Most can purchase the underlying ICs and produce, say, DDR2-1,066 memory with 5-5-5-15 latencies.
Most, too, will offer a lifetime warranty, funky-looking heatspreaders, and attractive packaging.
After speaking to GeiL representatives at COMPUTEX 2008, we learned that it has a somewhat different strategy in ensuring sales growth.
Rather than focus on a 'me-too' attitude, GeiL will be looking at genuine differentiation, ranging from exclusive products through to better module qualification.
The Evo Cyclone Hybrid is one such example. Attaching to the DIMM slots and therefore agnostic to the modules' appearance underneath, the Cyclone uses a 5cm fan to cool the RAM, be it two or four modules.
We suppose it's useful if you don't want to go down the manufacturer-specific route and tie yourself in. Set to retail at around £20 when it goes on sale soon, it's handy for high-speed modules that could do with a little extra airflow.
GeiL will also be introducing what it terms as DBT, which is a testing and qualification programme designed to minimise RMA rates.
Noting that the majority of DRAM-related failures occur in the first three months, GeiL reckons that it has the facilities to test every single module, in batches of 1,000, before it leaves the factory, putting it under a four-hour stress test that should eradicate problematic DIMMs.
The industry average for DIMM RMAs is around 1.5 per cent, and GeiL hopes to reduce its rate to 0.1 per cent with the DBT system in place, where qualified modules will be denoted by the sticker you see in the above picture.
By September 2008, GeiL hopes to have all shipping modules DBT-approved. You can learn more about the process here.
