Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer DDR3-1866 16GB Quad Channel Memory Kit Review

Final Thoughts
You know sometimes when there is a “flashy” product it is to distract users from poor performance or something else that may be wrong with the product, but with the Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer memory that is the furthest thing from the truth.  But before we get into all that, let’s talk about the “flashy” part of this memory.  Crucial has been putting out their Tracer memory for quit some time and it does not disappoint.  With LEDs along the top of the memory to show activity and ground effect LEDs and well these modules are really going to stand out inside your case, especially if you have a case window.  If you did already check out our video of the modules in action!  Unfortunately we were unable to use the Ballistix M.O.D. utility as it told us our motherboard was not compatible.  This would have enable us to customize the LEDs and check memory temperature.

As far as performance goes this memory is awesome!  Running at DDR3-1866 with timings of 9-9-9-27 you are going to see great performance.  Since the memory runs at 1.5v you should be able to push it further and we sure did!  We easily bumped up the voltage and got the memory up to DDR3-2133, but we were not done there!  When it was all said and done we had this memory running at DDR3-2400 with timings of 11-11-11-30!  That is a 534MHz overclock!  And the highest clock we have ever achieved with memory on our Intel X79 system!  That really says a lot for this memory.  Also if you look at the comparison results on the previous page you can see the Ballistix Tactical Tracer stands in there with all of the other quad channel kits we have tested.

Besides all the flashy lights the modules themselves look awesome.  They have some of the most attractive heatspreaders I have seen and the black PCB of the modules match the heatspreaders quite well.  Also the heatspreaders are not that much larger than the actual PCB so you shouldn’t have any clearance issues.  These modules support XMP profiles so you just install them and enable the XMP profile in the BIOS and you are good to go.

Right now the you can purchase single DIMMs of this memory (BLT4G3D1869DT2TXOB) for $27.99 at my favorite online retailer for four will set you back $111.96.  Crucial also backs these modules with a lifetime warranty.  Overall ThinkComputers gives the Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer DDR3-1866 16GB Quad Channel Memory a 10 out of 10 score and our Editor’s Choice Award!

rating10 10 small TC award editorschoice small

Pros:
– Very attractive modules
– LEDs!
– Awesome performance and overclocking
– Lifetime warranty

Cons:
– Ballistix M.O.D. software did not work with our motherboard

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