mojo
10-27-2006, 01:00 PM
Module Details: http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/6274/ballistixtracer184pindiru5.gif
Part Number: BL2KIT12864L503
Module Size: 2GB kit (1GBx2)
Package: Ballistix Tracer 184-pin DIMM (with LEDs)
Feature: DDR PC4000
Configuration: 128Meg x 64
DIMM Type:
Error Checking: NON-ECC
Speed: DDR500
Voltage: 2.8V
Memory Timings: 3-4-4-8
Specs: DDR PC4000 • 3-4-4-8 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR500 • 2.8V • 128Meg x 64Packaging and Contents:
The kit was shipped with the DIMMs packaged in sealed anti-static bags, and contained in the typical brown cardboard box for which Crucial has become famous. The package and contents are shown in the following pics. (click to view large photos)
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/559/packageopeiningsmallpm0.th.jpg (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=packageopeiningsmallpm0.jpg)http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/2857/contentssmallyd9.th.jpg (http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=contentssmallyd9.jpg)
Installation
Installation was fairly simple. No hiccups no speed bumps. Once you snap these guys in their banks, and u power on, those pesky little LEDS light up like a Christmas tree and let you know that you did it right. below are 2 pics taken at night one with flash and one without flash. They show the light produced by the LEDs. My active air cooling was in the way of the pic, but ever since my bad experiences with BH-5 crapping out on me, I am kind of sceptical about removing my 120mm fan from blowing over the DIMMs. Forgive the quality of the pics, the only camera I had available at the time was a Sony 7MP point and shoot camera. If I had my SLR at hand better quality shots would have been produced, as I am not too familiar with noob cameras.
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6828/ledsdaybr2.th.jpg (http://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ledsdaybr2.jpg)http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/6877/ledsnightnr3.th.jpg (http://img47.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ledsnightnr3.jpg)
As you can see, those LEDs sure do stand out in the dark. Honestly, I think it's a nuisance when I'm trying to sleep at night and these things are like my mickey mouse nightlight. However, if you are not the kind of person who needs total darkness to sleep, these wont bother you much.
Test Setup
Mainboard: DFI Lan Party UT NF4-Ultra-D
Processor: AMD Opteron 148 2.2GHz 1MB L2 cache
Power Supply: Enermax 535W SLI certified PSU
Hard Drive: Seagate 160GB ATA 100 7200RPM
Memory:1GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC 4000 vs 512MB Mushkin PC 4000 Redline.
Sound: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS.
Video: EVGA Geforce 7800GT.
Performance and Overclocking
Around 9 months ago, upgrading to a 2GB kit of 1GB sticks would have meant a serious performance loss. In some cases it would have meant better performance to use 4x512MB sticks running at 2T rather than 2 1GB sticks at 1T. I got these as an upgrade from my bh-5 based mushkin redline XP4000 2-2-2 kit. At the time of this review, one of my bh-5 sticks was cold booting, so I had to do my comparison based on 1 stick of 512MB bh-5 vs 1 stick of 1GB Crucial Ballistix (Micron 5B-F). By doing this, i limited the performance of the memory controller in both cases to 64 bits wide, and hence, the loss in performance was proportional in both cases.
The results I got in my tests might seem a little lower than what other people have gotten in other reviews. The only way I can explain this is that I was not very lucky to get a cherry picked kit. I can say however, that from what I have read about both kits mentioned, my results are just about average. Also, the voltage I used for these tests were 3.4V for Redlines and 2.8V for Ballistix. Higher overclocks are possible with more voltage in both cases, but have also been reported to kill the modules.
For stability, the overclocked system was tested with the following apps:
3DMark06
Super Pi
Prime95
MemtestX86
For some of these tests (memtest and Prime) the stress tests were run for over 12 hours. Only when these tests were run without any warnings or errors was the system considered stable.
To measure performance, Sisoft Sandra' s memory bandwidth and memory latency benchmarks were used. The following are the results of the tests.
Crucial Ballistix Tracer 1GB PC 4000: highest stable clock - 290MHz 3-3-3-6(1T)
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/1948/ballistixcpuzwo9.png
Memory Benchmark score: 4425MB/s average of float and int.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8625/ballistixsandrawe3.png
Mushkin XP 4000 Redline 512MB: Highest stable clock: 261MHz 2-2-2-5 (1T)
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4686/mushkincpuzip2.png
Memory benchmark score: 4036MB/s average of float and int.
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/4792/mushkinbandwidther9.png
Interpretation of Results
Well, at a glance, the Ballistix kit may seem like a clear winner, however, the memory latency of the Ballistix from Crucial is 69ns compared to 54ns on the Redlines. Even though the Ballistix sticks can provide more bandwidth, the better latency which is characteristic of BH-5 does give the redlines a bit of advantage even though beaten in the bandwidth arena.
Conclusion
One year ago, upgrading to 1GB sticks from a high end product like Mushkin Redlines would have meant a serious loss of performance, but with products like this Ballistix kit from Crucial we are now seeing similar performance as was seen with high end 512MB sticks being put into 1GB sticks. Of course, more memory is always better, especially with Microsoft's expected pre-Christmas launch of Windows Vista around the corner.
Part Number: BL2KIT12864L503
Module Size: 2GB kit (1GBx2)
Package: Ballistix Tracer 184-pin DIMM (with LEDs)
Feature: DDR PC4000
Configuration: 128Meg x 64
DIMM Type:
Error Checking: NON-ECC
Speed: DDR500
Voltage: 2.8V
Memory Timings: 3-4-4-8
Specs: DDR PC4000 • 3-4-4-8 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR500 • 2.8V • 128Meg x 64Packaging and Contents:
The kit was shipped with the DIMMs packaged in sealed anti-static bags, and contained in the typical brown cardboard box for which Crucial has become famous. The package and contents are shown in the following pics. (click to view large photos)
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/559/packageopeiningsmallpm0.th.jpg (http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=packageopeiningsmallpm0.jpg)http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/2857/contentssmallyd9.th.jpg (http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=contentssmallyd9.jpg)
Installation
Installation was fairly simple. No hiccups no speed bumps. Once you snap these guys in their banks, and u power on, those pesky little LEDS light up like a Christmas tree and let you know that you did it right. below are 2 pics taken at night one with flash and one without flash. They show the light produced by the LEDs. My active air cooling was in the way of the pic, but ever since my bad experiences with BH-5 crapping out on me, I am kind of sceptical about removing my 120mm fan from blowing over the DIMMs. Forgive the quality of the pics, the only camera I had available at the time was a Sony 7MP point and shoot camera. If I had my SLR at hand better quality shots would have been produced, as I am not too familiar with noob cameras.
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6828/ledsdaybr2.th.jpg (http://img255.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ledsdaybr2.jpg)http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/6877/ledsnightnr3.th.jpg (http://img47.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ledsnightnr3.jpg)
As you can see, those LEDs sure do stand out in the dark. Honestly, I think it's a nuisance when I'm trying to sleep at night and these things are like my mickey mouse nightlight. However, if you are not the kind of person who needs total darkness to sleep, these wont bother you much.
Test Setup
Mainboard: DFI Lan Party UT NF4-Ultra-D
Processor: AMD Opteron 148 2.2GHz 1MB L2 cache
Power Supply: Enermax 535W SLI certified PSU
Hard Drive: Seagate 160GB ATA 100 7200RPM
Memory:1GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC 4000 vs 512MB Mushkin PC 4000 Redline.
Sound: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS.
Video: EVGA Geforce 7800GT.
Performance and Overclocking
Around 9 months ago, upgrading to a 2GB kit of 1GB sticks would have meant a serious performance loss. In some cases it would have meant better performance to use 4x512MB sticks running at 2T rather than 2 1GB sticks at 1T. I got these as an upgrade from my bh-5 based mushkin redline XP4000 2-2-2 kit. At the time of this review, one of my bh-5 sticks was cold booting, so I had to do my comparison based on 1 stick of 512MB bh-5 vs 1 stick of 1GB Crucial Ballistix (Micron 5B-F). By doing this, i limited the performance of the memory controller in both cases to 64 bits wide, and hence, the loss in performance was proportional in both cases.
The results I got in my tests might seem a little lower than what other people have gotten in other reviews. The only way I can explain this is that I was not very lucky to get a cherry picked kit. I can say however, that from what I have read about both kits mentioned, my results are just about average. Also, the voltage I used for these tests were 3.4V for Redlines and 2.8V for Ballistix. Higher overclocks are possible with more voltage in both cases, but have also been reported to kill the modules.
For stability, the overclocked system was tested with the following apps:
3DMark06
Super Pi
Prime95
MemtestX86
For some of these tests (memtest and Prime) the stress tests were run for over 12 hours. Only when these tests were run without any warnings or errors was the system considered stable.
To measure performance, Sisoft Sandra' s memory bandwidth and memory latency benchmarks were used. The following are the results of the tests.
Crucial Ballistix Tracer 1GB PC 4000: highest stable clock - 290MHz 3-3-3-6(1T)
http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/1948/ballistixcpuzwo9.png
Memory Benchmark score: 4425MB/s average of float and int.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/8625/ballistixsandrawe3.png
Mushkin XP 4000 Redline 512MB: Highest stable clock: 261MHz 2-2-2-5 (1T)
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4686/mushkincpuzip2.png
Memory benchmark score: 4036MB/s average of float and int.
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/4792/mushkinbandwidther9.png
Interpretation of Results
Well, at a glance, the Ballistix kit may seem like a clear winner, however, the memory latency of the Ballistix from Crucial is 69ns compared to 54ns on the Redlines. Even though the Ballistix sticks can provide more bandwidth, the better latency which is characteristic of BH-5 does give the redlines a bit of advantage even though beaten in the bandwidth arena.
Conclusion
One year ago, upgrading to 1GB sticks from a high end product like Mushkin Redlines would have meant a serious loss of performance, but with products like this Ballistix kit from Crucial we are now seeing similar performance as was seen with high end 512MB sticks being put into 1GB sticks. Of course, more memory is always better, especially with Microsoft's expected pre-Christmas launch of Windows Vista around the corner.