DH Review: Ultra 3200XL and Crucial Ballistix 3200

Zardon · May 15, 2005, 12:37 PM

If you ask any PC enthusiast what type of memory they have in their PC the likely response would be Corsair or OCZ. Both manufacturers make great performance memory and have done for some time. Recently though more manufacturers are branching out into the performance segment and today we have modules from two of these manufacturers up for review. The first is Crucial who have been synonymous with quality, stable memory for years. The second is Ultra. We’ve looked at Ultra products before on Driverheaven and found them to be generally excellent.

read the review here

russo121 · May 15, 2005, 02:07 PM

The scores in this review are too low..... You don't specify what motherboard was used Asus Ultra????

I have an Asus p4p800-e deluxe and I bought 2 sticks of ballistix and my results are:

Zardon · May 15, 2005, 02:13 PM

ill let stuart answer the questions when he comes online, it is his review.

***Veridian3*** · May 15, 2005, 02:23 PM

The motherboard is a Asus P5RD1-V, apologies for the non-info in the article...a small oversight on my part.

There is a chance that you may have identified a small performance issue with the board/chipset as i have double checked the scores and they always come in at +/- a few % of the scores in the review. I'll speak to asus and see if they are aware of anything...maybe the latest bios has an issue or something. The other scores are all in line with what i would expect though. (based on the previous use of this chipset)

Russo, what are your full system specs (including cpu speed)?

Drakon · May 15, 2005, 04:27 PM

I have the crucial ballistix on a AMD rig and they run sweetly @ 2-2-2-10. Haven't OC'ed them though. Nice review, Stuart

Necrosis · May 15, 2005, 05:44 PM

I'm running two stick of the Ballistix as well, great stuff for the price!

russo121 · May 15, 2005, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Veridian3

The motherboard is a Asus P5RD1-V, apologies for the non-info in the article...a small oversight on my part.

There is a chance that you may have identified a small performance issue with the board/chipset as i have double checked the scores and they always come in at +/- a few % of the scores in the review. I'll speak to asus and see if they are aware of anything...maybe the latest bios has an issue or something. The other scores are all in line with what i would expect though. (based on the previous use of this chipset)

Russo, what are your full system specs (including cpu speed)?

What I have:

Asus P4P800-E Deluxe
2 x 256 Mb Crucial Ballistix Slot 1 and 3 - Dual Channel - 2-2-2-5 - MAM enabled (equivalent of PAT) - Performance TurboFSB 200Mhz (default - no overclocking) - FSB RAM 1:1
Radeon 9800Pro (no overclocking)
AGP 8x
P4 3.0Ghz Prescott
Hard Disk 160GB PATA Maxtor
DVDRom drive Toshiba
DVDR Samsung
Windows XP SP2 English
Drivers - latest available in the net
Using built in Soundcard, nic and usb.

If you need any specific info please tell....

ReDGuiTaR · May 15, 2005, 08:04 PM

You should have test the Crucial at it s original timings ( 2-2-2-8 ) . If they advertise that speed it is probably because they couldnt supply enough certified stick with lower speed and customer need to know what is the deal . The stick you got from them might run just fine a 2-2-2-5 speed but it could be different in real world and since those stick arent intend to run those timing customer are left " hands empty " when come to time of warranty .

just my 2 cents

Drakon · May 15, 2005, 08:21 PM

The memory can run timings of 2-2-2-5 just fine. Although in my case, I had to up the voltage to 2.8v in order for it to pass Memtest.

russo121 · May 15, 2005, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drakon

The memory can run timings of 2-2-2-5 just fine. Although in my case, I had to up the voltage to 2.8v in order for it to pass Memtest.

I haven't done any increase in voltage..... and my system is stable...

***Veridian3*** · May 15, 2005, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReDGuiTaR

You should have test the Crucial at it s original timings ( 2-2-2-8 ) . If they advertise that speed it is probably because they couldnt supply enough certified stick with lower speed and customer need to know what is the deal . The stick you got from them might run just fine a 2-2-2-5 speed but it could be different in real world and since those stick arent intend to run those timing customer are left " hands empty " when come to time of warranty .

just my 2 cents

Crucial spd program the sticks lower than their verified speeds which are 2-2-2-6. So running at 2-2-2-5 will be fine on any you purchase.

IvanV · May 17, 2005, 05:34 PM

Slightly off topic, but where can I find a comparison between the performance of an Athlon64 system running with 2-2-2-5 (or similar) and value class 3-3-3-8 (or similar) memory?

russo121 · May 18, 2005, 07:35 PM

No news about this issue?

Jodiuh · Jul 26, 2005, 05:47 PM

Um...how bout the complete lack of useful oc info on this P5RD1-V board?!?!?
According to your tests, you achieved an FSB of 270ish with a SATA hdd AND a pci-e!! I'm currently in the market for a pcie/ddr1 board that can take care of my 630@4125, so this just suits me up fine and dandy.

May 15, 2005, 12:37 PM	#1
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	DH Review: Ultra 3200XL and Crucial Ballistix 3200 If you ask any PC enthusiast what type of memory they have in their PC the likely response would be Corsair or OCZ. Both manufacturers make great performance memory and have done for some time. Recently though more manufacturers are branching out into the performance segment and today we have modules from two of these manufacturers up for review. The first is Crucial who have been synonymous with quality, stable memory for years. The second is Ultra. We’ve looked at Ultra products before on Driverheaven and found them to be generally excellent. read the review here

May 15, 2005, 08:04 PM	#8
ReDGuiTaR DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Quebec , Canada Posts: 746 Rep Power: 0	You should have test the Crucial at it s original timings ( 2-2-2-8 ) . If they advertise that speed it is probably because they couldnt supply enough certified stick with lower speed and customer need to know what is the deal . The stick you got from them might run just fine a 2-2-2-5 speed but it could be different in real world and since those stick arent intend to run those timing customer are left " hands empty " when come to time of warranty . just my 2 cents __________________ Zing a ling... zing a ling a ling ... A8N-E - A64x2 4600, 2048 Mb Kingston ram 400mhz cas 2.5 ( 2 x 1024 DualChannel ), Seagate 320 Gig 7200 16Mb cache S-ata 2, GeForce 7900GT 512MB, Enermax 460watt power supply, WindowsXP SP2.

May 15, 2005, 02:07 PM	#2
russo121 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 12 Rep Power: 0	The scores in this review are too low..... You don't specify what motherboard was used Asus Ultra???? I have an Asus p4p800-e deluxe and I bought 2 sticks of ballistix and my results are:

May 15, 2005, 02:13 PM	Thread Starter #3
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	ill let stuart answer the questions when he comes online, it is his review.

May 15, 2005, 02:23 PM	#4
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 5,028 Rep Power: 182	The motherboard is a Asus P5RD1-V, apologies for the non-info in the article...a small oversight on my part. There is a chance that you may have identified a small performance issue with the board/chipset as i have double checked the scores and they always come in at +/- a few % of the scores in the review. I'll speak to asus and see if they are aware of anything...maybe the latest bios has an issue or something. The other scores are all in line with what i would expect though. (based on the previous use of this chipset) Russo, what are your full system specs (including cpu speed)?

May 15, 2005, 04:27 PM	#5
Drakon DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Floatin'... Posts: 4,957 Rep Power: 0	I have the crucial ballistix on a AMD rig and they run sweetly @ 2-2-2-10. Haven't OC'ed them though. Nice review, Stuart

May 15, 2005, 05:44 PM	#6
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	I'm running two stick of the Ballistix as well, great stuff for the price!

May 15, 2005, 08:21 PM	#9
Drakon DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Floatin'... Posts: 4,957 Rep Power: 0	The memory can run timings of 2-2-2-5 just fine. Although in my case, I had to up the voltage to 2.8v in order for it to pass Memtest.

May 17, 2005, 05:34 PM	#12
IvanV HH Assassin Guild Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 5,919 Rep Power: 336 System Specs	Slightly off topic, but where can I find a comparison between the performance of an Athlon64 system running with 2-2-2-5 (or similar) and value class 3-3-3-8 (or similar) memory?

May 18, 2005, 07:35 PM	#13
russo121 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 12 Rep Power: 0	No news about this issue?

Jul 26, 2005, 05:47 PM	#14
Jodiuh DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 49 Rep Power: 0	Um...how bout the complete lack of useful oc info on this P5RD1-V board?!?!? According to your tests, you achieved an FSB of 270ish with a SATA hdd AND a pci-e!! I'm currently in the market for a pcie/ddr1 board that can take care of my 630@4125, so this just suits me up fine and dandy.