Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC2-8500 DDR2-1066 Memory Review

Crucial Company Information:

"Crucial is a key brand in the Lexar Media family of products. As the Memory Experts™, we're the only DRAM supplier that's part of a major memory manufacturer. A wholly owned subsidiary of Micron Technology, Inc., Lexar Media, Inc. boasts one of the most comprehensive offerings of memory product lines in the industry. We deliver high-quality, award-winning products in every memory category: USB flash drives, all popular form factors of memory cards and card readers, DRAM computer memory for PCs and Mac systems, and solid state drives (SSD). We back our products with outstanding customer support and industry-leading warranties, and we strive to expand our offerings to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers — customers just like you. Site: Crucial.com"

Crucial is a trusted brand name in the memory market, they offer everything from traditional computer memory for desktops and laptops, to enthusiast memory, such as their Ballistix and Ballistix Tracer modules.  Today, we are going to take a look at the Ballistix Tracer modules from Crucial.  The Ballistix Tracer modules are just like the Ballistix modules in terms of performance, but they have LED lights on the edges and on the bottom of the memory.  The LED's on the top indicate memory read/copy/write activity, while the bottom LED's illuminate the memory slots on the motherboard.  Crucial has sent us four sticks of 1GB memory, for a total of 4GB. 

Upon sliding the paper wrapping around the plastic memory packs off, you will find that the memory is actually in two separate plastic boxes.  Since, we have two sets of 2x1GB of memory, there are four individual plastic packages. No instructions are included with these modules.  Perhaps it is because they are intended for enthusiasts and surely enthusiasts would know how to install memory. 

Here are some of the main features and specifications from Crucial's Website:

The Memory:

The memory features a black PCB and black heat spreaders with a silver trim, which looks great.

Looking closer at the specification label, we can se the model number, along with an EPP, which means that there is a Enhanced Performance Profile built into the memory with an enhanced clock speed and timings. A motherboard should be able to detect the profile and use it immediately.  The speed, timings and voltage are also on the label.  1066MHz @ 5-5-5-15 CR2 timings with a voltage of 2.0v. 

A Closer Look:

The arrows in the pictures above show the locations of the LED's on the memory module.  In the first picture, there are eight lights, which are multicolored.  The LED's near the slot glow blue.

A closer picture, showing the gold plated connectors, an led, and the black PCB.

Installation:

The installation went very well and upon starting the system, it detected the four gigabytes of memory. 

The second picture shows the cool lighting effects and the memory when it is active.  These LED's could light up the testing room pretty well with the lights turn off and looks great with all the lights flashing about.  The more subtle blue LED's give the board a nice blue glow and can easily light up half of the motherboard, for those who are interested in lighting their cases with a window. 

Testing:

For this power supply, the test system consists of the following:

-Antec Nine Hundred Case

-Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor @ 3.4 GHz

-ZeroTherm Nirvana 120 Heatsink

-eVGA nForce 680i SLi Motherboard

-320GB x 4 Western Digital 16MB Cache Hard Drives

-2x nVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS (G92) Video Cards @ 715MHz Core / 1000 MHz Memory

-Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Digital Sound Card

-Sony 16x DVD-RAM / 18x Samsung DVD-RAM Drives

-4x 120MM fans, 1x 200mm fan

-2x CCFL Lights

*Memory is run with the Unlinked bios setting found on NVIDIA nForce 6+ motherboards.

*For additional / larger pictures of the Crucial Ballistix Tracer, Click Here

Conclusion:

The Crucial Ballistix Tracer's performed well at stock speeds and the settings were detected by the motherboard upon the first boot.  The memory also exceeded my expectations in terms of overclockability, overclocking all the way to 1192MHz at 5-5-5-18 CR2 timings with 2.35 volts.  The benchmark results reflect the difference when the clock speeds are adjusted and noticeable improvements are made once the memory clock speeds are ramped up.  These memory modules are perfect for anyone looking for  DDR2-1066 / PC2-8500 rated memory for their systems.  The activity LED's are a added bonus and make the insides of your case look great, system modifiers will love these.  At around $60, these modules offer great value and performance and are highly recommended.

Techaddicts.net would like to give these memory modules a 'Highly Recommended' rating.

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