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

The introduction of the Skylake platform by Intel successfully brought DDR4 to the "mainstream" market, previously DDR4 uptake had been limited by the high entry costs of the only supported consumer platform at the time, X99. As a direct result of the larger market for DDR4 afforded by Skylake there has been an explosion in the number of kits available and, helpfully for prospective buyers, the last 6 months or so have seen the cost of DDR4 fall sharply, almost converging with per-GB DDR3 prices. DDR4, in short, is no longer limited to the ultra high-end market. Crucial, the memory brand of semiconductor giant Micron, has released a diverse portfolio of DDR4 memory kits for Skylake users under its Ballistix Series. There are a number of kits available in the Ballistix line including Ballistix Elite, Ballistix Sport and Ballistix Tactical, offered in a variety of different frequencies, capacities and colours. Frequencies are, at the time of writing, limited to either 2400MHz or 2666MHz in 4GB or 8GB per-stick capacities with red, black, grey and white colour options. Crucial is unashamedly targeting the mid-range DDR4 user with those frequencies, capacities and aggressive pricing - leaving the ultra high-frequency market to be contested by the likes of Corsair, G.Skill and others. Kicking off the Ballistix DDR4 series is Ballistix Elite, our review kit is 16GB in dual channel operating at 2666MHz through an XMP profile. Aesthetically Crucial has progressed a long way from its DDR3 products, the most obvious change is opting for matte black PCBs as standard across the Ballistix range. Referring back to the previous generation of Ballistix Elite modules the tall profile has been lowered to aid compatibility but the impressive build quality still remains evident with a solid metal heatsink. Next in the range is the Ballistix Tactical and once again we have a dual channel 16GB kit running at 2666MHz, this is loaded through an XMP profile to offer as close to plug-and-play as possible. The DDR3 generation of Ballistix Tactical used a rather potent black and yellow colour scheme, for the DDR4 generation this has been toned back to a black and grey design. A sensible design choice from Crucial given that black and grey fits in much better with the current generation of Z170 motherboards, particularly many of MSI's Z170 offerings that offer black, grey or white highlights. If there was a "most improved" award for Crucial's DRAM products it would likely go to its Ballistix Sport range. The DDR3 generation came in two flavours, both used untamed green PCBs, with either a black or blue heatsink. For the DDR4 generation there's a matte black PCB with a stylised silver heatsink. Overall Crucial has been smart with the design characteristics of its Ballistix DDR4 range, the market has been moving towards matte black PCBs and subtle dark colours for a long time so it's good to see Crucial has caught up with the competition. Specifications Crucial Ballistix Elite Crucial Ballistix Tactical Crucial Ballistix Sport Model Number BLE2C8G4D26AFEA BLT2C8G4D26AFTA BLS2C8G4D240FSA Type DDR4 UDIMM DDR4 UDIMM DDR4 UDIMM Frequency (MHz) 2666 (PC4-21300) 2666 (PC4-21300) 2400 (PC4-19200) Timings 16-17-17-36-2T 16-17-17-36-2T 16-18-18-36-2T Voltage 1.2v 1.2v 1.2v Vertical Height 40mm 37mm 30mm XMP 2.0 2.0 2.0 Configuration 2 x 8GB 2 x 8GB 2 x 8GB Warranty Limited Lifetime Limited Lifetime Limited Lifetime We had a few motherboards at hand in the KitGuru labs to mix and match the Crucial memory kits with: the ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming, the Gigabyte Z170 Gaming K3 and the MSI Z170A Tomahawk. All three motherboards use a red and black theme but with levels of white, silver and grey highlights, as well as varying shades of red. Crucial's Ballistix Elite modules look very clean in all motherboards when installed thanks to the matte black design of the PCB and heatsink. The rugged chunky look to the top of the modules, contrasted by the white branding does well to make the Ballistix Elite standout. Depending on the orientation of the case some users may find the stickers on the modules to ruin the aesthetic, arguably these would be better placed on the opposing side to where they are currently to hide them better. Nonetheless, users could remove these to fine tune the aesthetic. At 40mm tall the Elite modules are the tallest of the Ballistix range and thus most likely to cause interference with CPU coolers. The Ballistix Tactical seem to fit the ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming a little better than the other boards due to numerous grey elements like the SATA ports, power connectors and VRM phases, but the subtle grey will correspond reasonably well with any mainly-black or dark-themed Z170 motherboard. The Tactical modules are a little higher than standard profile RAM, sitting at 37mm tall so like with the Ballistix Elite prospective buyers would be wise to investigate available memory clearance with their desired CPU cooler before purchasing. Ballistix Sport are the most compact modules of the bunch so shouldn't pose any issues to CPU cooler compatibility for prospective buyers. Like Ballistix Tactical, grey is the predominant colour but with some extra reflective strips along the top and bottom that should enhance the system aesthetics for anyone using LED strips or RGB lighting. 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. AIDA64 Memory Bandwidth AIDA64 Memory Latency SiSoft Sandra Memory Bandwidth Both the AIDA64 and SiSoft Sandra synthetic memory benchmarks scale in a predictable way, showing that faster memory kits can deliver more throughput. However, as we move onto the real world tests it will become apparent that not all applications scale with such predictability. The key thing to note is the extra performance is there, but whether applications are suited to harness that extra performance remains to be seen. Cinebench R15 We used the ‘CPU’ test built into Cinebench R15 to measure the effect that system memory has on computational performance. Handbrake We measured the average frame rate achieved for a task of transcoding a 1.2GB AVI file to MP4 using an Android Tablet preset. WPrime We ran the 32 million Pi calculation to observe any changes in mathematical computation performance caused by different system memory. 3DMark The Firestrike test was used with a focus on the Physics score to record how faster memory can impact gaming performance. Cinebench, Handbrake and 3DMark all performed better on Crucial's memory kits than standard 2133MHz DDR4 memory but the results were a mixed bag. Handbrake scaled the best while both 3DMark and Cinebench were so close that the differences are negligible and could be called margin of error. Only by adding in the faster 3,200MHz G.Skill kit were we able to demonstrate a notable difference across these benchmarks against DDR4-2133. WPrime yielded seemingly random results suggesting that memory frequency has little impact on mathematical CPU computation. This general trend does yield some inherent advantages for prospective buyers though. Users can be more concerned with getting a memory kit of the right capacity, aesthetics and price point, leaving frequency to be an afterthought, and it will be of virtually no detriment to overall system performance levels. As such Crucial's DDR4 2400 and 2666 both seem to be adept in keeping up with all of today's memory bandwidth requirements. Overclocking system memory is just as much about luck as it is about skill, in that regard it isn't too dissimilar from CPU overclocking and "the silicon lottery". Some modules will overclock better than others and the only real way to establish the capability of a module is to test its limits. For our overclocking we took a simple approach that could be replicated by anyone at home. We upped the voltage from 1.2 volts to 1.35 volts, which is generally seen as a voltage level that's safe for long term operation, we left timings on auto and gradually increased memory dividers until the system refused to POST. We applied the same procedure to all three Crucial kits and came up with some surprising results. From left to right, top to bottom, we managed to achieve 2,800MHz on the Ballistix Elite, 2,933MHz on the Ballistix Tactical and 2,800MHz on the Ballistix Sport. Both the Tactical and Sport results are very strong, an increase of 267MHz for the Tactical and a hefty 400MHz for the Sport. The Elite felt somewhat disappointing since it is the most expensive kit of the bunch and the most well built, it "only" managed an extra 134MHz. It can perhaps be inferred that there isn't really any performance or frequency binning of memory ICs between the Crucial Ballistix range - you're just as likely to get a strong overclocking kit from the cheaper Sport line as you are from the more expensive Elite range. Overclocked performance in terms of bandwidth and latency was well improved for all modules. Interestingly, the Ballistix Sport Kit was a notable amount slower than the Elite kit at 2,800MHz despite sharing identical timings and voltages. In some cases it is true that not all modules will perform the same at the same frequency, it's also not uncommon to see memory performance decline as frequency increases - even if a memory module is stable at the higher frequency overclock. Crucial's Ballistix range of DDR4 memory modules is very well rounded in terms of performance, aesthetics and build quality - the improvements the company has made compared to previous generation DDR3 modules are clear to see. Nonetheless there are still areas in which Crucial could strive to improve their offerings. Notably, for the Ballistix Elite modules it would be nice to see the company push beyond 2666MHz as this is its flagship DDR4 module. Higher frequencies would naturally command a higher price point but there is definitely demand for higher frequency memory and we've seen from our overclocking tests that Crucial's memory kits are certainly capable of faster frequencies. With some DRAM vendors offering in excess of 4000MHz, 2666MHz is relatively pale in comparison... even if 2666MHz is still perfectly sufficient for mid to high-end users. In terms of colour options it would be nice to see not only a greater variety, but also a greater consistency of options across the range. For example, Ballistix Sport is available in grey, red and white but Tactical is only available in grey and Elite only in black. Why not roll out all colour options to all modules to give prospective buyers maximum flexibility in properly coordinating their builds? Crucial's memory division has always been somewhat conservative in terms of design choices and frequency options but with the PC DIY market ever increasing in size now is as good a time as any for the company to expand its horizons. In terms of pricing for these memory kits Crucial is aggressive - Amazon UK has prices (accurate at the time of writing) of £70.48 (Elite), £72.99 (Tactical) and £59.16 (Sport). Certainly, Crucial is locking horns with Corsair's Vengeance LPX and Kingston's HyperX Fury kits that occupy similar price points for equivalent speeds and capacities. Undoubtedly, most DRAM vendors offer uniquely designed memory products but prospective buyers may struggle to pick between the competition given similarities in pricing. Crucial's Limited Lifetime warranty and UK-based customer support will appeal to many but prospective buyers should note that similar warranty services are offered by most DRAM vendors. Discuss on our Facebook page, over HERE. Pros: Competitive pricing on the entire Ballistix range. Lifetime warranty. Decent overclocking potential. Attractively designed heatspreaders that will suit most Z170 motherboards. Cons: Limited frequency options. Colour options vary inconsistently between Ballistix Elite, Sport and Tactical. KitGuru says: Competitive pricing, an attractive set of designs and good performance, including overclocking, make Crucial's Ballistix DDR4 series of memory modules a worthy contender for any Skylake system. However, a lack of high speed options and a limited selection of colours may limit the overall audience.

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

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