Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600 / PC3-12800

Thanks to ExtremePC.com.au for lending me a 2GB kit of Crucial Ballistix PC3-12800 DDR3-1600 memory modules to test out :)

Typical Crucial conservative memory rating scheme :)

Specs:

• 2GB kit (1GBx2)
• Ballistix 240-pin DIMM
• DDR3 PC3-12800
• DDR3-1600 8-8-8-20 at 1.8v
• Unbuffered NON-ECC
• 128Meg x 64

Some photos for now. Bit busy right now, so testing will begin later this week hopefully I shall have some X38 chipset motherboards to test them out on later this week or next week :)

http://i4memory.com/reviewimages/mem...ls/thumb_1.jpg http://i4memory.com/reviewimages/mem...ls/thumb_2.jpg http://i4memory.com/reviewimages/mem...ls/thumb_3.jpg

http://i4memory.com/reviewimages/mem...ls/thumb_5.jpg http://i4memory.com/reviewimages/mem...ls/thumb_9.jpg http://i4memory.com/reviewimages/mem...ls/thumb_6.jpg

You tease with pics. Eager for results. I've had better luck with crucial memory since I started building pc's.

nice modules eva2000 ^_^

waiting for your results.. :) any X38 ddr3 mobo to use??

dont like the heatspreaders, boring design and the orange isnt really blowing my mind either :P
but hey, its the inner values that matter hehe
come on goerge, post some results already, at least a quick screenshot or something :D

Impatient to know the results :)

I must confess, I am really looking forward to the results ...
@eva2000: Which X38 mobos will you get ? Just asking ;)

Waiting for results! Always good to hear ballistix name :D

No X38 on hand right now... but later :)

Thought I'd do a quick overclock to keep some folks happy until I have more time to really test this memory out :D

Notice cpuz reports this 2GB Crucial Ballistix PC3-12800 supports XMP - Extreme Memory Profiles for X38 :)

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli..._validated.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...2m52s906ms.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...5_mem_8488.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...em-buff_tn.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...-unbuff_tn.png

High high expectations for this ram to live up to coming from the Crucial Ballistix pedigree...let's see if it can rise to the occasion. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gautam

High high expectations for this ram to live up to coming from the Crucial Ballistix pedigree...let's see if it can rise to the occasion. :D

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We shall see hehe

Last bench for the nite :D

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli..._validated.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...2m44s109ms.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...on/everest.png

Weird SPD XMP profile 3.155v vdimm in Everest and 4.55v XMP profile in cpuz SPD LOL
http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...verest_spd.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...i/mem-buff.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...mem-unbuff.png

Promising results ... ;) Shall they have equal performance to the DDR2 Ballistix ones, or even better, we talk about a magnificent DDR3 kit ... :D

nice Q6600 eva2000 :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by saaya

dont like the heatspreaders, boring design and the orange isnt really blowing my mind either :P

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isnt that pretty much just saying the same thing 3 different ways?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kunaak

isnt that pretty much just saying the same thing 3 different ways?

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Ahh he's just spoiled for choice because his company gets to pimp theirs in big fancy aluminum ones :p:

Some more benchmarks - just quick ones not much stability test wise. Not as fast as 950Mhz 7-7-7-20 though but close at 950mhz 8-7-6-20.

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli..._validated.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...s_pcprobe2.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...on/everest.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...5_mem_8753.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...i/mem-buff.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/Bli...mem-unbuff.png

Eva how tight can they be run, 6-5-5 test maybe?

Thats really nice but I would like to now how much is the price to get this performance.:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Johnny Bravo

Eva how tight can they be run, 6-5-5 test maybe?

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won't boot at CAS6 at DDR3-1600 but haven't tried more than 2.0v The memory is more optimised for CAS8 than CAS6.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eva2000

won't boot at CAS6 at DDR3-1600 but haven't tried more than 2.0v The memory is more optimised for CAS8 than CAS6.

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:up: thanks for the heads up

Haven't had much time to test this memory as I'm busy all this week with other non-pc personal work so will have to wait until next week to properly test this memory out.

But from past 2 days I've done some quick overclock benchmarks to get an idea of what this memory can and can't do.

A few notes:

• Asus Blitz Extreme, like other DDR3 boards only has 1:2 divider as the highest cpu:memory divider available. So to hit >DDR3-2000+, you will need a motherboard and cpu that is capable of >500FSB.
• Asus Blitz Extreme of mine is FSB limited around 485-495FSB. Even my E6600 that does 530FSB on Asus Blitz Formula, only reaches 485FSB on Asus Blitz Extreme. So no way to hit >DDR3-2000+ even if the DDR3 memory is capable of it on this board. I'll wait for some X38 motherboards to see if I can get higher FSB.
• Crucial PC3-12800 seems to be optimised for CAS8 requiring less vdimm memory voltage to reach DDR3-1800+ memory speeds than my OCZ PC3-14400 Platinum and also handling tighter tRCD and tRP at those high clocks, Crucial 8-7-6-x easier than OCZ 8-8-8-x at >DDR3-1840-1900.
• But OCZ PC3-1400 Platinum can hit DDR3-1940Mhz 8-8-8-27 at 2.12v. Crucials seem to be hitting around DDR3-1900-1920 8-8-8-20 at 2.1v.
• But the Crucial PC3-12800 can't handle as high memory clocks for CAS7-7-7-20 as OCZ PC3-14400 Platinum even with same vdimm voltage as OCZ. Crucial PC3-12800 did around DDR3-1650 7-7-7-20 at 1.9v but required more vdimm to go higher so tried CAS8 and overclockability was alot higher. OCZ PC3-14400 can hit DDR3-1900 at 7-7-7-18 at 2.2
• Both Crucial and OCZ DDR3 memories couldn't boot at CAS6 at DDR3-1600 but I haven't tried more than 2.0v vdimm with CAS6.
• Interesting behaviour of probably the board or memory is that Crucial don't like more than 2.1v vdimm if you manually set strap to 266FSB with 1T enabled - it gives more memtest86+ v1.70 errors as you push vdimm >2.1v. But set to 333FSB strap the memory can respond to >2.1v better.
• To be fair, I've had less than 16hrs with with Crucial PC3-12800 compared to 2+ months testing OCZ PC3-14400 Platinums, so need to wait until next week for more time to properly test the Crucial PC3-12800s.

Cut short Blitz Extreme testing due to low board FSB ceiling of 485-495FSB. Moved to Asus P5K3 Deluxe and much better FSB clocking and easier ram clocks it seems :)

This is 822mhz 7-6-5-20 1T at 1.90v bios set vdimm.

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/P5K...1ms_memset.png

http://fileshosts.com/intel/Asus/P5K..._bandwidth.png

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eva2000

Cut short Blitz Extreme testing due to low board FSB ceiling of 485-495FSB. Moved to Asus P5K3 Deluxe and much better FSB clocking and easier ram clocks it seems :)

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looking good so far...i am about the same spot as you @ 7-6-5. keep in mind the P5K3 seems to overvolt VDIMM by .05 from BIOS set.

i have hit a hard wall at 930MHz 8-7-6 @ 1.85v (DMM) with my Ballistix kit on 266 strap, i am assuming it is motherboard limited but haven't tried everything just yet to get past it. more VDIMM doesn't seem to allow 940MHz 8-7-6 to run dual 32M. will be interesting to see what you come up with on your P5K3 as our kits seem to be quite similar.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eva2000

Cut short Blitz Extreme testing due to low board FSB ceiling of 485-495FSB. Moved to Asus P5K3 Deluxe and much better FSB clocking and easier ram clocks it seems :)
.....

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... imho, is not a trouble with motherboard because Blitz Extreme is able to make better (look at Kamel results with Blitz Extreme http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...95&postcount=1)

I think it is a trouble with CPU bios support. Blitz Extreme bios does not like E6600 CPUs.

but same with E6700 L629B079 max 514FSB on other boards, 485FSB on Blitz Extreme, Q6600 B3 ES 501FSB on P5K Deluxe, 485FSB max on Blitz Extreme, Q6600 G0 L725A903 493FSB on Blitz Extreme.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eva2000

but same with E6700 L629B079 max 514FSB on other boards, 485FSB on Blitz Extreme, Q6600 B3 ES 501FSB on P5K Deluxe, 485FSB max on Blitz Extreme, Q6600 G0 L725A903 493FSB on Blitz Extreme.

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Maybe your Blitz Extreme it is not so lucky it is one of the possibilities.

We tried with air and water cooling:
E6420 around 550 FSB in both motherboard (Blitz Extreme and P5K3)
E6850 around 540 FSB (no tests with P5K3)
E6600 560-570 FSB on DFI 965P but only 495 on Blitz Extreme.

So at the end in our tests Blitz Extreme performs well only with some CPU types. For our motherboard is not a trouble of FSB wall related to motherboard, because Blitz Extreme in our hands was able to reach 550 of FSB.

For these reasons I am thinking about some trouble with bios CPU support. I think you have to try with E6420 or E6850.