Crucial Ballistix 2x512 ddr400

mantaphor · Jan 17, 2006

Crucial/Patriot/OCZ/G.Skill?

Current ram on my main computer is dying :eh?:

. I'm experiencing memtest failures every couple of runs, and an unusual amount of HL2 errors. Testing with some old PC2700 shows stability and no errors. It was (and sort of - still is) some off brand ddr400 that ran ddr500 for a good year.

There is no real need for me to upgrade to 2 x 1024; however, it is affordable. I'd like to keep in the range of $150. My 3000+ can run up to 2.8ghz [haven't tried anything higher :shrug:

], so some DDR600+ could be put to good use.

I've narrowed my options down to a few choices:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820148007
Crucial Ballistix 2 x 512 DDR400 2-2-2-6
115$
The real question: is this any good?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220033
Patriot XBLK 2 x 512 (TCCD)
155$

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227208
OCZ DDR600 2 x 512 Plat.
180$

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231021
G. Skill 2 x 1024 DDR500
197$

Each seem to offer something different. The first Crucial Ballistix look awful appealing at only 115$, but I can't find any real testimony to their quality. Any advice or suggestions for optimal price/performance ratio is greatly appreciated. Would like to order within the night or tomorrow, so it can be set-up for CAL-Match on monday

.

azu · Jan 17, 2006

alrighty ill do the testimony

it gets the job done.

you can run 2-2-2-6 @ 420 @ 2.85v

but i found that

2-2-2-8 @ 400 @ 2.6 - 2.8v [2.8 is default but unecessary]

feels faster? more bandwith im guessing. haven't had time to bench. my motherboard died so i can't do anything to prove anything. sorrry. i have pics of the ballistix and thats it.

it works though. they get the job done.

for me.. they look good. my entire case is al black PCB
black gpus
black mb
black ram

its hot

Bullnettles · Jan 19, 2006

I have them and mine did 420 at 2-2-2-5. I love them and give two thumbs up to the ballistix. At that price, OH YEAH. I've bought two seperate sticks for 80 apiece. Do it, buy these.

Edit: mine hit 250 rock stable @ 2.85vDimm at 2.5-3-2-5 so if that's what you're looking for...

avalanche83 · Jan 19, 2006

The Ballistix do 1.5-2-2-6 at 200MHZ and 3-3-3-8 at 300MHz with the .16T sticks. If you end up getting some that doesn't have .16T on the sticks then you probably won't get those results.

I have two different ones. One is .16T (retail) and the other is a long shlew of numbers (oem). The .16T does what is mentioned above. There is another source of the same thing confirming this, and he has the pc3200 Ballistix. The oem one can only do 285MHz stable.

Edit: Got the oem one to do 300MHz stable, but can't get them both to run in single channel at 300MHz.

(cf)eclipse · Jan 19, 2006

cas1.5 is slower than cas2 except on the two new dfi boards

and yes, definitly go with the ballistix. i just got two sticks straight from crucial yesterday, they easily do 300mhz at 3-3-3, probably around 260-270mhz at 2.5-2-2, just like my other two 512mb pc3200 ballistix i got back in november :santa:

(which have shown no signs of failure fwiw, that seems to only effect the 5b D based sticks)

avalanche83 · Jan 19, 2006

Another weird thing about my 2 x 512mb Ballistix is that I can run them at 2-1-1-4 @ 200MHz perfectly stable on occasion, but only while both sticks are used. It will go to memtest sometimes and sometimes it won't.

mantaphor · Jan 20, 2006

I appreciate all of the information. Went ahead and ordered the Crucials - newegg + UPS 3day = ~6days

Will follow up with results.

avalanche83 · Jan 20, 2006

(cf)eclipse said:
cas1.5 is slower than cas2 except on the two new dfi boards

and yes, definitly go with the ballistix. i just got two sticks straight from crucial yesterday, they easily do 300mhz at 3-3-3, probably around 260-270mhz at 2.5-2-2, just like my other two 512mb pc3200 ballistix i got back in november (which have shown no signs of failure fwiw, that seems to only effect the 5b D based sticks)

Just to show that CAS 1.5 is a tad faster than CAS 2 even on the older DFI

.

Here is CAS 1.5-2-2-6. It was 48ns, but saved it as bitmap and ran it a second time.

Here is CAS 2-2-2-6

And here is CAS 2-1-1-4. It really wasn't a factor because I could only get it on 2T. BTW I like the fact how it doesn't even register on CPU-Z.

disk11 · Jan 21, 2006

Anyone know how these run in a P4 865/875 setup?

avalanche83 · Jan 21, 2006

What mem voltages does it have? It usually takes 3.0v - 3.1v to overclock to 300MHz.

azu · Jan 21, 2006

no idea..

i bought the 1 gig kit 2x512

they seem to be working fine for $116.. 16T kit

Bullnettles · Jan 21, 2006

disk11 said:
Anyone know how these run in a P4 865/875 setup?

I'm there, what do you need to know?

avalanche83 · Jan 21, 2006

azu said:
no idea..

i bought the 1 gig kit 2x512

they seem to be working fine for $116.. 16T kit

Sweat. Find the max overclock and post in the DRAM stable settings database.

mantaphor · Jan 21, 2006

Thanks for all of the info avalanche83, we'll see what mine can do once they arrive.

avalanche83 · Jan 21, 2006

Can't wait to see the results.

CCUABIDExORxDIE · Jan 21, 2006

(cf)eclipse said:
cas1.5 is slower than cas2 except on the two new dfi boards

and yes, definitly go with the ballistix. i just got two sticks straight from crucial yesterday, they easily do 300mhz at 3-3-3, probably around 260-270mhz at 2.5-2-2, just like my other two 512mb pc3200 ballistix i got back in november (which have shown no signs of failure fwiw, that seems to only effect the 5b D based sticks)

those are my sticks! i cant wait for my opteron, then ill really be able to push them

mantaphor · Jan 23, 2006

Sticks came in today. Satisfied to say the least, and pretty sure I can get alot more out of these.

Some Previews (Done in 20mins, excuse the sizing and lack of effort):

300mhz 1:1 CPU-Z

Latency:

Read:

LOAD Temperatures:

SuperPi1M @ 30~seconds with 3-3-3-8 ddr600.
Also tried 250mhz 1:1 @ 2.5-2-2-5 ... only using 2.8V [standard] for that clock too. Hopefully I will see some tighter timings at 300mhz -- just booted straight at 3-3-3-8 -- and 2-2-2-5 @ 250mhz.

More to come

CCUABIDExORxDIE · Jan 23, 2006

tweak the secondaries some more. youll be able to get better scores, as ballistix can run as tight of secondaries as BH5. lets see an A64 Tweaker screenie.

avalanche83 · Jan 23, 2006

Try running through memtest 86+ to see if 2.8v is actually stable. If so you probably do have some more head room, but you may end up needing 3.0v. Increasing the drive strength also helps these IC's.

Run those through 32m Super Pi and post in the DRAM stable database for others to reference.

Crucial Ballistix 2x512 ddr400

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