Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 2GB Tracer Memory Kit Review

Much the way DDR prices simply eroded away at the end of its life cycle, DDR2 is now available at prices that make it a fantastic time to upgrade. Those of you who have invested good money into a Core 2 Duo and an 680i/650i/P965 motherboard are probably in no real hurry to invest a large lump of cash in an entirely new chipset and some DDR3. If you are running a 1GB kit, or even an older and slower 2GB kit, now is definitely the time to invest in a 2GB of premium DDR2 memory.

The Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 Tracer kit we'll cover today represents the top of Crucial's enthusiast memory line. Featuring a matched pair of 1GB PC2-8500 DIMMS rated at 5-5-5-15-2T with 2.2V, this kit is built around Micron's famous D9 ICs, making it an extremely attractive kit for the enthusiast wanting the best of the best. Although there are faster kits available (Up to PC2-9600), the Micron D9's have fantastic reputation for overclocking, which we'll dive into a little later.

While Ballistix modules are covered in a canary yellow heat speader, the Tracer line, like the bad ass in most movies, is dressed in black, a custom black PCB covered by an attractive black aluminum heat spreader. On either side is the Crucial "Ballistix Tracer" logo. On one side the modules also have a white sticker with the part number, and on the reverse side the same information is printed on an orange sticker.

As we reach the end of the line for DDR2, the one thing that makes the great kits stand out is clock speed, but this typically comes with a tradeoff of higher voltages. The Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 Tracer kit specifications list a default voltage of 2.2V, which is reasonable compared to other high end kits on the market pushing 2.4V or more. What may bother some enthusiasts is the "plain" aluminum heat spreaders covering the DIMMS. While many enthusiast offerings are going with the extravagant (Corsair's Dominator Series and the OCZ Reaper, which we'll cover later this week), the Crucial heat spreaders should prove no problem in a case with decent air flow.

What makes these modules stand out is the two rows of eight green and red LEDs embedded into the top of the modules. On the bottom, the Tracer Series includes a row of eight blue LEDS which light the bottom of the module and surrounding motherboard when powered on.

Overclocking Disclaimer

For those of you who didn't read our interview with Kelly Sasso of Crucial Technology this past week, she stressed the fact that Crucial does not recommend exceeding 2.2V with any of their memory modules, and I believe that theres little point in benchmarking a kit past its rated, or warrantied specifications (Don't worry, we'll link to other reviews that will void the warranty at the end of this article).

Our disclaimer aside, I personally think we have some of the most stringent memory testing on the web. When it comes to stability, we require a kit pass five cycles with the Ultra-X R.S.T PRO2 Memory Tester (The same testing hardware used by Corsair Memory and several other memory manufacturers to validate kits, however even most memory companies only require a kit to pass three cycles). We then require the test kit pass 20 passes of MemTest86 v1.70, and then finally our entire benchmarking suite without error. If a memory kit can pass this torture test.....I'd say its 100% stable.

We've had several PC2-8500 kits pass through our test bench over the past year, and each was rated at 5-5-5-15-2T. Although each kit overclocks differently, the general theme among these kits has been great versatility, marginal overclocking. For example, most of these kits will do 760-800MHz at 3-3-3-9-2T, and between 950-980MHz at 4-4-4-12-2T.....but when it comes to overclocking, most have been lucky to break the 1100MHz barrier.

Starting out to find the best clock speed with latencies of 3-3-3-9-2T, I was pleasantly surprised to see the kit easily exceed DDR2-800, topping out at a very respectable DDR2-848.

Next up was 4-4-4-12, which topped out at DDR2-1113.....not bad at all for a kit rated at 5-5-5-15-2T at DDR2-1066!!!! mind you this was all accomplished at the default voltage of 2.2V.

Loosening up the timings to 5-5-5-15-2T, I was able to push the Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 Tracer 2GB Memory Kit all the way to DDR2-1225.......an amazing 159MHz over the rated speed, while never exceeding the listed voltage of 2.2V. The Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 Tracer Memory Kit simply smashed every other memory kit we've had on our test bench to this point (Although we have some very impressive kits from OCZ and Patriot coming up next week).

I'll say again, I consider our testing to be among the best (most stringent) on the web, considering the test cycle, and requirements we place on kits to declare them stable. The Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 Tracer Memory Kit is hands down the best kit I've seen to date.

Our Recommendation

Crucial is well known for producing top of the line enthusiast memory kits, and the Ballistix Tracer PC2-8500 kit we reviewed today was no exception. Making use of the highly successful, and immensely popular Micron D9 ICs, the PC2-8500 Tracer kit proved to be both extremely versatile and a great overclocker. For those that have side panel windows, the Tracer Series is a nice way to accentuate a completely blinged out system.

With DDR2 prices bottoming out, I'd highly recommend consumers grab a 2GB kit of DDR2 memory, especially if they can get a premium kit like this at a steep discount. You really get what you pay for in Crucial quality, service, and support. For those looking for a great overclocking experience, with a little flair....I'd strongly recommend considering this kit.

Its always nice to have more than one opinion on a component before you spend your hard earned money. For one, We may see something others missed, or vice versa. As with all reviews published at HardwareLogic, we'll not only give you our recommendation, but also point out some reviews from some other great sites around the web.