1600MHz 9-9-9-28
– 8GB GeIL EVO CORSA 2133MHz 10-11-11-30
– 8GB Patriot G2 1600MHz 9-9-9-24
– 8GB G.Skill Sniper 1600MHz 9-9-9-24
– 4GB Kingston HyperX Special Edition 1600MHz 9-9-9-27
– 4GB G.Skill RipjawsX 1600MHz 7-8-7-24
– 4GB OCZ Reaper 1600MHz 8-8-8-26
CPU Cooler Noctua NH-D14
Graphics ZOTAC GTX 460
PSU OCZ Fatal1ty 750W
Motherboard ASUS P8P67
Memory
– 8GB GeIL Enhance CORSA 1600MHz 9-9-9-28
– 8GB GeIL EVO CORSA 2133MHz 10-11-11-30
– 8GB Patriot G2 1600MHz 9-9-9-24
– 8GB G.Skill Sniper 1600MHz 9-9-9-24
– 4GB Kingston HyperX Special Edition 1600MHz 9-9-9-27
– 4GB G.Skill RipjawsX 1600MHz 7-8-7-24
– 4GB OCZ Reaper 1600MHz 8-8-8-26
CPU Cooler Noctua NH-D14
Graphics ZOTAC GTX 460
PSU OCZ Fatal1ty 750W
For the purpose of testing I will be using the Enhance CORSA kit and all subsequent Sandy Bridge memory on the ASUS P8P67 motherboard, using the Intel 2500K. Below is a photo of the recently reviewed EVO kit (uses the same size heatsink) showing clearance compatibility with Noctua NH-D14.
EVO CORSA kit installed on the ASUS P8P67 with Noctua NH-D14
Overclocking
With BCLK being fixed on the Sandy Bridge platform this has now altered the way we can overclock. Overclocking power with Sandy Bridge is concentrated on the CPU rather than memory. We do not have the flexibility we once had by changing the BCLK in order to move the frequencies in small increments, instead we have only set margins to move in because of the divider that is set. So available we have 1066MHz / 1600MHz / 1866MHz / 2133MHz / 2400MHz. In essence we have little room to experiment with, but let’s see what we can do.
Sadly, any kind of modification to this kit resulted in boot-up problems. I tried nudging the kit up to 1866MHz and increasing voltage with CAS timings and immediately i hit a barrier. Even trying to improve CAS timings by lowering slightly at stock frequency of 1600MHz resulted in issues. So below is the CPU-Z screenshot of stock settings.
Synthetic Benchmarks – AIDA64
AIDA64 is the successor to Everest ULTIMATE. This application not only details every component within a system but it also incorporates a comprehensive memory benchmarking tool that will ascertain bandwidth and latency figures.
Synthetic Benchmarks – SiSoftware SANDRA 2011
SANDRA isn’t always a benchmark that is included in hardware reviews but I believe it shouldn’t be ignored. SANDRA provides a vigorous package that tests your system in a rather large array of benchmarks. There are many aspects of benchmark that can be executed. We will be considering memory specific benchmark tests.
Synthetic Benchmarks – 3DMark 11
Designed to measure your PC’s gaming performance 3DMark 11 makes extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to consistently and reliably test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.
Gaming Benchmarks – Metro 2033, Dirt 2, UT3, Black Ops
It’s important for us to perform a number of game benchmarks as well as the synthetic tests because the EVO CORSA’s will surely feature in many gaming systems, because this kit is specifically targeted at gamers. So here we have a selection of popular gaming titles, critically acclaimed and action-packed.
Conclusion
The Enhance CORSA DDR3 kit we tested today proved that it can hold up well against other popular choices currently on the market. During the gaming and synthetic benchmark tests the Enhance kit delivered some decent results and whilst this kit isn’t “low profile” it has no compatibility issues with big CPU coolers like Noctua NH-D14.
As reported in the EVO CORSA Review due to the combination of high frequency and CAS timings an overclock was not on the books and I had hoped that with the Enhance kit being 1600MHz and CL9 this kit would have headroom for modification, but sadly it didn’t. Not only was 1866MHz not even achievable with high CL timings and a boost in voltage but tightening the CAS timings at stock frequency of 1600MHz wasn’t even achievable either which I found quite surprising.
Again as with the EVO CORSA kit – the Enhance adopts this wacky colour-scheme that could put some off, especially if they are aesthetically conscious.
In terms of pricing the Enhance CORSA 1600MHz CL9 dual channel kit we have tested today can be found for as little as £29 inc. VAT making it a very affordable option for those who just want good performance from stock settings.
Pros
+ Good clearance for CPU coolers
+ Good stock performance
+ Very affordable
Cons
– No modification/overclock achievable
– Colour hard to match with other components
+ Good clearance for CPU coolers
+ Good stock performance
+ Very affordable
Cons
– No modification/overclock achievable
– Colour hard to match with other components
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