Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 2GB DDR2 Kit

Introduction

Back in November 2006 we were fortunate enough to get our hands on a 1gb PC2-6400 Ballistix kit fresh from the Crucial factory. The kit performed admirably, managing to overclock all the way up to DDR2-1120. Hugely impressed by the Ballistix's overclock-ability and competitive pricing, the kit was rightfully awarded both our 'Editors Choice' and 'Value for Money' awards. Since then Crucial have been hard at work pushing the capabilities of their modules and today we are lucky enough to take a look at their latest addition to the Ballistix family:

When You Have The Ultimate Performance System, Can You Really Tolerate Inferior Memory? It doesn't matter how fast a memory module is if it isn't stable and doesn't fit your system. Software crashes, choppy game play, and driver and operating system hiccups — all can be caused by bad memory modules. Performance and stability are Crucial! Don't settle for anything less than Ballistix! The Ballistix line is specifically built for performance enthusiasts who want to push the performance envelope without worrying about data loss or corruption, mysterious intermittent errors and display problems, or worse — the dreaded BSOD! The Ballistix line of high-performance memory modules features advanced speed grades, low latencies, and integrated aluminium heat spreaders.

Specifications

The following information has been taken directly from Crucial's website:

What is Ballistix memory? The Ballistix line is specifically built for performance enthusiasts who want to push the performance envelope without worrying about data loss or corruption, mysterious intermittent errors and display problems, or worse — the dreaded BSOD! The Ballistix line of high-performance memory modules features advanced speed grades, low latencies, and integrated aluminum heat spreaders. What is a Ballistix 240-pin DIMM? A Ballistix dual inline memory module (DIMM) consists of a number of memory components that are attached to a black printed circuit board. The gold pins on the bottom of the DIMM provide a connection between the module and a socket on a larger printed circuit board. The pins on the front and back of a DIMM are not connected to each other. Ballistix 240-pin DIMMs are used to provide DDR2 SDRAM memory for desktop computers. DDR2 is a leading-edge generation of memory with an improved architecture that allows it to transmit data very fast. Ballistix 240-pin DIMMs are available in DDR2 PC2-4200 SDRAM (DDR2 533), DDR2 PC2-5300 SDRAM (DDR2 667), and DDR2 PC2-6400 (DDR2 800).

It looks like the Crucial web developer needs a bit of a kick as they have failed to mention their more recent PC2-8000 and PC2-8500 kits in the Ballistix blurb.

• Module Size: 2GB kit (1GBx2) • Package: Ballistix 240-pin DIMM • Feature: DDR2 PC2-8500 • Configuration: 128Meg x 64 • DIMM Type: UNBUFFERED • Error Checking: NON-ECC • Speed: DDR2-1066 • Voltage: 2.2V • Memory Timings: 5-5-5-15

The specifications of the Ballistix modules are fairly standard for a PC2-8500 kit:- moderate timings set at 5-5-5-15 and a voltage of 2.2v for maximum compatibility with motherboards that have a limited vdimm selection.

Unfortunately, no mention of a maximum allowed voltage has been specified on Crucial's site. This could well be a problem for overclockers wanting to increase the voltage given to the modules in order to push them past their specified speeds - but without the risk of voiding any warranty.


The Ballistix IC's are somewhat hard to identify as most of the serial numbers seem to be over-printed with a square Ballistix logo. No doubt they will have been manufactured by Micron (as Crucial is it's subsidiary company), but they certainly don't seem to bear the mark of the overclocker friendly D9 range. In fact, the only legible print on the module was "BKYV", which turned up no results in a Google search.

Anyway, enough of facts and figures. Let's move on to the next page and see what they look like...