Crucial Ballistix Sport Low Profile DDR3-1600 16GB Memory Kit Review

Final Thoughts
As I said in my review of the Ballistix Tactical Low Profile memory from Crucial it is about time we see low profile versions of performance memory!  There are so many times where an aftermarket CPU cooler blocks some of your memory slots so instead of being able to use 4 you can only use two.  When you buy a motherboard you want to be able to use all of the available memory slots.  I really like that Crucial is offering both this kit and their Ballistix Tactical kits in low profile versions.  They could have just come out with a default low profile kit, but they want you to get the same performance you would see in the larger versions of these kits.

Again, these are just smaller versions of the Ballistix Sport kits so they look pretty much identical except they are smaller.  They have a nice heatspreader on each side.  This not only is going to keep the modules cool, but also help with overclocking.  With this kit, which has a stock speed of 1600MHz I was able to get them up to 2133MHz by loosening the timings to 11-11-11-30 and by bumping the voltage up to 1.65v.

For those who are not interested in overclocking this kit runs at 1.35v which is a lower voltage than normal so you have less power draw.  This kit also supports an XMP profile so all you have to do is go into your BIOS and enable it.  It will set all of the values for you (speed, timings and voltage), which makes things much easier.

The 16GB kit (BLS2K8G3D1609ES2LX0) we reviewed today is selling at my favorite online retailer for $79.99.  Crucial is offering the low profile kits in different capacities in both dual and quad channel configurations.  They also back this kit with a lifetime warranty.  You really cannot say anything bad about this kit, it is great for the entry-level or mainstream user.  Overall ThinkComputers gives the Crucial Ballistix Sport Low Profile DDR3-1600 16GB Memory Kit a 10 out of 10 score.

rating10 10 small

Pros:
– Low profile design
– Same heatspreader design as larger version
– XMP profile
– Lifetime warranty

Cons:
– None that I found

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