Crucial Ballistix Elite, Sport & Tactical 16GB DDR4 Memory Group Test

1. Introduction2. Closer Look - Motherboard Installation3. Testing Methodology4. Tests: Memory Metrics5. Tests: Memory Performance6. Overclocking: Frequencies and Performance7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

All our DDR4 memory tests were conducted on the ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming motherboard since our most recent motherboard review to include memory bandwidth numbers showed an ASUS Z170 motherboard leading the field. All kits that use XMP profiles on this motherboard prompt the user to choose between all core or per core enhancement, we selected the all core enhancement mode which effectively means the CPU runs at the maximum turbo frequency of 4.2GHz across all cores under load.

For the JEDEC kit comparison we manually set a 4.2GHz overclock to maintain comparable performance figures against the XMP memory kits.

DDR4 Memory Z170 Test System

• Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K processor running at 4.2GHz Overclocked (100MHz BCLK, 42X Multiplier)
• Motherboard: ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming (BIOS 1206)
• Graphics Card: Zotac GTX 970
• System Drive: Mushkin Chronos 120GB
• Operating System: Windows 10 64 Bit
• Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum 760W
• Case: Corsair 400Q
• Display: ASUS PB287Q

Comparison memory

• 8GB (2x4GB) G.Skill Ripjaws V 3200MHz 16-16-16-36 DDR4 @ 1.35v
• 16GB (2x8GB) Generic JEDEC 2133MHz 15-15-15-36 DDR4 @ 1.2v

Tests

• AIDA64 Engineer – Memory bandwidth and latency tests.
• SiSoft Sandra – Memory bandwidth tests.
• Cinebench R15 – All-core CPU benchmark.
• Handbrake 0.10.5 – transcoding 1.2GB AVI file to MP4 using Android Tablet preset.
• 3DMark – Firestrike test, 1080p.
• WPrime – 32 million digits of Pi calculation.

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