Negative hype about crucial ballistix 2gb ddr500 pc4000

[Sean Maxwell]

So I want to make the jump to another gigger, but I've heard all this negative hype about the crucial ballistix (which apparently are able to hit 300Mhz at fairly relaxed timings)..

Well, I come here with two questions:

1) Are their other known 2GB kits to hit 300Mhz fairly easily?

2) Can customers of the crucial ballistix add some clarity to this negative hype?

thanks in advance

 

[SMOKE20]

What's the negative except for the cost? I have a gig in one system and like you said, it hits 300.......all I've ever read are positives again, except for the cost.

 

[Sean Maxwell]

Originally posted by: SMOKE20
What's the negative except for the cost? I have a gig in one system and like you said, it hits 300.......all I've ever read are positives again, except for the cost.

Apparently they RMA more than they preserve data ^_^

i'll do a quick google and throw up a link

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29743&highlight=1gb

check these newegg reviews http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustRatingReview.asp?Item=N82E16820146578

 

[SMOKE20]

Originally posted by: Sean Maxwell

Originally posted by: SMOKE20
What's the negative except for the cost? I have a gig in one system and like you said, it hits 300.......all I've ever read are positives again, except for the cost.

Apparently they RMA more than they preserve data ^_^

i'll do a quick google and throw up a link

Can't say I've ever heard that.......I used to use a lot of Crucial on Intel builds but got away from it because of the cost and AMD's on chip controller negates fast memory for the most part. I have to say though, the 1GB of Ballistix I have does better than everything else I've used....

Wow, read them.......must have gotten a bad run of them or something. Mine is running at 2.8 as I speak and has for at least 8 months......

If your system is an AMD, I'd just go for some Value ram or if you just really want to get the best, go with Mushkin Red Line.....

 

[icyroy05]

Well the negatives that I know of are: 1) At 300 and lower mhz some sticks were dying after a matter of weeks. 2) From what I've heard is that Crucial may or may not be making anymore ballistix sticks but it seems they still are right now. Heres a thread that talks on the issue, http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=86788 .

When they work then they are pretty good, but if not, well you might end up in an RMA cycle of bad sticks like a few people. I think the problems originated from a bad batch of micron chips. The old batches were awesome but the new ones are not so great. Not trying to scare you away from them but something to think about. I personally don't own them but I've read a lot about the sticks.

Now a good alternative I actually own are the G.Skill 2GB HZ kits, they are great IMO. Heres a link to them: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231021

 

[Sean Maxwell]

Originally posted by: SMOKE20

Originally posted by: Sean Maxwell

Originally posted by: SMOKE20
What's the negative except for the cost? I have a gig in one system and like you said, it hits 300.......all I've ever read are positives again, except for the cost.

Apparently they RMA more than they preserve data ^_^

i'll do a quick google and throw up a link

Can't say I've ever heard that.......I used to use a lot of Crucial on Intel builds but got away from it because of the cost and AMD's on chip controller negates fast memory for the most part. I have to say though, the 1GB of Ballistix I have does better than everything else I've used....

Wow, read them.......must have gotten a bad run of them or something. Mine is running at 2.8 as I speak and has for at least 8 months......

If your system is an AMD, I'd just go for some Value ram or if you just really want to get the best, go with Mushkin Red Line.....

I would but value ram will have no chance at hitting 300Mhz, and if it doesnt I need atleast 250Mhz

 

[icyroy05]

wow I was really beaten to the reply, lol

 

[SMOKE20]

Originally posted by: Sean Maxwell

Originally posted by: SMOKE20

Originally posted by: Sean Maxwell

Originally posted by: SMOKE20
What's the negative except for the cost? I have a gig in one system and like you said, it hits 300.......all I've ever read are positives again, except for the cost.

Apparently they RMA more than they preserve data ^_^

i'll do a quick google and throw up a link

Can't say I've ever heard that.......I used to use a lot of Crucial on Intel builds but got away from it because of the cost and AMD's on chip controller negates fast memory for the most part. I have to say though, the 1GB of Ballistix I have does better than everything else I've used....

Wow, read them.......must have gotten a bad run of them or something. Mine is running at 2.8 as I speak and has for at least 8 months......

If your system is an AMD, I'd just go for some Value ram or if you just really want to get the best, go with Mushkin Red Line.....

I would but value ram will have no chance at hitting 300Mhz, and if it doesnt I need atleast 250Mhz

Most value ram I've (Corsair, OCZ) had will do 250........if you wanna go higher, get the Mushkin...

 

[Nocturnal]

The RMA rate is extremely high and Crucial has stopped production on this particular kit. There is speculation that the production stopping was due to DDR2 and AM2 but people are otherwise speculating that it is due to the high volume of RMAs that Crucial has been receiving.

 

[Sean Maxwell]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
The RMA rate is extremely high and Crucial has stopped production on this particular kit. There is speculation that the production stopping was due to DDR2 and AM2 but people are otherwise speculating that it is due to the high volume of RMAs that Crucial has been receiving.

OK thanks, I guess I'll steer clear of these

 

[Bozo Galora]

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=981479&page=1&pp=20

 

[Boztech]

The RMA rate is high because people buy this RAM for its overclocking prowess and kill it by running it over 2.8v and without active cooling. Unfortunately the Micron chips run hot and die easily when overvolted.

I should know I'm on my 3rd set.

 

[nerp]

No problems here so far. Been running about a month now, 24/7 with heavy use, no issues. I haven't pushed them much higher than my stable overclock and voltages are at the default 2.7. See sig.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Why do you even need 250FSB on RAM? Bandwidth barely affects performance at all, and you can always run a memory divider when overclocking. It's just a huge waste of money. And about the Ballistix, Anandtech said that lots of sticks were being fried by high voltages.

 

[Boztech]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
Why do you even need 250FSB on RAM? Bandwidth barely affects performance at all, and you can always run a memory divider when overclocking. It's just a huge waste of money. And about the Ballistix, Anandtech said that lots of sticks were being fried by high voltages.

I beg to differ, there is a VERY noticeable difference between when I was running 9x290Mhz 1:1 and now that I am running 10x260 CPU/12 (Ram @ 216.7Mhz). I'm talking SOTP, not just numbers from synthetic benchmarks.

The divider also limits what FSB you can run with your CPU. Either your RAM ends up running below spec or beyond what it's capable of overclocking to.

 

[arcenite]

Originally posted by: Boztech

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb
Why do you even need 250FSB on RAM? Bandwidth barely affects performance at all, and you can always run a memory divider when overclocking. It's just a huge waste of money. And about the Ballistix, Anandtech said that lots of sticks were being fried by high voltages.

I beg to differ, there is a VERY noticeable difference between when I was running 9x290Mhz 1:1 and now that I am running 10x260 CPU/12 (Ram @ 216.7Mhz). I'm talking SOTP, not just numbers from synthetic benchmarks.

The divider also limits what FSB you can run with your CPU. Either your RAM ends up running below spec or beyond what it's capable of overclocking to.

Depends on how much you want to spend on the minor performance increase... IMO and many others, it is simply not worth it.

 

[nerp]

It wasn't a big bite out of my wallet and overclocking is painfully easy when you can just set the FSB to 250, lower the HTT to 4x and forget about it.

Having tight timings at a high FSB is also nice. For many, the cost issue isn't that big of a deal.