Crucial/Newegg Lanfest 2k7 vs Ballistix 8500 vs Dominator 6400C3D -- quick & DIRTY

[irev210]

Hi folks, I first want to apologize for not being able to run more complete tests... but the results here are definitely useful for those looking at ram. I hope at some point to run some 4-4-4-5 tests, but for now this is all I have time for.

Did some quick tests on the lanfest ram that some people think is "godly" for whatever reason... but it seems to do what normal ballistix 6400 do. While it is AWESOME ram for the $$$$, I reserve the "godly" status in DDR2 world for the ballistix 8500.



The setup

Same test rig that I used to test those 2*2GB g.skill (which rock btw) cept with a fresh install of XP (I tried to bench with a fresh install of vista... and i dont like it).

Photo of system in question (stolen from gskill write up)




Antec 900 case
Core 2 Duo E6850 (es)
ASUS P5K Deluxe
8800GTX
PC POWER AND COOLING 850W power supply
40GB Seagate SATA HDD (yah, huge eh)



RESULTS

Its quick and dirty. Just max 1m superpi test 5-5-5-15 settings, note the voltage!

Here are the test subjects for today-




First up we have the lanfest stuff. I think the BLUE led's on the bottom (like the tracers, but with no top LED's) look awesome. Again, the results are in-line with what normal ballistix 6400 stuff would do.

MAX 623.7MHz on 2.2v @ 5-5-5-15 not bad!

2.2V



Next, I thought I had a set of ballistix 8000 and ballistix 8500. Turns out I had two sets of 8500. One set is about 6 or 7 months old and the second set is about 2 weeks old (really new stuff).

Turns out, both sets clocked within a few MHz of eachother, so I will not bother posting both, just best @ 2.2V

MAX 644MHz on 2.2v @ 5-5-5-15

2.2V




So I also wanted to test some Dominators since many people seem to rave about them, so I cranked the ballistix 8500 up to 2.4 to run against the dominators. See max 1M result below!


This crucial set is the worst out of my two 8500 I currently have (like I said before, both clocked within a few MHz of each other at 2.2v)


MAX 660MHz on 2.40v @ 5-5-5-15


2.40V




Lastly, we have the "domi-lamers" 6400C3DF's as I have so named them. I paid close to $500 when these first came out. I was so disappointed with the results, they sat on the shelf for months before I put them back into a system. They quickly died at stock settings and it was RMA they went. It took over 3 weeks to receive a replacement... and how does the replacement do? Find out below!


MAX 621MHz on 2.40v @ 5-5-5-15

2.40V


Yes, they are actually SLOWER than the crucial lanfest sticks, even though they are running on 2.4v!!!

To sum it up, Corsair definitely has the best looking sticks... but they perform very poorly in comparison. A $75 (after rebate) crucial lanfest kit on 2.2v should NOT outperform a $350+ dollar kit running on 2.4v.




For those looking for excellent 2*1GB set, definitely consider the lanfest sticks if you like the calm blue led's and a nice price.

For those that demand the very best without breaking the bank you can spend a few bucks more and get the Ballistix 8500. After testing a TON of crucial ram, the best part I like about it is the consistency. When you buy ram you feel like there is a lot of "luck" involved. Since crucial uses REALLY well binned stuff, you can expect very consistent results from whatever kit fits your budget.

I must also add that none of these kits were given to test and were all store purchased or anonymously RMA'd from retail bought stuff.

[superray]

MAX 621MHz on 2.40v @ 5-5-5-15

That really sucks. I thought they were good.
Oh I forgot to say, thanks for the review

[Reefa_Madness]

Thanks for the comparison...and the close up shot of the LanFest sticks. Up close and personal.

I can finally read what is at the bottom of the LanFest logo (2K7).

[irev210]

That really sucks. I thought they were good.
Oh I fogot to say, thanks for the review

yup.


I was going to do a mini-review on the original dominator sticks, but the performance was so bad that I PM'd a Corsair rep to see if thats what they were supposed to do. He quickly insisted that there was no way that it was normal and offered an easy RMA + an upgrade to a Dominator PC10000 kit for free (sounds good right?).

I said "sure", but quickly got busy with work (as most working people do). As soon as I contacted them again, saying I didnt have time to finish the review, they cut off all relations to me. The kit did do its advertised 3-4-3-9 @ 800MHz w/ 2.4V just fine 100% stable, but not a hair over.


Anyway, to sum things up... when these sticks did die, I did the regular old RMA route which (like I said above) took over three weeks. AND as we can see, the sticks are no better now than they were before.


So yes, it does suck. I thought they were good too

[Yellowbeard]

I said "sure", but quickly got busy with work (as most working people do). As soon as I contacted them again, saying I didnt have time to finish the review, they cut off all relations to me. The kit did do its advertised 3-4-3-9 @ 800MHz w/ 2.4V just fine 100% stable, but not a hair over.

irev210, I can only point out that we have a Corsair section here at XS. I visit it daily which makes me easy to find. As far as helping you out with the RMA, you came to me asking for help and I did the best thing for you. I turned you over to Redbeard and Customer Service as I cannot ship memory to you. They can. If your service was unsatisfactory, all you had to do was contact us. We are easy to find. So, we did not "cut off all relations" to you. You never got back with me after about mid March so I assumed all was well. I still have all of our PMs so I don't think I missed anything.

As far as our offer for an upgrade let's be fair here. My EXACT reply was:

Just so you know where I stand, Corsair is happy to send you either set of memory, the PC6400C3DF or the PC10000. We just want you to be a satisfied customer but, not appear as if we are trying to buy you off or buy off a good review. We will send you exactly what feel will work best for your shootout and get what you paid for.

If your memory is defective or won't run spec, we'll replace it.

[Gautam]

After testing a TON of crucial ram, the best part I like about it is the consistency. When you buy ram you feel like there is a lot of "luck" involved. Since crucial uses REALLY well binned stuff, you can expect very consistent results from whatever kit fits your budget.

I wholeheartedly agree after testing a ton of crucial ram. Actually I found even more consistency in the 8000's believe it or not...the best stable clocks I've ever done were with those. The 8500's were less consistent but all hated voltage. (>2.5v) Even so they were all very very strong. Cheap and easy to get monster clockers, doesn't take any luck at all with them to get crazy high results. (Just crazy high voltage, some would say )

[irev210]

I turned you over to Redbeard and Customer Service as I cannot ship memory to you. They can. If your service was unsatisfactory, all you had to do was contact us. We are easy to find. So, we did not "cut off all relations" to you. You never got back with me after about mid March so I assumed all was well. I still have all of our PMs so I don't think I missed anything.

As far as our offer for an upgrade let's be fair here. My EXACT reply was:

If your memory is defective or won't run spec, we'll replace it.

I definitely dont want to turn this thread into a back and forth, so if you would like to discuss more, shoot me a PM.

Remember my initial question of just asking if it was a normal result. You said no and offered to replace.

After sending multiple emails to redbeard (as instructed) I never got any sort of reply. The kit ran at spec (as stated above) so I left it at that. Current kit runs at spec as well, just nothing over. If you had originally replied saying "yes, we test our kits to run at spec and your results are normal" that would have been a totally different scenario.






When the kit did die running at spec, I RMA'd it like anyone else would. The second kit performs just like the first kit, even though it came straight from Corsair as a new RMA replacement. This indicates to me that the results are not out of line and I felt comfortable posting them up.

I am just comparing two kits of 6400C3DF's (now $350 at newegg) to a $75 dollar kit of crucial.

[dinos22]

To sum it up, Corsair definitely has the best looking sticks... but they perform like garbage. A $75 (after rebate) crucial lanfest kit on 2.2v should NOT outperform a $350+ dollar kit running on 2.4v.

.

i think you will find that they perform very nice
maybe you should spend a little more time tweaking because that conclusion tells me you haven't done so

you've seen my thread so you know they do very well even on Gigabyte boards

BUT crucial is excellent value

for the top clocks & supertight latencies you do need to spend more money

corsair scale well with voltage too

[railmeat]

buddy just grabbed the lanfest,screamed outta the box at 2.2v ddr1100+ 5-4-4-12 24\7 and counting.corsair is wayy overpriced anymore(why?),they had there day in the sun seems like.ppl realize now same ics are bought and some sell higher\lower.for some elite reason corsair feels there ram modules command more money.no idea why.crucial make the ics,and crucial sells em cheaper period.crucial is thee brand for me.fancy 3-4inch special spreaders are a marketing ploy i think.anyone with a brain puts a fan on there ram these days and they all work equal regardless of eye candy spreaders or not.

killer review man.

crucials cream ANYTHING in the mainstream ram market now,no one can come close for the money.

[NJDevilsFan21]

I'm actually changing out my Tracer for Lanfest because after getting a set I really prefer the lack of red/green LEDs up top. I just ordered a second set to complete 4GB... now as long as these never die on me (they've got active cooling) because if they do I'll probably get Tracer replacement which is exactly what I don't want, unless they sent some PC2-8500 sticks my way.

But I've also noticed the same with their performance as the OP. My Lanfest are doing about what my Tracer and regular Ballistix were able to do (both PC2-6400)... right now 555MHz 5-5-5-15 with about 2.15V... getting about 9050MB/s-9100MB/s memory read on Everest's benchmark. The next divider will bring me up to 1184MHz and then I believe the 1232MHz after that one so I'll play around with those another day.

[Reefa_Madness]

But I've also noticed the same with their performance as the OP. My Lanfest are doing about what my Tracer and regular Ballistix were able to do (both PC2-6400)... right now 555MHz 5-5-5-15 with about 2.15V.

Which is exactly what should be expected, given that they are, in all probabilities (and in spite of the speculation of some), the same as any of the other variations of Ballistix 6400s, but with different clothing (heatspreaders).

The good thing is that all of these Ballistix 6400s are among the very best performing 6400s out there, reaching 8000 and 8500 speeds with relative ease.

Hope you enjoy your "QuadFest".

[mXpS]

what is the difference between the Ballistix 8500 or the Ballistix Tracers 8500 besides the obvious black heat spreader and LEDs? Any performance gain? Worth getting? I'm picking up one of the two and I don't mind spending the few extra dollars if I'm going to an increase in performance. Thanks.

[r4st4m4n]

A guy made a review of both versions, non-tracer and tracer. Overall both are good performer with a slight advantage for the non-tracer: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...&postcount=210

[mXpS]

A guy made a review of both versions, non-tracer and tracer. Overall both are good performer with a slight advantage for the non-tracer: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...&postcount=210

Thank a lot man. I really appreciate it.

[irev210]

Thank a lot man. I really appreciate it.

ive tested many of both. Sometimes the tracers do better, sometimes the regular. All comes down to bin.

[dinos22]

gotta say ever since Graham from www.extremepc.com.au picked up Crucial RAM Aussie overclockers have been buying these a lot....and they are all crazy good even cheapest PC6400 stuff lol even though that's still double the price you guys get hahahahhaa

these prices are probably there to clear stock >> let's keep our fingers crossed that DDR3 deals like this appear soon but i'll be very surprised of happens in the next 6 months if not even longer

i reckon we will all be beating these guys up for 4GB kits by that time

[Jester FPS]

Great comparison, very easy to read.

Thanks.

[mXpS]

ive tested many of both. Sometimes the tracers do better, sometimes the regular. All comes down to bin.

I went ahead and ordered the regular 8500's so lets hope I get a great set!

[Maxfly]

i couldnt have said it better myself concerning the crucial balli consistancy.
ive a friend with those corsair c3s and he has had alot of issues with his as well.they just dont clock well for him at all.i assumed it was because he is a relative newb to ocing but im wondering if that is in fact the problem after seeing your results.

[dogsx2]

Good review, thanks.

I have both 8500's and 6400's and they are great. For price/performance they can't be beat.

Two sets of Corsair coming out the same says a lot.

[Renegade5399]

Thanks for the review! I have the Tracer 1066 2GB kit and love it. I can't believe the performance of the domi-lamers as you call them. You would expect better performance from such expensive sticks.

[The Legend]

The Lanfest sticks are a heck of a deal. I don't like the Newegg symbol on them, but blue LEDs sure are nice.

[sonicsallen]

Crucial 8500 rocks. it is too good that makes some other RAMs look bad. The only thing that can beat it is very high binned D9GKX, which is extremely expensive. For cas4, high binned D9GCT is really good too, like Geil 9280C4, but it is very hard to find.

[irev210]

The Lanfest sticks are a heck of a deal. I don't like the Newegg symbol on them, but blue LEDs sure are nice.

they are back on sale for 65 A/R...

definitely not a bad value.

[ChaosMinionX]

i think you will find that they perform very nice
maybe you should spend a little more time tweaking because that conclusion tells me you haven't done so

you've seen my thread so you know they do very well even on Gigabyte boards

BUT crucial is excellent value

for the top clocks & supertight latencies you do need to spend more money

corsair scale well with voltage too

100% agree, I personally use the 6400C3DF's and they rock