INTRODUCTION

   RAM has always been one of the most crucial/important parts of any computer but just like many other hardware components today for some people performance (clocks and timings) and density/amount are not the sole decisive factors when out to get a brand new kit. We are of course talking about looks and with RGB lighting having established itself as one of the most popular aesthetic enhancements currently (if not the most popular) it's no surprise that both manufacturers and consumers alike are already placing extra weight on it. Crucial released their very first RGB RAM kit called the Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB back in mid-2018 (April to be exact) which they upgraded back in August of this year and even though we didn't have the chance to test the first Generation we did manage to get a 32GB quad kit of the second one.

   Crucial is a global brand of Micron Technology, Inc. Crucial solid state drives (SSDs) and memory (DRAM) upgrades are compatible with over 100,000 new and old desktops, laptops, workstations, and servers. Available worldwide at leading retail and e-tail stores, commercial resellers, and system integrators, Crucial products enhance system performance and user productivity. Learn more at Crucial.com.

   The Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB DDR4 modules by Crucial are currently available in 8GB single, 16GB dual-channel (2x8GB) and 32GB quad-channel (4x8GB) kits with just two available frequencies (3000MHz/3200MHz) and two timings (3000MHz CL15 - 3200 CL16) at 1.35V. Under the hood of the Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB 3000MHZ CL15 modules which we have here we find single-rank 8GB E-die memory modules by Micron, thermal sensor by Giantec and an RGB LED bar which features a total of 16 LEDs in 8 individually addressable zones with 12 available effects and adjustable brightness and speed (Crucial also allows you to remove the light bar cover or 3D print your very own). The RGB LED bar is also what separates the original modules (Gen 1) with the latest ones (Gen 2) since the latter come with improved ones that feature full-spectrum RGB default pattern, brighter LEDs, higher color fidelity and compatibility with many of the leading mainboard RGB sync technologies like the ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion and the MSI Mystic Light Sync (always according to Crucial). As expected, Crucial covers the entire Tactical Tracer RGB line of DDR4 memory kits with a limited lifetime warranty (10 years in Germany).

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

Crucial ships the Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB kits inside a soft plastic package from where you can see part of the modules (there's also another package available for the same kit which is entirely clear and allows consumers to see all modules).

A few words about the kit are printed at the rear in 7 languages.

Just the modules are included inside the package.

THE BALLISTIX TACTICAL TRACER RGB

The Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB modules feature a gunmetal grey heatspreader which has the line name and manufacturer at the front.

At the rear we find two small stickers, one with the country of assembly and one with the module part number, clocks, timings and voltage.

Even though Crucial ships the Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB modules with covers that have the word Ballistix printed on them you can remove them (brighter LEDs that way) or replace them with your very own 3D printed ones.

Measuring just 40.8mm top to bottom (37mm for the heatspreaders) the Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB modules are among the shortest RGB ones out in the market today (by removing the LED cover their height drops to 40.2mm).

The full RGB spectrum pattern looks very nice even with the bar cover on.

Unfortunately, even though Crucial says these modules are compatible with RGB Fusion mainboards our GIGABYTE X299 AORUS Gaming 9 failed to detect them (could be due to the latest BIOS update we performed recently).

Thanks to the popular Thaiphoon Burner program you can see detailed information about the kit we’re testing today.

BALLISTIX M.O.D.

You can download the latest version of the Ballistix M.O.D. (Memory Overview Display) Utility directly from the official Crucial website.

The very first tab of the M.O.D. utility allows you to check the SPD data of your modules.

Second tab makes use of the Giantec thermal sensor to display the current temperature of each installed module.

From the LED control tab, you can change the effects, colors, brightness levels and speed of the RGB LEDs.

By switching to advanced mode, you can assign one of 3 available effects for each of the 8 available zones.

The extra effects are certainly worth downloading and using the M.O.D. utility.

If interested in replacing the LED cover Crucial has a dedicated section on their website for that.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Thanks to XMP profiles the only thing one needs to do in order to run this RAM kit at its advertised frequency, timings and voltages is to choose/enable it from within the Bios and reboot. That being said if you're into overclocking you may not wish to use the main XMP profile but instead to choose your very own frequency, timings and voltages to achieve even higher performance numbers and that's exactly what we'll also be doing during our DDR4 tests. To be more specific aside testing each kit with its XMP profile we will also be upping the voltages (up to 1.4V max*) and frequencies (200MHZ increments) until we find the maximum achievable stable frequency. We also thought about upping voltages and reducing timings instead of increasing the frequency of the modules as high as it can go (always stable and without going over 1.4V) but the end results are pretty much identical.

   As for the how we'll be testing each DDR4 Quad-Kit to arrive in our lab well there aren't that many benchmark programs that only test RAM (or at least RAM and CPU without anything else coming into play) but we got most of them and so you will be seeing results from following benchmarking programs, AIDA64 Engineer Edition, Cinebench Release 20, MaxMemm2 (because we are getting low performance numbers this doesn't seem to play well with our test rig - probably because of the X299 architecture - but we decided to include it regardless), Passmark Performance Test 9, Sisoftware Sandra Titanium and WPrime v1.55. All tests are performed on a fresh Windows 10 Pro installation (complete with all updates until the day of this review) and are repeated a total of 6 times after which the average numbers get recorded into our charts.

* Even though achieving higher clocks than the ones in this review by increasing voltages and/or using looser timings is certainly possible, we can’t recommend surpassing 1.4V.

TEST RESULTS - XMP PROFILE

TEST RESULTS - OVERCLOCK

For today's review we managed to raise the frequency of the kit all the way up to a stable 3600MHz CL18 (3200MHZ 1.36V / 3400MHZ 1.38v / 3600MHZ 1.4v).

CONCLUSION

   Two things are perfectly clear after wrapping up today’s review, first that the Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB series are not aimed towards the most demanding consumers out there (at least not until Crucial introduces modules with higher clocks and densities) and that there’s much more to them than just performance. We are of course referring to the top RGB LED bar (16 LEDs - 8 Zones – compatibility with most mainboard RGB technologies), built-in temperature sensor, removable top LED bar cover (which you can even replace with your very own 3D printed covers), available customization options via Crucial’s M.O.D. utility and of course the limited lifetime warranty (although just 10 years for Germany – plenty of time still). Overclocking headroom although nothing we haven’t seen in the past is quite good since we did achieve 3600MHZ at 1.4V.

   The DDR4 3000MHZ 32GB Quad-Channel Kit of the Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB series by Crucial (BLT4K8G4D30AET4K) currently retails for USD187.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 209.43Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). This price tag may at first seem as a bit high (and solely judging by performance and capacity it actually is) but if you also take into account the RGB lighting system, ability to remove the top cover and even create your very own and all the available settings inside the M.O.D. utility it’s easier to understand where Crucial is coming from. Still even though for the majority of consumers price will probably be an issue the Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB DDR4 32GB 3000MHZ CL15 Quad-Channel Kit is certainly worth our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (Micron E Die Chips)
- Design (Gunmetal Grey Heat Spreaders)
- RGB LED Bar (16 LEDs / 8 Zones / Compatible with ASUS AURA Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync)
- Overall Performance (Up To 3600MHz CL18)
- M.O.D. Utility
- Temperature Sensor
- Short Heat Spreaders (Zero Clearance Issues)
- Lifetime Warranty

CONS

- 3000/3200MHz Models Only
- Price (For Some)