New Ballstix revision now out. Confirmed for PC2-6400 2GB

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New Ballistix

n00b
Joined
Jul 9, 2008
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My 2x2GB (PC2-6400) kit started to cause problems about 45 days after purchase. Random BSOD and reboots. 1-3 time a day. I reduced the timings from 4-4-4-12 333MHz to 5-5-5-15 333 MHz which helped -> only 1 BSOD every 3-4 days. I then removed one stick and it ran great. Memtest had over 300 errors with both sticks. I RMA'd the RAM X-ship to crucial but it was taking more time then I expected. Then all the 2 GB modules of Yellow Ballistix were removed from crucial.com website and now the 2GB Tracer modules are gone as well. I called the company and they told me that a new revision was arriving this week. The part number is now BL25664AA80A. My old RAM ended in 804. I received the new RAM today. I am probably one of the first in North America. I can confirm that the new RAM has the same timings but runs at 2.0 V instead of the old 2.2V. It is labeled such on the RAM and the EPP in CPU-Z lists EPP#1 4-4-4-12 2.0V 400MHz and EPP#2 5-5-5-15 2.0V 500 MHz.

The EPP profiles seem to work great now with my ASUS P5E-VM HDMI. Before I had to set timings and frequency manually, this time I only set the timings and voltage and the frequency was automatically bumped to 400 MHz.
 
Lets see if this new stuff is any better. They should have pulled that old crap of the market months ago but instead they sold it dirt cheap and probably pissed off a lot of customers including myself. Its going to be a while before I buy anything marked Ballistix.
 
Interesting, this exact thing happened with their DDR1 sticks towards the end of production (or 'least towards the end of DDR1's life before AMD came out w/AM2). Weird how they've lowered the voltage requirement on it though... Newegg's still hawking two different set of 804 Tracer 2x2GB kits (I can't, for the life of me, tell what's the difference) and the non-Tracer kit has been out of stock for a while (also listed as 804 w/no ETA).

Anyone know what ICs Corsair/G.Skill are using on their 2GB DDR2 sticks? No one seems to be complaining about 'em but I thought the Micron ICs (Crucial's parent company AFAIK) were what most everyone was using, I have admittedly not delved into this in a while... Anand seems to have stopped publishing those nice and detailed RAM round-ups they were doing too.
 
Ohh nice, you're all over the place sir... Thanks. :D I remembered seeing a list of ICs for Corsair sticks a long time ago but it was on a static page and it didn't seem like it was updated often, that post was updated recently though, and it's got all the revisions and stuff, cool.

Looks like it's PSC for all the 2x2GB kits right now (or 'least the last revisions), interesting. I'd heard of ELPIDA and QIMONDA before but not PSC, not that I know much about any of 'em either way. :p
 
You can't tell just from the Newegg ad as you don't know what revision they are. You the revision number to compare to the list. But, a huge majority of our 2 x 2gb DDR2 right now is PSC.
 
That would be nice to see... if they OC better would hope my memory starts acting up!!! LOL


Anyway My newer tracers are doing 555 1000 2.0 so no prob for me
 
Anybody knows if the new revision goes for Tracers? I just had my second batch of 4x1GB stick died in less than a month. Is incredible how crappy these ram are. Not only did I leave the ram on stock speed and settings but I even under volt them, and they can die out in less than a month. Running MEMTEST86 for 5 minutes gives me 250 errors, so sad.
 
The Tracer RED editions are showing 2.0V for DDR2-800.
Look for any part number ending in A.
BL2KIT25664AR80A 2X2gb KIT
BL25664AR80A 2GB module
 
Man, my sig-rig is down because of those friggin' Crucial Ballistix. They ran decent for about 2 months and then just crap out. Just sucks. I mean, if it were just one bad stick out of a thousand I could understand but from reading online it sounds like its all of them. I don't think I've ever read about RAM this notoriously bad. I'm waiting on an RMA right now, I hope they send me something else or I can get credit. Not interested in anything else they have to offer at this point. I'm thinking of going with OCZ.
 
ballistix 2x1gb pc8500 kits

the first set i got from newegg was the 16fd5 batch, they worked fine
ordered a second set which turned out to be the single sided 8fe5, gave me bsods using 4 sticks, sent them back to crucial for rma
got batch 16fd3 from crucial put them in with the 16fd5 batch, doesnt post
turns out one of the 16fd5 stick died, how odd
so i put those up for rma and i get an email about the new revision and i ended up adding the other set crucial sent just so i could have all 4 run at 2.0
the guy on the phone claimed that the old set would run at 2.0, which it probably would, but its just easier to have 4 similar sticks

i would like to mention that i have a maximus formula, which use to be compatible with that kit but was later removed as not being compatible, probably cuz so many kits were failing
this new 2.0v batch has reappeared on the compat list

put in the crossship today so well see what happens when i get them
 
I sent in my tracers (pc-6400) and got the yellow ballistix back and they told me that the tracers were no longer being sold and that a new version was in the works, But no ETA. So instead of keeping the regular yellow pc-6400s that I got, Which were single sided, They exchanged them for pc2-8500 tracers that are double sided and I'm selling them when I get them in tomorrow if anyone is interested.
 
They lied, I recieved 4 sticks of 1GB 6400 Tracers last Thursday. Model number BL1286AL804, but then the double sided RAM does sound better. You're def. at a gain here.
 
Keep the double-sided... They'll die eventually too but it should take a lot longer and by then you might be on a DDR3 system.
 
Tommyzors said:
They lied, I recieved 4 sticks of 1GB 6400 Tracers last Thursday. Model number BL1286AL804, but then the double sided RAM does sound better. You're def. at a gain here.
Click to expand...

The ones I got in the other day are: BL12864AL1065.16FD5
 
What's sad is my very batch/part # are the ones listed as an example on the RMA page. Lasted an awe-inspiring 6 mo's at 5-5-5, 2.2v. Still haven't heard back from Crucial though...

Probably shoulda learned my lesson when their 2-2-2 stuff died so quickly on me last time, but I gave them another chance with DDR2, and once again, their RAM dies just as quickly.
 
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