Truly upset with Crucial Ballistix DDR2

[g0dM@n]

I'm sure there are a lot of other ppl and there is a POLL thread in here about how many ppl have had to RMA their DDR2 Ballistix, but I must say I'm TRULY upset with them.

First of all, D9GMH is AWESOME, and my current Ballistix Tracer DDR2-1000 2gb kit was awesome when I first got it. I've been dealing with a cold-boot issue for a very long time now which started not too long after I got them. I deal with it b/c I don't wanna RMA these sticks and end up with the JUNK that they use now on the new single-sided sticks.

With that said, I've tried everything I can to get EITHER of the TWO 1gb sticks of the newer DDR2-800 Tracers I've got in my hands. They are the single-sided CRAP. I'm trying to boot at 400mhz FSB 1:1 at 4-4-4-12-24-2T and I can't get it to work with EITHER of the two sticks in ANY slots. I even tried upping the MCH voltage and DDR2 voltage to 2.3v. I would try 2.4v, but what's the point??

I have a SINGLE (spare) stick of Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2-800 1gb, which is double-sided - the good ole D9GMH stuff. I popped that sucker in and it did 400mhz 1:1 4-4-4-12-24-2T at 2.2v in a heartbeat.

Long story short, the new single-sided stuff is PURE JUNK. I have another brand new set of 2gb ddr2-800 tracers, and two more brand new sets of 2gb ddr2-800 ballistix. I think I'm gonna put them all to the test sometime soon when I have the chance.

I'm sure someone may know, or many of you, but why did Crucial change their design beats me. Maybe to save $$, but this will not save them $$ if you ask me b/c I'm not buying Crucial Ballistix anymore if this crap continues.

I do have the new 2gb single-sided kit running 400fsb 1:1 with everything set to default (that goes for vdimm, and SPD timings set to default). I think voltage defaults to 1.95v and CPU-Z tells me it's running 4-5-5-15-2T (all the info I get). The SPD timing tables shows up as such:

JEDEC #1 333MHz, 4-5-5-15-20, 1.8v
JEDEC #2 400MHz, 5-5-5-18-23, 1.8v
EPP #1 400MHz, 4-4-4-12-24-2T, 2.2v FAILED
EPP #2 500MHz, 5-5-5-15-30-2T, 2.2v FAILED


I set it up correctly, and the problem isn't the CPU or the MOBO b/c the spare d9gmh stick I have POSTed without a problem.

Again, very disappointing. I even tried 500mhz 5-5-5 according to the SPD timing table and no go (with MCH at 1.41v just in case anything held it back) - 400mhz FSB 1:1.25 divider.
BOOO!!!!

*EDIT*
Just tried the other BRAND NEW set of 2GB DDR2-800 Crucial Ballistix Tracers with the same two FAILED settings above and they also failed.
I'm debating on popping open the two brand new sets of the ballistix DDR2-800 I have.
I wonder if it has anything to do with the Abit IP35-E not liking the single-sided ram? Perhaps I've jumped to conclusions. I know the D9GMH stick is fine, but perhaps the board just doesn't like single-sided. Hmmm....

[g0dM@n]

RESERVED (might use)

[i686]

hi'
I've kinda same problem, when I setup a pair of ballistix 6400, run at 400, no problem, even 500 at 4.4.4.12 ;)
since I changed for a pair of 8500(1066) to get a little bit more speed, I can't get them stable, tje bios doen't recognaside them, only at 400mhz, ans so to get a 1066, need to be multiplied by 3.20 in order to get a real 1066 and then cpuZ show divider 2:3 :(

I'm thinking about rma them and change for a Gskill pair ;)

i686

[stdu007]

+1 for gskill...

[g0dM@n]

I guess I can't be CERTAIN it's Crucial's new single-sided stuff unless I test the ram in another board. Perhaps the board didn't like single-sided...

[Nebulous]

Dang Gman, sry about your ordeal :-/ It may sound like that board of yours doesn't like the single sided ram. Try it in another spare board to rule out it's your board? I got the double sided stuff and i run 500 @ both 4-4-4-12 & 5-5-5-15 with 2.2v

[doublejack]

I don't think it's just godman's board. I know that newegg's reviews aren't the most credible source, but recent reviews of Crucial's Ballistix line are showing a trend of similar reports. Here are a few examples:

Hmmm...where to start. Ran 2gigs of these at stock voltage(1.8) and timing(5-5-5-18) for about 3 months. Decided to get a little more performance and run at epp ratings 4-4-4-12 at 2.2v. Wouldn't even post

Not What It Used To Be...

Pros: 1st Set Purchased: Feb 2007 ---> BL2KIT12864AA804.16FB3 Batch 76677 - No Problems. Running solid at Advertised Stock 2.2v with 4-4-4-12-2T timings Since Feb 2007.

Cons: Second Set Purchased: March 2008 ---> BL2KIT12864AA804.8FE5 Batch 97432 - BSODs, RANDOM CRASHES, MemTest +86 FAILURE for both sticks exactly 2 WEEKS after installation.

Other Thoughts: Second Set purchased to compliment Frist Set. Wanting to check the stability of this newer, "fault-accused" batch, I pulled the 2GB from batch 76677 and used only the 2GB set from batch 97432. Stock 4-4-4-12-2T timings at 2.2v. Both Sticks cause BSODs, crashing and odd PC behavior. Both failed MemTest86 3.4a. Also, Original make had a better Heatsink. I was a lil miffed that they didn't even match visually.

Bad quality. My faith in Crucial has been complete destroyed after this purchase. The original RAM kit failed to run at 800MHz/5-5-5-15/2.2V, memtest reported tons of errors in 4 hours. The replacement kit fared better, as it had no problem running at 800MHz for 12 hours. But dont' expect to even mildly overclock this baby -- it couldn't run at 820MHz at 4-4-4-12.

IMO, Crucial / Micron went cheap just to save money. This is a classic case of "you get what you pay for". One can purchase a 2gb kit of Ballistix DDR2-800 for $50, which goes down to $20AR. A DDR2-1066 kit can be had for $90. Now, compare that to known good D9GMH like G.Skill - a 2gb kit of DDR2-800 G.Skill HZ's costs $150!

I think sadly the newer single sided Crucial memory is just junk.

[i686]

I guess I can't be CERTAIN it's Crucial's new single-sided stuff unless I test the ram in another board. Perhaps the board didn't like single-sided...

I have to agree with you, I've rma the 8500 ;)
setup back the pair of 6400 double sided and there I go, first shot, 1066, volt on normal, 5.5.5.15 ;)

many boards don't like single sided stuffs ...

on mine the spd never stops to jump from 800 to 1066,
only a few time I could set it at spd 1066 and so runned at 1066
useless to try another speed, failed at 1140 :( vdimm normal :( and over 2.2v :(

so, for now I have set my "old"6400 and there it runs quite well
I'll take a bit of time to choose another brand, Gskills seems to make nice sticks, as corsair... the list is a bit long,
but in order I would go for Gskills, Corsair, Patriot.
they have to be DS and running at less then 2.2v ;)

i686

ps; I don't want to spit in the soup, but this 8500 are a mistake, single sided 1066mhz ????
must have been a mistake somewhere .. another one without job :-/, but I still consider Crucial as one of the best ram manufacturer ;)

[i686]

hi'

following the thread about Crucial rma and this one, I had an explanation, those 8500 are single sided and not compatible with all boards !
something in between, a hudge mistake, but they don't give a s****, ddr3 is on market now ;)

so to say that I rma my 8500 ballistix and I'll get some Corsair 8500 running at 2.1v, with a dominator fan, this will work, I phoned before to be sure, and it's ok and tested, even above 1142 at 2.2v ;)

i686

ps; did not take Gskills, coz of reports of rma too :(
and they could not tell me if they were 100% compatible :(

[freeagent]

i just aquired a set of ballistix pc8500 yesterday, im not sure if they are single sided or not, and im not sure how well they clock, but stock volts for these ballistix are 2.2v, same with my old set of 667s. on the package it says, BL2KIT12864AA1065. they are running with my gskill hz's (D9GCT) at 426fsb 4:5 (1068mhz) under prime blend all night, and so far so good! my last ballistix only lasted a week, hopefully these will be kinder to me :)

[Masska]

just sent mine back last week. Ran with no probs for a month, then all of a sudden:bang head
Question- how can you tell single from double sided??? where is this info?

[jason4207]

Just look at the RAM module from the top or bottom. You'll either see chips on both sides or 1 side.

[g0dM@n]

just sent mine back last week. Ran with no probs for a month, then all of a sudden:bang head
Question- how can you tell single from double sided??? where is this info?

First of all, you can actually SEE it's single-sided by looking at the ram from ABOVE it, through the heatspreaders. One side has no chips @ all.

Secondly, all of the newer batch ballistix that end in "8FE5" (NOT "16FB3") are ALL the newer design and are single-sided, whereas the old design is double-sided.

With that said, I just wanna let you all know that regardless if these sticks would do alright in a different board or not, the fact remains that even in a budget-overclocking board, such as the Abit IP35-E that I have them in, the sticks do NOT perform up to par. If single-sided RAM doesn't work on a decent system like the Abit IP35-E, then I don't think any excuse should justify this crap.

If it takes a powerful board to work well with this single-sided ram, then this ram can't be rated what it is since the average board wouldn't be BETTER than an Abit IP35-E or similar.

I think it's BS...

Last night I couldn't even PRIME at 4-5-5-15 2.2v 400mhz. I had to throw in a D9GMH to successfully blend PRIME.

This sux

[Masska]

Ok thanks, the more I read into it, it seems a lot of people are having problems with these.Having said that, is single or double better? and do manufacturers go for single sided purely for cost reasons, or are there benefits to single sided sticks?

[g0dM@n]

Ok thanks, the more I read into it, it seems a lot of people are having problems with these.Having said that, is single or double better? and do manufacturers go for single sided purely for cost reasons, or are there benefits to single sided sticks?

Single-sided will just mean higher density per chip. Think about it. 8 chips on each side of the ram... same size per stick at 1gb. Either 8 chips for 1gb or 16 chips for 1gb. At 8 chips it's 128mb chips for the single-sided, or 64mb chips for the double-sided. I'm sure it's cost reasons they go single-sided...

I'm not sure exactly why a board would like double-sided over single-sided b/c I remember in the old athlon XP days when the nforce2 chipset liked single-sided 2x256 setup better than double-sided 2x512 setup...

In any case, the fact remains that even a great board like the IP35-E can't do crucial's rated spec!!!!! It's SAD when the old D9GMH stuff gives me ZERO problems, but then the new stuff can't even do 4-5-5 stable at 2.2v???

[technoViking]

Thanks for this thread, I was going to get Crucial but decided to go with the G Skills!

[g0dM@n]

Thanks for this thread, I was going to get Crucial but decided to go with the G Skills!

I have OCZ Plat Rev2 that I may just have to replace the ballistix with in this machine. Sucks b/c I wanted to give my friend (that's who I built the machine for) ballistix tracers b/c of the cool lights.

[Masska]

Single-sided will just mean higher density per chip. Think about it. 8 chips on each side of the ram... same size per stick at 1gb. Either 8 chips for 1gb or 16 chips for 1gb. At 8 chips it's 128mb chips for the single-sided, or 64mb chips for the double-sided. I'm sure it's cost reasons they go single-sided...

I'm not sure exactly why a board would like double-sided over single-sided b/c I remember in the old athlon XP days when the nforce2 chipset liked single-sided 2x256 setup better than double-sided 2x512 setup...

In any case, the fact remains that even a great board like the IP35-E can't do crucial's rated spec!!!!! It's SAD when the old D9GMH stuff gives me ZERO problems, but then the new stuff can't even do 4-5-5 stable at 2.2v???

Do you think heat dispersion will differ from single and double? Maybe the singles get hotter. I noticed even at stock my maximus would always change the timmings on these sticks.I'm running ,4gb of GEIL at the moment until I get the new ones from Crucial and they are running at their stated timmings.
But with the Ballistixs it would always change them:confused:

[MadMan007]

Did it ever occur to anyone that clocking DDR2-800 to 1000+ could kill it? I know all about the 'same chips' theory but binning exists too. Also it *seems* as if older sticks are still going strong versus some of the more recent sticks.

This is aside from the single-sided issue.

[Masska]

Did it ever occur to anyone that clocking DDR2-800 to 1000+ could kill it? I know all about the 'same chips' theory but binning exists too. Also it *seems* as if older sticks are still going strong versus some of the more recent sticks.

This is aside from the single-sided issue.

Good point, with mine though I kept them at stock.

[MadMan007]

Were yours single or double-sided? I may have missed that in a previous post.

[g0dM@n]

Did it ever occur to anyone that clocking DDR2-800 to 1000+ could kill it? I know all about the 'same chips' theory but binning exists too. Also it *seems* as if older sticks are still going strong versus some of the more recent sticks.

This is aside from the single-sided issue.

Were yours single or double-sided? I may have missed that in a previous post.

Were you talking to me? Single-sided sticks.

And I didn't clock it to 1000mhz until 800mhz 4-4-4 was already not working. The SPD timings for the newer sticks still show 1000mhz 5-5-5-15 2.2v as an option.

[MadMan007]

I was replying to Masska, I would quote if it was anyone aside from the immediate prior post :)

But yea it seems like the single-sided Ballistix are just all-around crap. No wonder they're going so cheap, perhaps I should have kept mine longer and they would have gained value :p

[freeagent]

weird man, well, i got my stix yesterday (ballistix pc8500), and after reading this, i had to know fir sure.. mine are single sided, at this second, they are running 450x8 1:1 4-4-4-12 2.25v, my gskills only need 2.2 for that, but these need a lil more.. but.. i havent tried them on their own yet, ive just been running these and my gskills, wich are d9gct (nakid!) i just needed to bump my nb volts just a tad, but so far so good :thup:

http://img167.imagevenue.com/loc900/th_14226_Untitled_122_900lo.jpg (http://img167.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=14226_Untitled_122_900lo.jpg)

[ChinStrap]

i wonder what keeps killing these ram sticks? i know it's not the ram module it's self... i have two sets of G.skill HZ 2x1 (PC6400 and PC8000) and i'm *pretty* sure they are both running the D9GMH module. on 680i they run 1T command rate very easy. i've never had a problem with them. the pc6400 set i have has been under a dominator cooler their whole life, but heat shouldnt be whats killing this stuff. maybe they F*ed up somewhere in the manufacturing process???

this is odd. Did the DDR1 versions of the ballistix have this same problem? i wasnt into overclocking back then and just had some best buy kingston stuff....

[Masska]

Were yours single or double-sided? I may have missed that in a previous post.

Not sure, I'll wait till I get the replacements and have a proper look.

[Masska]

i wonder what keeps killing these ram sticks? i know it's not the ram module it's self... i have two sets of G.skill HZ 2x1 (PC6400 and PC8000) and i'm *pretty* sure they are both running the D9GMH module. on 680i they run 1T command rate very easy. i've never had a problem with them. the pc6400 set i have has been under a dominator cooler their whole life, but heat shouldnt be whats killing this stuff. maybe they F*ed up somewhere in the manufacturing process???

this is odd. Did the DDR1 versions of the ballistix have this same problem? i wasnt into overclocking back then and just had some best buy kingston stuff....

I wonder if it is manufacturing! I'm seeing RMA's from all over the world.
Do they all get manufactured in the one place?
Maybe its simply a design fault...
What ever it is, Crucial should do something about it and I hope they send me a good batch next time, I wont RMA them again.

[g0dM@n]

weird man, well, i got my stix yesterday (ballistix pc8500), and after reading this, i had to know fir sure.. mine are single sided, at this second, they are running 450x8 1:1 4-4-4-12 2.25v, my gskills only need 2.2 for that, but these need a lil more.. but.. i havent tried them on their own yet, ive just been running these and my gskills, wich are d9gct (nakid!) i just needed to bump my nb volts just a tad, but so far so good :thup:

http://img167.imagevenue.com/loc900/th_14226_Untitled_122_900lo.jpg (http://img167.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=14226_Untitled_122_900lo.jpg)

that may just be the 8500s being okay. the 6400s don't seem too well.

by the way, right now i'm testing 2gb ocz plat rev 2s that are rated 4-4-4-15 @ 800mhz and i think it says 1.9-2.1vdimm. i'm trying 2.0vdimm and we'll see if it can prime overnight.

just this past day, i primed over 10 hrs blend with a single stick of d9gmh at stock settings 400mhz 4-4-4-12 2.2v without a problem. i want to make sure the board doesn't have trouble with dual-channel by doing this test with the OCZ. if the OCZ passes at least 10hrs, then for SURE these single-sided 6400s (800 ddr2) are crap.

gotta wake up for work in 5 hrs!! :( gnite

[Hipcrostino]

weird man, well, i got my stix yesterday (ballistix pc8500), and after reading this, i had to know fir sure.. mine are single sided, at this second, they are running 450x8 1:1 4-4-4-12 2.25v, my gskills only need 2.2 for that, but these need a lil more.. but.. i havent tried them on their own yet, ive just been running these and my gskills, wich are d9gct (nakid!) i just needed to bump my nb volts just a tad, but so far so good :thup:

http://img167.imagevenue.com/loc900/th_14226_Untitled_122_900lo.jpg (http://img167.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=14226_Untitled_122_900lo.jpg)

my good old PC 8500 (double sided) set ran at 600mhz 5-5-5-15 on 2.2 volts for ages untill i decided to run tighter timings instead. They now run 533 4-4-4-8 2.35v

[tranceaddict]

When I got the E8400, I paired it with a 2GB set of ballistix pc8500. Needless to say, I ended up going through 2 RMAs and finally got the pair in my sig. My experience with the ballistix pc8500 is that they are the biggest P.O.S. memory sticks out there. They caused me weeks of downtime and more than $25 in RMA sending fees. The two pairs I had were both the single-sided ones, and they threw hundreds of memtest errors at even DDR-800 5-5-5-15 and 2.2V. They were not stable even below their spec. speed. I want nothing to do with Crucial again, and I highly discourage others from buying these sticks, as I know of many others who experienced simial problems.

[g0dM@n]

When I got the E8400, I paired it with a 2GB set of ballistix pc8500. Needless to say, I ended up going through 2 RMAs and finally got the pair in my sig. My experience with the ballistix pc8500 is that they are the biggest P.O.S. memory sticks out there. They caused me weeks of downtime and more than $25 in RMA sending fees. The two pairs I had were both the single-sided ones, and they threw hundreds of memtest errors at even DDR-800 5-5-5-15 and 2.2V. They were not stable even below their spec. speed. I want nothing to do with Crucial again, and I highly discourage others from buying these sticks, as I know of many others who experienced simial problems.

I'm truly ready to say bye-bye to Crucial myself, at least the ballistix line. The laptop ram they have has been nothing but perfect, so I'm fine with that.

by the way, right now i'm testing 2gb ocz plat rev 2s that are rated 4-4-4-15 @ 800mhz and i think it says 1.9-2.1vdimm. i'm trying 2.0vdimm and we'll see if it can prime overnight.

Alright, gentleman. I have set the 2GB OCZ Plat Rev2 DDR2-800 kit to its stock timings of 4-4-4-15 at 400mhz. I set the vdimm to 2.0v, and so far I've been doing a PRIME 95 Blend test since 1:50am EST. That's over 7 hours no problems, while the PIECE OF JUNK Tracers couldn't even break 30min.

I think I'm done testing. It's safe to say that the new chips are junk, or the Abit IP35-E is not a "good enough" board, which I will never say something stupid like that.

[terran2k]

I'll give it to OCZ for reliability, well this is with my experience with them on my AMD system and DDR1 memory. those sticks went thru hell and back while I was learning to OC on my DFI lanparty. my Ballistix DDR1 died on that system and had to RMA. Although my current set of DDR2 Ballistix tracers were running at 1200Mhz for a while before I backed it down, due to fear of killing them. but they've been good so far.

[MadMan007]

The majority of the complaints are about the single-sided stuff? Seems like a classic oc'ing 'revision debacle' when the supposedly same part is changed in some way and becomes crap.

[g0dM@n]

The majority of the complaints are about the single-sided stuff? Seems like a classic oc'ing 'revision debacle' when the supposedly same part is changed in some way and becaomes crap.

I hate them now... I really am upset b/c it was my fav type of ram until now.

[Maverick0984]

I have a pair of double sided DDR2-800 and a pair of single sided DDR2-800, running together, in a P5K Premium.

Of course, I do have a fan blowing on them for active cooling. Seems to help things alot more.

That said, they certainly shouldn't *need* a fan at stock settings, I understand that. But if it a $2-$3 fan allows them to work and run much cooler, also cooling surround objects, then why not do it?

[freeagent]

I have a pair of double sided DDR2-800 and a pair of single sided DDR2-800, running together, in a P5K Premium.

Of course, I do have a fan blowing on them for active cooling. Seems to help things alot more.

That said, they certainly shouldn't *need* a fan at stock settings, I understand that. But if it a $2-$3 fan allows them to work and run much cooler, also cooling surround objects, then why not do it?


fans work good, i have 2 of em covering all 4 as well, those fans help keep nb temps down too. my gskills are nakid tho, i havent run ram like that before, and never without a fan. i used to use that ocz xtc cooler.. dureing those days i had bad luck with ram, 8 gigs of d9gmh death= woohoo. its sad to see that single sided sticks arent doing as well as their predecessors.. makes me glad all my dead stuff has a lifetime warranty lol

edit:


ahh, no it doesnt, because ittl just get replaced with new stuff, booo :mad: