Ballistix the best 2x1GB to buy at the moment?

As in the title.

Are they the best 1GB sticks avaliable at the moment or is there something better? Price doesnt really matter as ballistix are just about the most expensive 1gb sticks there are (in the UK at least).

I have the choice to upgrade to an X1800XT 512mb or a 7800GT + 2x1GB sticks. I have 2x512mb of gskill LE and a 6800GT at the moment, which option would you take?

EDIT: Also I see in the 2x1GB database that ballistix 'Z503' are the best, what does Z503 mean? PCB or what? Can you get them now in the UK? Is there a revision number for them?

The Ballistix go OC higher than any other 2x1gig sticks around, and they do it at decent timings. I've had several pairs and liked them alot. BUT I also had to rma 2 sets, and from what I've seen posted they have been dieing pretty frequently. Not sure if its just high Vdimm (over 2.8v) that is doing them in or high mhz. Either way I'm not sure its worth the risk.

Right now I'd have to vote for offerings with UCCC. Most will do 270mhz at 3-4-4-7 @ 2.7v or less, and if your lucky maybe 280mhz or more.

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Originally Posted by Major

The Ballistix go OC higher than any other 2x1gig sticks around, and they do it at decent timings. I've had several pairs and liked them alot. BUT I also had to rma 2 sets, and from what I've seen posted they have been dieing pretty frequently. Not sure if its just high Vdimm (over 2.8v) that is doing them in or high mhz. Either way I'm not sure its worth the risk.

Right now I'd have to vote for offerings with UCCC. Most will do 270mhz at 3-4-4-7 @ 2.7v or less, and if your lucky maybe 280mhz or more.

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Yeah I scaned the thread about ballistix having a flakey batch, wonder if that batch has made its way to the UK yet, or if the stock we have is earlier or later.

So basically, if the sticks dont die, they are the best 2x1gb avaliable?

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Originally Posted by Theo404

So basically, if the sticks dont die, they are the best 2x1gb avaliable?

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Without a doubt.

I've had 3 pair. 2 I bought a while back....and one of those died and had to be RMA'd. The 3rd set I bought just recently (4 weeks ago) and they seem great. They also OC higher at less voltage than my first 2 pair.

Perhaps a better batch?

good news, thanks :D

Any comment on this question?:

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I have the choice to upgrade to an X1800XT 512mb or a 7800GT + 2x1GB sticks. I have 2x512mb of gskill LE and a 6800GT at the moment, which option would you take?

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I'd get the fasted Video card you can afford and keep the LE's, 1gig is fine still for the majority of tasks. Only a couple of games benifit from the 2gig.

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Originally Posted by Major

I'd get the fasted Video card you can afford and keep the LE's, 1gig is fine still for the majority of tasks.

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Agreed! This would be my choice as well.

If I were you I'd take the advices from Major and stay away from these Ballistix, they're like top fuel dragster....very fast but only for a short burst! :D :D I too went through 2 pairs of Ballistix Z503 and both of them only last me 3 weeks.....I only use 2.7~2.8V and have active fan cooling them as well. If you really need 2GB....I'd too vote for the UCCC such as GSKILL HZ, they're only $217 at newegg so I'd say they're the best bang for the buck right now.

By the way, what's the rma time with crucial?

I may need to rma mine. Right now I don't know if the problem is on the board or on the memories. But I'll find out soon.

ballistix didn't last 2 weeks for me with active coolling and 2.8v. I got the G Skill HZ and they are awesome. DDR550 rock solid stable at 2.8v and are very cool. I highly reccomend them.

id stick with your g skill le and get a 512 7800gtx if its for gaming.

amrgb: nice sig im glad someone quoted that thread before it dissapeared lol

I also have had to rma my ballistix twice. Like Ben said, they're fast but also run out of fuel fast.

The situation is actually pretty bad.

There clearly is a bad batch of Ballistix out there and you can't get the best Micron chips in any other PC4000.

People report that Infineon CE-6 equipped sticks often turn out not to hold up when gaming at clocks they prime fine at.

Samsung UCCC seems very solid and the newest batches clock very well but there is no way to get as good timings as with the other chips.

I haven't seen anything spectacular from Hynix chips, although I don't think anybody tried lately.

Socket M2 and DDR2 will be the new standard next year so I would spend my money on some cheap 2gb DDR1 sticks (Gskill UCCC) for now.

UCCC = 3-4-3-8 up to 265ish (3-4-4-8 up to 280ish)
Micron= 3-3-3-8 up to 280ish (Early death)

Yea... cheap 2gb UCCC sticks are the way to go for now. Rock solid, cool, and stable.

Then next year, switch to socket M2 and get some super fast DDR2 sticks by crucial :D

i would definately go with the gskill. newegg just lowered the price to 199, though i don't know what prices are like in the uk

For what it's worth, I ordered one of the $205 shipped HZ kits this morning.

And I really don't think that this kit, especially the newest shipment that poppoed up here a few times, will be noticable inferior to the $300+ kits with Infineaon CE-6, at least not at 3D/game stability.

Well is quite public that Ballistix will die under 2.8V or more, but you may extend its live by running at 2.6V. I'm in a third pair right now... It is still ok but running at very low speeds. Best for me was mix 1giga of Mushkin Redlines with 512 megs of old BH6. I can get 2-2-2-5 at 246Mhz 2T overall is giving me more than Ballistix at 2.6V...

As far as the best 2 giga memory atm I would look at the new 2giga Redlines. They can do ~250MHz 3-3-2-7 1T

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Originally Posted by RafaDel

Well is quite public that Ballistix will die under 2.8V or more, but you may extend its live by running at 2.6V.

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This is nonsense. 2.8 Volts is what Ballistix is specified at, and only at 2.8 V. Look it up.

My first set of Ballistix crapped out in about 2 months, had to run them on a divider at the time at 243Mhz 2.6 V and had active cooling.

Second set ran for about 1 month same setup except 2.8 V.

I rma'd them and should have them back this next week.

My dilema is to try the new ones I get or keep the G.SKILL, the G.SKILL won't run at 1T though...sigh what to do

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Originally Posted by RafaDel

Well is quite public that Ballistix will die under 2.8V or more

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depends on the ballistix. i've given mine 3.6v for a while without ill effect ;)

id personally go for the 7800GT and 2x1gb sticks. with the better vid card over the ram, the games will be slightly better. but with 2x1gb overall system will be smoother and less load time in games and such.

hehe i think it depends on your monitor size. or the resolution you run more specifically. if its 1280x960or so take the 7800gt if its 1600x1200 or higher get the faster card!

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Originally Posted by WeStSiDePLaYa

id personally go for the 7800GT and 2x1gb sticks. with the better vid card over the ram, the games will be slightly better. but with 2x1gb overall system will be smoother and less load time in games and such.

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I'm inclined to agree with you. I was messing about with my opteron the other day, using my old 2x256mb sticks of BH5, sure I broke my sPi record (27sec) but I tried loading BF2 and really noticed what more ram does to a system. The games that are going to come out are only going to need more ram, so I thought 2gb was the only option if you were upgrading.....

My opteron has a piss-poor mem controller, 280x10 1:1 takes 3-4-4-8 timmings to be stable (when 300x9 1:1 I can run at 2.5-4-3-6) ......2x1GB at 3-3-3-8 seem so bad now?

Maybe I can strech to a 7800GTX and 2GB of gskill UCCC.....

Whats the difference between (gskill) ZX and HX? Will ZX not overclock as much? I ask because HX (and HZ) cost the same as ballistix here (£200 - $350), where as ZX costs £160.

How long has the ballistix death batch been around? I ask because I thought it might not of got to the UK yet, any UK ballistix deaths?

i think the zx uses infineon chips and the hz uses uccc

i ordered a set of ballistix before these plat eb's
the kit i got was directly from crucial, they were like two totally different sticks, completely mismatched
one stick would run at 250 with 2.6v while the other stick wanted higher voltages, obviously i couldn't get them to work well together, so they were sent back

sorry but i dont understand that vdimm issue.
2.8v with active cooling (fan) should do the work (ballistix) ?

one stick would not work with higher voltages, 2.8v caused it to error, 2.6v worked fine
the second stick needed 2.8v or thereabouts, and would not work with the lower voltage that the first stick needed, again causing errors. so there was no compatible voltage to run them at
oh, and i had a 120mm fan blowing over them as i had heard that they get pretty warm (and they did)

my plat eb's on the other hand (although not great overclockers), were literally plug and play and they're barely warm to the touch

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231021

UCCC - I bought the Mushkin, but the price just dropped on these and it is a sweet deal!

Well I went with ballistix, my thinking being that the faulty batch probably hasnt hit the UK yet.

All I can say is WOW. Really good buy. They're doing 280 3-3-3-8 with only 2.6V! My TCCD couldnt do trcd 3 at these speeds and volts. I really didnt anticipate the difference 2GB would make to BF2, the only words to describe how it runs now is 'butter smooth'. Skips that I thought were due to connection lag are now gone.....its fantastic.

Will buy the card in jan now as I think prices will be more favourable.

I'd have sold you mine, only a few weeks old after rma. Next time they die, rma, then to ebay they go in their shinny unopened esd bags.

I just ordered a set. If there are problems with them, that is what RMA is for i guess.


I just cant say no to performance :)

My replacement Ballistix are amazing. They do 295Mhz at 2.7V! Definitely different than my previous set. Just to see how far they'll go, I upped the voltage but just for a quick benchmark run. So far I topped out at 304Mhz with 2.9 + 0.03V without much genuine tweaking. Now I just have to go for 305Mhz or higher... Oh So Close!

I could likely get 296 stable at 2.7v and 300 stable at 2.8v with some tweaking. Maybe tomorrow...

what drive strengths are you using? switching data drive to level 3 from auto really helped out my ballistix when hitting the higher mhz :D

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Originally Posted by Theo404

Well I went with ballistix, my thinking being that the faulty batch probably hasnt hit the UK yet.

All I can say is WOW. Really good buy. They're doing 280 3-3-3-8 with only 2.6V! My TCCD couldnt do trcd 3 at these speeds and volts. I really didnt anticipate the difference 2GB would make to BF2, the only words to describe how it runs now is 'butter smooth'. Skips that I thought were due to connection lag are now gone.....its fantastic.

Will buy the card in jan now as I think prices will be more favourable.

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Where in the Uk did you buy them, Crucial direct?

thnx

Overclockers, they had them in 'this week only' at £190 odd.

Now running at 290 3-3-3-8 2.7V......:D Not absolutly 100% stable, but they will be soon.

Just got my Ballistix tonight off the egg. They should be here for testing thursday morning. I'll finally have some results for my own database. :p:

BTW if you buy direct from crucial, they have an instant 40$ savings on BOTH the tracers and the normal ones, getting them down to 270$ + free shipping.

hmm, better than the newegg MIR:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146035

though looking at crucial's store, i see no 2x1gb at $270, only $303 for the z503 and l503

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Originally Posted by Theo404

Overclockers, they had them in 'this week only' at £190 odd.

Now running at 290 3-3-3-8 2.7V......:D Not absolutly 100% stable, but they will be soon.

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for what its worth, i got a 2gb ballistix set at Overclockers 3 weeks ago ...been running fine ever since.

whats your batch number?

lol, a week ago the Ballistix had a $50 MIR from the egg, now it's up to $75. Looks like word has gotten around that the sticks have been having some problems, and newegg is having trouble selling them. I would have been willing to spend the extra money for them over my G.Skill HZ's if they had been that price when I ordered, but that's ok. I'm perfectly happy with this ram.

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Originally Posted by Achilles17

lol, a week ago the Ballistix had a $50 MIR from the egg, now it's up to $75.

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Dang. You got me all excited. The rebate is only for the Tracers that start at $349. It would be tempting if the regular Ballistics had the rebate. Even if they still have the bad batch I'm sure that after enough RMAs they'll finally get through the short life span sets.

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Originally Posted by a5h

for what its worth, i got a 2gb ballistix set at Overclockers 3 weeks ago ...been running fine ever since.

whats your batch number?

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How do you find the batch number?

Well I spoke to soon, after setting tref to 3684 (100mhz 1.95us) I'm now nearly 12 hours blend stable at 290 3-3-3-8 with only 2.7V......:D

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...1&d=1135794734

Damn wtf, when I clicked on the banner that anandtech had up yesterday, when I added the 2gb balistix to my cart it automatically gave me an instant sales discount of 40$. So I also added the tracers and it did the same.

Guess they removed it or something cuz they are no longer doing it. -_-

Shoulda ordered right there and then :(

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Originally Posted by gundamit

Even if they still have the bad batch I'm sure that after enough RMAs they'll finally get through the short life span sets.

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that's kinda what i'm thinking too. they might have to lower the price a bit more though. ;)

you missed the crucial sale

I got 10% off plus free king kong, which i sold on ebay for $30

so 303 - 10% - 30 dollars for king kong game + free overnight shipping :)

240 bucks, i thought it was a good deal.

Plus, buying direct from crucial = hassle free RMA.


Just wait till they have another sale, it will go back down in price.

I just got a set of 2x1024 ballistix also and I am pretty impressed. I am really hoping that the bad batch is now out of circulation. Right now I am doing 260fsb 3-3-3-8 at 2.54v. I haven't had a lot of time to clock it much higher but I will be really sad if this ram dies. It seems promising so far though!

I'd like to run 290 Mhz, do you think I'd be able to do that with the G.Skill ram thats $200 on Newegg right now? This review doesn't sound too good because I'll be using an SLI-DR Expert.

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Other Thoughts: read alot of reviews about gskill and dfi compatable not for me spend the few $'z more and get the more known brand names

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Also what is the difference between tracer ballistix and "regular" ballistix? The tracer has a $75 rebate, so i'm tempted to grab them.

I also heard that PDP has some great ram, in general- what do you guys reccomend? This bad batch thing scares me.

uccc based ram typically has a tough time hitting 290mhz.. same with CE-6.

also, only difference between the two is the lights. i'm pretty sure the bad batch of ballistix has made it's way through the channel, but it's not a sure thing yet.

so, if i'd like to go for 290 Mhz with a DFI Expert edition board, which ram would you reccomend?

the ballistix, or something else based on micron, are the only ones with a decent chance of hitting those speeds.

BTW, if I were to buy the Ballistix ram on Newegg or some other etailer, Will that affect somehow the lifetime warranty or perhaps the RMA process if the shiat hits the fan?

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Originally Posted by Tibu

BTW, if I were to buy the Ballistix ram on Newegg or some other etailer, Will that affect somehow the lifetime warranty or perhaps the RMA process if the shiat hits the fan?

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Dont matter where you bought it from, crucial will accept rma if it is crucial ram. They wont crossship unless you purchased from them though.

Cross-ship? They actually send the replacement sticks before they get the dead sticks? :slobber: Hmmm... Ok screw that Ima buy direct then when they get another sale going :p:

i think they charge your credit card or something similar until they get the sticks you're mailing back to them though ;)

Yea, they will have your credit card on file so they will send you a new pair and then you send the dead pair back after you get the new ones. If you dont send then they charge :)

I bought 2 GB Ballistix PC-4000 from the Egg in early September. I could get 280 Mhz stable at 3-4-4-10, but they always wanted a lot of voltage - I needed 2.8 volts even at 250 Mhz. They also ran very hot. About 2 weeks ago they started to die - I got random crashes, corrupted my hard drive, could not get them stable again. I tried 2 different motherboards (1 DFI and 1 Epox), tried 1 stick at a time, tried downclocking all the way to 100 Mhz. In all cases the system would boot then crash after a few minutes. Just got an RMA from NewEgg - their online RMA is very nice :) - and will ship them back tomorrow. I've scanned a lot of forums, and it looks like there may have been a bad batch about 3-4 months back. Hooray for Lifetime warranties ! :D

Im trying to get a qucik answer on the 2x1Gb crucial balistic ram.

Im set on getting these as i want 300Mhz (or as near to it)

Are these the same as Chips (BL2KIT12864Z503)
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/part...L2KIT12864Z503

BL2KIT12864L503
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/part...L2KIT12864L503

Basically they have the same code but (Z503 or L503)
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/list...asp?family=DDR

I dont want to order the incorrect chips so once this is confirrmed ill oder. Thanks

YES, both Tracer and regular PC-4000 Ballistix use selected Micron PC-3200 chips - Tracer usually costs more since they have LED's. It would not matter to me as I have no window in my case, but for the same price, by all means go for it! :banana:

Thanks mate,

Ill probably get the Black version altho im not fussed. Cheers again

I'm liking Ballistix at the moment :) This ram may well go higher, but I think my Opterpwn is near its max on water, I'd need to drop a multi to push it higher:

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=4520871

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?pcm05=225429