When building
a new system most people focus all their attention
on the processor and graphics card, but stable and
high performing memory is just as important.
Crucial as
a brand are well known for their stability and today
we are going to take a look at some of their higher
end modules in the shape of the Crucial Ballistix
PC5300. Let us see if they live up to the marketing
hype.
Packaging
Quite frequently
with memory products we receive the item and it
will be packaged in a flimsy plastic case with no
other protection. This certainly is not the case
with Crucial as their products come in a spacious
cardboard box with each module separated inside.
Additionally each stick is wrapped in an anti static
pocket to help ensure the sticks reach you in perfect
working condition.
Apart from
the packaging protection everything else is as you
would expect and Crucial also supply a small warranty
leaflet. If you are buying from Crucial in the UK
it is also worth noting that the package is sent
recorded delivery for added peace of mind.
The
Sticks
Crucial’s
Ballistix PC5300 (DDR2 – 667mhz), pictured
below are a 1 gigabyte kit. (2x512mb modules). They
are the standard 240pin design and are double sided
dimms.
The sticks look very appealing
indeed as there is a copper coloured heat-spreader
which is made from Aluminium, underneath is Crucial’s
standard black PCB which goes well with the copper.
Crucial advertise
the product as having timings of 3-3-3-12 however
out of the box we found that they were set to run
at 5-3-3-15 (when using DDR2-667 settings), while
these are still good timings it would have been
more convenient for the sticks to be SPD programmed
to 3-3-3-12. The solution would be to immediately
head into the motherboard’s bios and manually
set the tighter timings, although if this a users
first system build it is an unwanted step. After
tightening the timings stability was not an issue.
Here is the full list of timings for the MHz settings
that the sticks use out of the box:
In regards
to voltage the specification on this particular
model is 2.2v, before we look at the performance
of the modules here is the full module information
from Crucial’s site:
MODULE
DETAILS:
• Part Number: BL2KIT6464AA663
• Module Size: 1GB kit (512MBx2)
• Package: Ballistix 240-pin DIMM
• Feature: DDR2 PC2-5300
• Configuration: 64Meg x 64
• DIMM Type: UNBUFFERED
• Error Checking: NON-ECC
• Speed: DDR2-667
• Voltage: 2.2V
• Memory Timings: 3-3-3-12
• Specs: DDR2 PC2-5300 • 3-3-3-12 •
UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR2-667 •
2.2V • 64Meg x 64
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