INTRODUCTION

   Amount (GB), frequency (MHZ), timings (CL) and looks (RGB/heatspreaders), this is undeniably the proper order in regards to what people should prioritize when out to get new RAM for their systems. Yes, there are always those who may choose to put frequency above amount (primarily due to cost concerns) while others may place too much weight on looks (mostly gamers and enthusiasts) but for people who are after the best in terms of performance there's simply no other way to look at this. Of course, there are other things that also matter like the number of channels supported by your motherboard (dual/quad) and both the types of die used and their manufacturer (especially for overclocking purposes) but these are details that obviously don't concern the majority of users out there. The latest Ballistix MAX RGB line of DDR4 RAM kits by Crucial combines all of the above and so today with me i have not one but two of their latest 16GB 4000MHz CL18 (BLM2K8G40C18U4BL) kits which I’ll be testing in both dual (2x8GB - Z390) and quad (4x8GB - X299) configurations.

   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. Crucial Ballistix gaming memory delivers a performance edge to gamers and enthusiasts and enhances the overall PC gaming experience. 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 www.crucial.com.

   Just like with the Gaming line the the Ballistix MAX line by Crucial is currently available in both RGB and non-RGB models (the kits i received were both RGB ones) and only in dual-channel configuration (2x8/16GB - you can of course pair these kits for quad channel systems) with frequencies all the way to 4400MHz (4000/4400MHz), CAS latency timings as low as 18 (4000MHz CL18 / 4400MHz CL19) and voltages set at 1.35v for all kits. Under the low-profile anodized aluminum heatspreaders we find single rank 8GB E-Die memory chips by Micron (at least in this kit), 3D printed cover (you can create your very own with files provided by Crucial) and a LED bar that has a total of 16 RGB LEDs (8 zones with 12 effects) and is fully compatible with all the popular mainboard sync technologies (including ASUS AURA Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync and ASRock RGB Sync). As with their previous lines Crucial covers the Ballistix MAX DDR4 RAM with a limited lifetime warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

THE BALLISTIX MAX 32GB 4000MHZ CL18

Crucial send over two 16GB kits both of which arrived inside boxes that allow you to take a look at the RAM inside from the front (opens up like a book).

A few words about the Ballistix MAX RAM is printed at the rear in 11 languages.

As expected inside the box Crucial has placed just the RAM modules which just like in the case of the Ballistix Gaming line feature anodized aluminum heatspreaders.

The serial number, RAM size/amount, country of assembly and two 2D barcodes are all placed on the opposite side of the PCB.

Here you can see the 39mm tall Ballistix MAX RGB module right next to the Ballistix MAX (non-RGB), Ballistix Gaming and Ballistix Elite modules.

The top 3D printed cover can be removed to install your very own 3D printed one (never done it but it could be interesting).

As already mentioned, the Ballistix MAX was tested on both the I9-9900K/Z390 DARK and I9-7980XE/X299 Aorus Gaming 9 systems.

Also let's not forget Thaiphoon burner for more details on the kit.

BALLISTIX M.O.D.

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/pattern, colors, brightness levels and speed of the RGB LEDs on each module.

By switching to advanced mode, you can assign a different effect and/or color for each of the 8 available zones.

Inside the settings tab you have the ability to start the program with Windows, enable the temperature widget (shows the temperature of the modules on the screen) and enable logging.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Thanks to XMP (2.0) 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 – even though most kits can function at higher voltages I don’t recommend doing so) 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/Dual-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.

* In addition to Quad-Channel tests since March 2020 I’ll also be using the brand new Z390 test rig (check above) for Dual-Channel RAM tests.
** Since May 2020 three game benchmarks (Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, GEARS 5 and Metro Exodus tested on the X299 system at 1080p resolution and with the ASUS ROG RTX2060 OC set at Gaming Mode) have also been added in the charts.

TEST RESULTS – XMP PROFILE / QUAD CHANNEL

TEST RESULTS – XMP PROFILE / DUAL CHANNEL

TEST RESULTS – OVERCLOCK / DUAL CHANNEL

I managed to push the Ballistix MAX modules all the way up to a stable 4200MHz without even changing timings, just by upping the voltage to 1.38V (I was also able to hit 4400MHz at CL19 and 1.4V but the system wasn’t stable).

CONCLUSION

   Crucial has a very long history of producing high performance DRAM and the Ballistix MAX is among the 2 fastest kits to reach me, at least to date. The only other model which was able to exchange blows with the Ballistix MAX kit is the equally fast (slightly faster actually if we also take timings into account) Trident ROYAL kit by GSkill. Unfortunately, due to motherboard limitations the X299 system wouldn’t boot no matter what i did at frequencies over 4GHz so i had to use the Z390 system for overclocking, even though it ended going up to just 4200MHz (i was expecting a stable 4400MHz which didn’t happen, not with 1.4V and CL19). The RGB end of the Ballistix MAX may not look as impressive as that used in the Trident ROYAL model but it still does very well especially when controlled via the Ballistix M.O.D software.

   At the time of this review each of the Ballistix MAX RGB 16GB 4000MHz CL19 kits retails for USD196.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 147.85Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). On one hand this means that the Ballistix MAX kit is priced well inside the EU (not so much inside the USA so Crucial should work on that) and on the other that getting two of these for a quad system will set you back no less than USD393.98/295.7Euros. Overall i have nothing to complaint about in regards to the Ballistix MAX kits (aside their price on the other side of the Atlantic that is), they are among the fastest ones in the market currently, the RGB feature works great, price inside the EU is balanced and they are also covered by a limited lifetime warranty. For all of the above the Crucial Ballistix MAX 32GB 4000MHz CL19 kit gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (Anodized Aluminum Heatspreaders / Micron E-Die)
- Excellent Performance (Easily Up To 4200MHZ CL18)
- RGB LED Bar (16 LEDs / 8 Zones / 12 Effects)
- RGB & Regular Kits Available
- 3D Printed Top Cover (Replaceable)
- Ballistix M.O.D Software
- Limited Lifetime Warranty
- Price (EU)

CONS

- Price (USA)
- Only Dual Channel Kits