New Version Ballistix PC2-8500 Review

[eric66]

The manufacturer of the chips ( Micron ) and the RAM manufacturers like Corsair do separate binning of the ICs. GKX is the higher bin from Micron, but you may find GMH that performs as good or even better. And the RAM manufacturers choose the chips that are better suited for a given task, like low frequency + tight timings or high frequency + loose timings, GMH may perform better than GKX in some of the tasks. Recently, most of the chips marked as GMH performed better than GKX,which were rarely found ( at least I don't know of it), but they performed very good, often better than previous GKX, as Micron has refined it's process.
So it mostly depends on the binning process of the RAM manufacturer.
I hope I could make it a bit clearer for you, but there are some people here on XS far more knowledgeable than me about the different characteristics of GKX and GMH.

thx for the answer

[Gogeta]

Any hints to how I can get the heatspreader of without destroying it? I can have a look if anyone comes with a hint Seems glued :o

Place them in an anti-static bag within a ziplock and let them chill out in the freezer for an hour or two. They should pop off with minimal force once chilled. If that doesn't work, use a can of compressed air turned upside-down.

[iadstudio]

Place them in an anti-static bag within a ziplock and let them chill out in the freezer for an hour or two. They should pop off with minimal force once chilled. If that doesn't work, use a can of compressed air turned upside-down.

If you do that be careful of condensation.

[Gogeta]

If you do that be careful of condensation.

Definitely. Always let parts placed in a colder environment than ambient return to room temp before supplying power. If condensation does occur then a longer drying period will be necessary.

[Zytek_Fan]

I hope these are more reliable than the old PC-2 8500 Ballistix.... I've had 4 one gig sticks of that die (and 2 one gig sticks of the Ballistix PC-2 6400) in the last couple of months.

Micron IC's are very temperamental with voltage

[EnJoY]

On this news, you can already see that many sites have raised the price of their current 'old' Ballistix PC2-8500 stock.

[Veritas.no]

Place them in an anti-static bag within a ziplock and let them chill out in the freezer for an hour or two. They should pop off with minimal force once chilled. If that doesn't work, use a can of compressed air turned upside-down.

Well, I don't know about the minmal force, but they came off. I took some pitcures to, but I only have a suckysucky mobilcamra. So they show nada.

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l4jn *(colored cirkle)

That's all the chips say, so if that's helpfull to someone then I'm happy ^^

Edit: And they fail at 1200 5 5 5 15 @ 2.2 volts superpi 1m :o

[Richie P]

aw.

what a bummer. No more classic D9DCT/GMH/GKX IC

Moved onto their newer 78nm IC


A bigger question is how does this scale with voltage?


You guys arent looking at this on the positive side though -- GOOD 4GB ddr2 ballistix kits!

Exactly

Bring them on. Thanks for the review, Richie.

You're welcome

Thanks for the review Rich!

So it's rated for the same timings but at 2.0V EPP instead of 2.2V as used to be... but at the same time it oc's worse at C3, C4 and C5 @ 2.2V. I mean I've not properly tested mine but they do 800 3-2-2-1 2-25-4/5-8-8-3-8-2 at 2.18V real fully benchable but those couldn't get close.

How were the loaded temps on them at stock compared to GKX/GMH?

I like the 6hr P95 testing you included though, worth it to show everyday use scenarios.

One thing: The image shows stock bootup at tRFC 52, is this really what they're rated for?

My GMH 2 revs back were rated at 1066 42 tRFC @ 2.2V and it required most volts to drop below 35 past 1100. I got a friend to send some older rev over to UK and it cost me 70+25 dollars so they still worked out cheaper than these.

Can't say I've tested temps, I always run with a couple of 80mm fans around the NB and RAM.

About the tRFC, apart from the normal 4 settings (tCL, tRTC, tRP, tRAS), the rest were left on Auto and I used a P5K Deluxe.

If you can get hold of an old set then they're bound to be better, and UK-US pricing is a bit messed up. £60 is a very good price for these, and they're back in stock in a number of shops as well.

Thanks for the review Richie!

So they changed the chips from the old 16FD3 to the new 8FE5, I already expected that when someone was complaining about not getting good overclocks with his Ballistix 8500 in the respective thread.

I also think these are D9HNL or similar, I disagree with you on that, because I think GCT was a member of the GMH/GKX/GKW etc family.
Any chance you will take the heatspreaders off your kit to check?

You're welcome! Unfortunately I'm in the middle of moving house at the moment (far too much going on in my personal life ) so I'm a bit pre-occupied. Veritas has just posted what he's got so hopefully that helps...I will do in a week or so if still required.

thanks for the review and heads up Richie!

I'm glad people like it

[eva2000]

one question could it be a mislabelling as the packaging stille says 128MB x 64 and not 256MB x 64

[Den Leiw]

Glad I managed to buy a 16FD3 kit for 65€ 3 weeks ago ^_^
hopefully I will never need to RmA

[ziddey]

phew. just got my ballistix 667cas3 sticks the other day. 16fd4 still double sided.

[Dede99]

I have the new one's and can't say any positive about. Worked great for one week @ 1080MHz and 5.5.5.15 @ v2.23 and now my system is totally unstable with them so I put back in my Super Talent and they work just fine. No matter what I set them up the system become unstable @ all settings can't run them even @ stock
Any suggestions ?

[KALISPIMENTA]

Place them in an anti-static bag within a ziplock and let them chill out in the freezer for an hour or two. They should pop off with minimal force once chilled. If that doesn't work, use a can of compressed air turned upside-down.

OR... grab a air compressed can the spray dust ones ,turn it upside down and spray so the liquid comes out and freezes the ram,same solution but it takes 30 seconds not 2 hours

[S1mon-]

Can't believe Crucial has gone junk with their high-end serie... I guess I'll stick with 2GB and grab some G.Skill 4GB PC2-8000 down the road...

[Dede99]

Thats what they did and I'm going to send them back to my reseller.

[Don_Dan]

You're welcome! Unfortunately I'm in the middle of moving house at the moment (far too much going on in my personal life ) so I'm a bit pre-occupied. Veritas has just posted what he's got so hopefully that helps...I will do in a week or so if still required.

Yeah, it's okay. Sometimes there are more important things to do...

I will ask R00n about the chips, maybe he can identify them.

Keep up the good work!

[Evilsizer]

well i can tell your for a fact its not D9HNL ic's. cause i have some D9HNL's they dont like voltage over 1.95v... if you go to 2v they wont even boot up....
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=510513

[eva2000]

Looks like the Crucial PC2-5300 CAS3 modules with ending batch of 8FE4 are ones which are single sided as well ...!

I think the 1gb PC-5300 modules have changed aswell. I recently bought another 2 x 1gb modules from crucial to add to the 2 x 1gb modules I bought from extremepc last year. Everest reports 1 rank 8 banks as opposed to 2 ranks, 4 banks in the originals.

SPD reports different values for RC and RFC. The new modules won;t run at 438mhz CL4 - have to go to CL5

bb

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...73&postcount=6

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...7&postcount=11

[K404]

Has anyone been through all the combos of MHz, timings and volts with these new sticks?

etc etc etc

More than one way to skin a cat- maybe we need to change our expectations because the density and tech process is different- I wouldnt call RAM @ 2.2V bench-ready

If it does just under 600MHz 5-5-5 @ 2.2V PRIME STABLE, I wouldnt instantly call that a write-off for 650MHz SPi32M @ 2.4V?

[SaII]

will tracers still be GMH/GKX?

[r1ch]

will tracers still be GMH/GKX?

Negative...well, I'd be VERY surprised if they were.

Thank you all for your kind words - it really makes the effort worthwhile

[lazy]

so what now? just move on to some G.Skillz?

[yankee]

one question could it be a mislabelling as the packaging stille says 128MB x 64 and not 256MB x 64

128x64/8=1024 * 2 = 2048

Nothing wrong as far as i can see.

[EnJoY]

I have 4GB of Ballistix 8500 on their way to me from ClubIT, so hopefully I'll get the old batch.

[HeadOn]

I just bought some from ClubIT and they're the new ones. I think I'm going to return them but there's a 15% return fee. I advise you to cancel.