Geil Puts RGB LEDs On DDR4 Memory

News
By Michael Justin Allen Sexton
published

Geil unveiled a new family of DDR4 RAM modules today that come with RGB LED heatsinks. The RAM also operates at competitive clock speeds and is targeted at enthusiasts.

Geil’s new Evo X RGB heatsinks are primarily black, but they have red highlights, and the company name is stamped on the DIMMs in white. The five RGB LEDs are placed close to the top of what Geil calls a Hybrid-Independent-Light-Module (HILM).

The HILM is essentially a completely separate silicon board designed to handle the LED lighting. An advantage of this design is that it allows Geil to re-use essentially any memory modules in the Evo X RGB line (and several others), but there are a few problems with it. One side effect of this design is that the LEDs require external power from either a 12 V four-pin power connector or a 9 V or 12 V two-pin fan cable.

If the 12 V four-pin power connector is used, then (according to Geil) the RAM can be programmed with motherboard lighting software (if available) to flash several different colors and use different lighting patterns. If your motherboard doesn’t have a lighting application for this, then you cannot program the lights.

Further, if you use the two-pin fan power cable, you won’t be able to program the lights; instead, you can change the color using a switch. In this mode, the lights will use the breathing animation, and the LEDs can be red, green or blue, or set to cycle RGB.

No matter which power cable you use, there are a few problems that you will run into. First, unless your motherboard has an abnormally high number of unused fan headers and 12 V power cables, you are going to have trouble powering four of these RAM sticks at the same time. Even if you have enough connections for it, that is also going to lead to a lot of extra cabling hanging around the case.

If you have a large air cooler, carefully check to be sure that it doesn’t cover the closest RAM slots, as the LEDs will make the RAM physically higher than most other DIMMs. There is currently no word on pricing or availability.


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Michael Justin Allen Sexton
Michael Justin Allen Sexton is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He covers hardware component news, specializing in CPUs and motherboards.
17 Comments Comment from the forums
  • KaiserPhantasma
    can you review the lights of these? cause you know its usually the first one that gives out =D
    Reply
  • sillynilly
    Dumb . . .
    Reply
  • wifiburger
    alright, I thought I would never plug a floppy power connector into a memory dimm

    i'm going to predict that in a few years the frequency pushing through those circuits would be so high it would dissipate into light ,
    transparent plastic for the top of the memory dims and you can see light coming from them when the memory bank gets hit !
    Reply
  • zhunt99
    Talk about a bright idea
    Reply
  • Gam3r01
    This is just plain stupid.
    Not only are they needlessly tall (which memory never needs to be tall), its ridiculous to then require external power.
    Reply
  • nebun
    this is really dumb...why can't this thing be configured to draw power straight from the motherboard socket??? thanks but no thanks
    Reply
  • c0rr0sive
    Hrm, similar to Crucial Tracers, but poorly implemented... I will admit, Tracers back during DDR2 failed quite often, but the few packs I have purchased for DDR3-1600 systems seem to hold up VERY nicely... GEIL needs to take a step back and figure out how to do one of two things... #1 - use the power from the memory slots. #2 - if they can't figure out a way to program the LED coloration and such via the socket, add a micro usb port on each stick that you can plug in and do the programming, then remove and go on to the next stick.
    Reply
  • Lutfij
    Not impressed at all - they went overboard with the RGB idea. Th concept is awesome regardless being the first folks to put RGB on a ram module but all that power from a connector?
    Reply
  • Gzerble
    Ah yes, yet another part for the people who think that LEDs make things run faster. I suppose there will always be the gamers that want to show off their "elite" rig. Personally, I don't get why someone would pay extra to add another point of failure with negative performance gains (LEDs create heat) other than being stupid... but I suppose "looks cool" is good enough for people willing to spend thousands of dollars to shut their kids up.
    Reply
  • Haravikk
    Pointless. Lights in fans I can just about understand, but if you want case lighting you're better off either getting a case that comes with it as standard, or getting LED strips and setting them up yourself.

    System components should be focused on what they're meant to do, rather than on lighting up, as that's a secondary feature at best, or compromising performance at worst (many fans that light up aren't great fans).
    Reply