Crucial Ballistix PC3200

Crucial Ballistix was a Gold Editor's Choice in our recent DDR400 2-2-2 Memory Roundup. On the Intel platform, the memory timings were the best that we have ever seen at DDR500. The logical question is, can Ballistix pull it off again on the Athlon 64?

Ballistix is Crucial's first foray into the Enthusiast market, and Ballistix is intended to compete with the best from Corsair, OCZ and other specialty memory manufacturers. Kingston, another memory giant, has a similar Enthusiast line that they call HyperX.

Crucial supplies Ballistix PC3200 in both 256MB and 512MB DIMMs. Test DIMMs were a pair of Crucial Ballistix PC3200 512MB modules.



Crucial uses distinctive orange-gold Ballistix aluminum heatspreaders with black lettering. Ballistix 3200 is based on Micron chips, and not the Samsung chips used in other fast 2-2-2 DDR400. Micron chips were also used in the now discontinued OCZ 3700EB and 3500EB, which we found to be standout performers on Athlon 64.



With OCZ EB discontinued, Crucial Ballistix is the only memory based on Micron chips in the Athlon 64 testing.

Crucial Ballistix PC3200 Specifications


 Crucial Ballistix PC3200 Memory Specifications
Number of DIMMs & Banks 2 DS
DIMM Size
Total Memory
512 Mb
1 GB
Rated Timings 2-3-2 at DDR400
SPD (Auto) Timings 2-3-2-6
Rated Voltage 2.8V

Index Geil PC3200 Ultra X
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  • xeoph - Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - link

    I also wanted to mention it in this artical if it hasnt been already.

    The pricing above the ultra X is for Ultra Platinum. The www.memory-up.com link is a little misleading because it doesnt give the exact tech specs.

    simply a mistype. m-400-512x2glx1gb3200dc is what your looking for, little X between gl and 1gb.
  • mervine - Sunday, October 10, 2004 - link

    hi Wesley
    You mention the newer Samsung TCCD chips overclock better on AMD64 than the older ones, How long have these new chips been avaliable?
    The reason I ask is I live in europe and stocks over here might not be as new as in the states. I'm looking to buy some ocz rev2 but is there any way to tell if its using old or new revision TCCD?
  • PrinceXizor - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link

    Wesley:

    I appreciate your point. I suppose I would have been vaguer in my statements than you were, that is my only point (probably a matter of subjective opinion of course). Something like...

    "In the course of testing, it was discovered that we were being adversely limited by the power supply used in our testing rig. Switching to a higher wattage power supply unlocked the potential of many of these DIMMS. While the actual problem with the original PSU requires more analysis time than we had for this review (lower wattage? lower rail amperage? lower rail tolernaces?), hard-core overclockers should carefully inspect the specifications on their PSU's if they plan on maxing out the OC on their memory modules. Switching power supplies, as we did, may help you to reach the overclocks attained in this review."

    Something like that is all I would have liked to see, instead of a blanket recommendation for a higher wattage PSU. That was my point.

    All this being said, I still enjoyed the review! I look forward to more memory module reviews in the future.

    P-X
  • jynxycat - Tuesday, October 5, 2004 - link

    good review, i was on the edge between the PQI and Crucial sticks, not really knowing what to expect from the PQI on an AMD setup.

    finally a full review of what the respective sticks will achieve on the AMD platform, very much appreciated.
  • Blappo - Sunday, October 3, 2004 - link

    42:
    That is true. It might be interesting to see a comparison of PSUs to see which one would give the highest overclock. I would guess that the PSUs with high ratings would perform well, but there might be some lower power PSUs delivering good quality power that perform well, or some high output PSUs that perform poorly because of low quality power.
  • darkwaffle - Sunday, October 3, 2004 - link

    41:
    I'm not sure how much of a direct comparison you could make between the 3 PowerStream models, because according to http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/PSUSpec.pdf the +5 rail differs on the 420 and 470, and the +12 rail is different on all of them.
  • Blappo - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link

    I would be curious if using either the 420W or 470W OCZ PowerStream models would change the amount the memory could be overclocked? Since they are in the same model line then any differences when OC would be attributed to the amount of power available, and not the quality of power available.
  • LocutusX - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link

    I've got the one Wesley mentioned. It's the Enermax EG465P-VE - the *Q4 2001* model. That same model which is *currently* available in stores has slightly different specs. Anyways, I think I'll keep in mind a possible upgrade to the Powerstream since that would probably help my OC situation as well.
  • KingofFah - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link

    #14,15,20,24
    (This is more directed to #20)
    As Wesley said:
    +3.3V - 38A
    +5V - 44A
    +12V - 20A
    -5V - 2A
    -12V - 1A
    +5Vsb - 2.2A
    are the specs of the 465 they used.

    Considering they switched to 520W OCZ Powerstream:
    +3.3V - 28A
    +5V - 40A
    +12V - 33A
    -5V - .5A
    -12V - .5A
    +5Vsb - 2.0A

    Even though there is a drop in amperage on the 3.3 and 5v rails, there is a great increase in the 12v. CPU, GPU, HDDs, Optical drives, fans all get there power off of the 12v line.

    Since w = v x a, if you want a good power supply, it almost certainly will have a lot of watts on it, but you only find good amperage on high quality models... So maybe you can see why they said +500 quality PSU??

    My question is: Which rail does the memory draw from? Is it still the 5v?
  • Marlin1975 - Saturday, October 2, 2004 - link

    Wesley Fink, since it has been shown many times that more and more current systems need better power. Why not do a review of power supplys. Everything form top dollar name brand ones to cheaper high "watt" ones to see if they put out what they say at each rail and if they help or hurt a system when doing normal work to over clocking?
    I know power supplys are one of the most over looked items and I am building a HIGH power system right now and can not find any real reviews other then other people saying use or don;t use brand X

    Thanks

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