Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 2GB LED Kit Conclusion

Real World Testing

Cakewalk Sonar 6 Producer Edition

Using Sonar 6 Producer Edition I notice that the CPU cores do not tax as hard and the hard drive is slightly less active during recording. I have recorded up to 36 audio tracks simultaneously without ever hitting any glitches or recording hiccups. Another performance gain with Sonar is the rendering time when mixing down the audio to a stereo output file. A 4 minute song with 16 tracks takes less than 40 seconds to render with the upgrade in place where before it would take over 60. With the exception of the aforementioned issue with overclocking the memory bus, Sonar showed a significant benefit from the upgrade.

Ulead VideoStudio 11

With 4GB of RAM the program imports video and audio much faster. It also adds effects and transitions much faster with 4GB RAM than it did with 2GB. Editing a 20 minute video clip to a rendered MPEG video used to take me about 2 hours on average where now it takes me about an hour and a half to produce. The biggest improvement is when rendering the video to a file. This process takes a long time depending on the amount of effects and transitions used in the clip. On average, I now spend about 30% less time waiting for the computer to do its part and more time actually editing.

CounterStrike: Source

I noticed that a few places in the game where the frame rate would drop during multiplayer, the frame rate was smoother than previously. I also noticed that where before I could play with up to 14 players smoothly, I can now play with up to 18 players with the same smoothness. However, with only the Ballistix memory installed and the system overclocked the game was extremely smooth and I was able to play with no lag or glitching and the load time was even faster between maps.

FlatOut 2

With FlatOut 2 I did not notice any great increase in performance, but I have never had an issue with the performance of this game even back when I was only using 1GB of RAM. I do notice that the game loads faster though and each race seems to load a little faster as well.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

This was the game that gained the most benefit from my upgrade. The entire game plays much smoother and more fluid than before. I used to get glitches especially in scenes with tall grass and lots of forest but now the game plays much better. I also used to notice a severe frame rate drop, just for the first few seconds, when traveling near or across water where now there is hardly any drop at all. Large battle scenes are also much smoother. I used to get confused as to which way I was facing if the frame rate dropped too much during a big fight, but I haven’t had that problem since the upgrade.

Doom3

Doom3 also benefited greatly from the upgrade, especially during battles with many creatures at once. The entire game plays a little smoother and I haven’t had any frame rate issues since the upgrade.

Overall, I did not notice as much of a gain in performance with my games as with other multimedia programs.

Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 2GB LED kit

Crucial’s Ballistix Tracer 2GB DDR2 PC2-6400 memory kit is an excellent upgrade. It has a shorter latency than the OCZ Platinum which means less time that data is waiting to be delivered. Real life performance proves that the Ballisrx memory is a major contender in the market. In all honesty, 4GB of any 800MHz RAM will make your computer zing along but the Ballstix Tracer is a good upgrade. Overclockers will not be disappointed with the Ballistix Tracers either because the overclock ability of the memory is outstanding.

If you have a clear side panel you also get the benefit of the LEDs lighting the interior of the case. I already have case lighting in place but the Ballistix Tracers just added to it and fit right in with the rest of my lighting scheme.

Pros: Lower latency than some other competing RAM, LED “tracers”, excellent overclock ability.

Cons: 2.2v required.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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