Crucial PC4000 Ballistix Tracer 2GB - 2GB vs 1GB Gaming
Product: 2GB Kit (2x 1GB) PC4000 Ballistix Tracer
Provided By: Crucial Technology
Price: $451.99USD Reg. - $406.79 Sale
Introduction:
A few weeks ago, I made a plea to several large memory manufactures regarding a series of 2GB ideas that I'd like to explore and publish. Crucial was quick to respond and wanted to be a part of this series. Who am I to say no? They shipped over a nice matching pair of 1GB PC4000 sticks of Ballistix Tracer for a total of 2GB that we're going to look at briefly, then compare with our previous 1GB kit (2x 512MB) of PC4000 Ballistix memory. In this article, we're not going to look at the memory extensively but it will be more of a comparison and what you can expect when you change nothing else in your system.
Don't worry, we are going to take a look at this memory and let you know what it can do, but it will be compared to the 1GB kit mentioned previously. All benchmarks will be ran with the same timings across both kits to level the playing field and show us what that extra 1024MB of RAM is doing for us. . . but now I'm getting ahead of myself.
Ballistix Tracer - First Look:
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Tracer memory has a much nicer look that Crucial's regular Ballistix memory. They have a nice black aluminum heatspreader on this RAM instead of the yellow gold look on the non-tracer. Both versions have a black 6-layer PCB and use Micron chips labeled "Ballistix".
Crucial's Ballistix Tracer memory is designed for modders and enthusiasts that want performance and some flash. This memory has two rows of chasing LED's that increase with speed according to memory load and usage as well as some "Ground Effect" LED's that light up your DIMM slots. While this may seem like a lame idea, it sure makes the DFI LP series motherboards look pretty.
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Specs & Info:
As previously mentioned, this is PC4000 or DDR500. It runs at 250MHz effectively 500MHz with default SPD timings of 3-4-4-8 1T at 2.8v. You will be happy to know that the kit I've got on the bench today can also run PC3200 at 2-2-2-5 1T at 2.6v. While this is not an overclocking review, we were able to run this memory up to 277MHz at 3-3-3-8 with 2.8v. This puts our 3000+ at a nice 2.5GHz up from 1.8GHz and greatly improves system performance all around. Below are the rest of the specs from Crucial:
- Part Number: BL2KIT12864L503
- Module Size: 2GB kit (1GBx2)
- Package: Ballistix Tracer 184-pin DIMM (with LEDs)
- Feature: DDR PC4000
- Configuration: 128Meg x 64
- Error Checking: NON-ECC
- Speed: DDR500
- Voltage: 2.8V
- Memory Timings: 3-4-4-8
- Specs: DDR PC4000 • 3-4-4-8 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR500 • 2.8V • 128Meg x 64
Check out the test system and testing information on the next page before we begin the gaming!
