Ballistix = High Failure rate....?

TheBlueChanell

TheBlueChanell

Supreme [H]ardness
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I know these probably aren't the best thing to go by, but there are alot reviews on newegg stating problems with failing ballistix modules. I am hardpressed between the OCZ pc4000 or the Ballistix pc4000 and I think these are scarring me into getting OCZ.
 
they run hot. people overclock em and overvolt them without adequate cooling. it's like running 1.7v through your venice on the stock cooler and removing the fan while your at it. :(
 
I wouldn't trust the reviews at newegg, there are no guarantee's that the people who are reviewing them aren't n00bs. Just because you buy high quality components doesn't make you a smart pc person. I usually go by what the forums say and not what site reviews say.
 
I almost always go by what the [H] horde suggests, but I was just curious. Ok, Ballistix it is.
 
A fan blowing over them should be sufficient. A decent fan most notably pointed as directly as you can at the modules.
 
as posted in another thread.. something like this would be ideal:

1_65.jpg


plus, with a fan on it, you can get a couple more mhz stable out of it ;)
 
My Ballistix 2x1GB RAM just failed this past weekend after running fine for about 3 weeks. There are more having this same problem than just those who have posted on Newegg. I started a thread today about this over at DFI-Street.com and already others have posted saying the same is happening to their Ballistix.

DFI-Street Ballistix failure thread
 
If you have proper cooling, a fan over the ram modules shouldn't be nessecary.
I say this because in my case, I am running the ram at 270Mhz with only 2.7v, they are supposed to run at 2.8v.

While playing BF2, if i open my side case and touch them they aren't nowhere near as hot as people say they get. BUT, that might be that other people are pushing 2.8v~3.0v to them.

My ballistix is great, and I would recommend this ram to anyone...
 
OCZ for teh win!!!111

But seriously, OCZ is one of the few companies that I would blindly trust in computers.
 
got my OCZ Platinum EB's running at 260Mhz 3-3-2-7 1T 2.7v right now. They dont scale as high as the Ballistix, but the timings are great and will even do 2.5-3-2-6 up to close to 250...
 
corgi1 said:
My Ballistix 2x1GB RAM just failed this past weekend after running fine for about 3 weeks. There are more having this same problem than just those who have posted on Newegg. I started a thread today about this over at DFI-Street.com and already others have posted saying the same is happening to their Ballistix.

DFI-Street Ballistix failure thread
Click to expand...
do explain what symptoms you're seeing
 
Gah... every time I see Ballistix I think 'Ballstix' and images of very phallic RAM pop into my head.
 
(cf)Eclipse said:
do explain what symptoms you're seeing
Click to expand...
I would be using a program, such as email, MS Word, or internet explorer and go to do something as simple as just move the program window to a different location on my screen and the computer locks up and blue screens. For a few days this would just happen randomly, computer could be on for a few hours before happenning, other times on for just a few minutes then crash. I first suspected my video driver and/or video overclock, so I set the card back to the default speeds. Problem still happenned, so I uninstalled the tweaked ATI drivers I had got from Guru3D, ran Driver Cleaner, then installed the official ATI ones DL'd from ATI. Still same problems.

I then suspected my OC of the X2 3800+. I tried backing off the OC settings and testing until I had the RAM and cpu at default speeds, the problem still happenned and had started to happen more frequently. Lastly I thought maybe it was some driver issue and decided to wipe the hard drive to do a fresh install of XP Pro. During the install of XP, at one of the reboots, the PC refused to even post. Just emitted a long beep and then a pause repeatedly that indicated a problem with the RAM. At this point I tried several things: bios settings, moving the RAM to different slots, trying just one RAM stick at a time, clearing CMOS with the power cord unplugged, etc. Nothing worked, the mobo refused to post with the Ballistix onboard.

I grabbed the 2 sticks of 512MB Geil PC4200 RAM out of my kid's PC and put them in the DFI board. It posted without a problem and even continued to finish the interupted install of windows. I put the Ballistix in the kid's PC, a P4-2.4 on an Abit IC7-MAX3, and it also refused to boot with the Ballistix. One stick or both simply caused the IC7-MAX3 to beep and pause indicating a RAM problem. I RMA'd the Ballistix thru Newegg and hope to have the replacements in a day or so. Currently am running my PC fine with the Geil ram from my kid's PC, but the kids are not too pleased about this! ;-)

If the replacements do the same thing, I will have to see if Newegg will let me return them for some OCZ. I paid just over $300 bucks for what is supposed to be top-of-the-line, premium high quality RAM, and I know that sometimes technology will fail. But it is starting to seem like there is a bigger problem brewing with the Ballistix 2x1GB RAM than just random failure.
 
Well, I just figured something out with my ballistix. I wasn't even stable @ the rated speed (250mhz) for timings i've been using 3/3/3/8 1T even there rated @ 3/4/4/8 1T. I thought INCREASING the voltage would stablize it, but it made memtest fail QUICKER. I started to read around and found people were actually stable @ lower vdimm. So I thought I would try it. I've been using 2.85v, I thought let me try 2.80. I rebooted, put Vdimm @ 2.80, then booted right into memtest. I've been testing for the last 1 hour, and no errors in memtest. And this was @ DDR520 (260MHz). Weird to me how undervolting makes this ram more stable it seems. Must be getting too hot @ 2.85v.
 
(cf)Eclipse said:
as posted in another thread.. something like this would be ideal:

1_65.jpg


plus, with a fan on it, you can get a couple more mhz stable out of it ;)
Click to expand...
Are those ballistix with the vantec copper heat spreaders? Would a new heat spreader help with cooling? (curious because I just ordered a 1gb stick of ballistix today)
 
newls1 said:
Weird to me how undervolting makes this ram more stable it seems. Must be getting too hot @ 2.85v.
Click to expand...
most likely.. as said before, cooling is key. it also lengthens the lifespan of your ram by a lot. most often, the ballistix doesn't need anywhere near it's "rated" voltage to work, it's simply used to get "better" yeilds


paintb4707 said:
Are those ballistix with the vantec copper heat spreaders? Would a new heat spreader help with cooling? (curious because I just ordered a 1gb stick of ballistix today)
Click to expand...
no, it's ocz gold pc3500 GX ;)



corgi1 said:
I would be using a program, such as email, MS Word, or internet explorer and go to do something as simple as just move the program window to a different location on my screen and the computer locks up and blue screens.
Click to expand...
did you ever once run something like memtest or prime95 to do some stability checking? ;)
 
(cf)Eclipse said:
did you ever once run something like memtest or prime95 to do some stability checking? ;)
Click to expand...

Yes, I did. I had covered those details in my post over on DFI-Street and included a link to that thread in my first post in this thread. But, I should have mentioned it anyways here. When I built the PC just over 3 weeks ago, I ran memtest for 12 hours and Prime for 18 while overclocked as listed in my sig. It all passed. Also ran 3Dmark and a couple other benches without a problem. Only in the past 4-5 days did it start exhibiting the problems described and over a very short period of time did the problem frequency increase until it would no longer post.
 
did you ever check to see how hot the ram was running?

also... sorry for asking so many questions.. as one of the more active propontents for crucial around here, i just want to know what's causing failure to try to prevent further deaths
 
(cf)Eclipse said:
did you ever check to see how hot the ram was running?

also... sorry for asking so many questions.. as one of the more active propontents for crucial around here, i just want to know what's causing failure to try to prevent further deaths
Click to expand...
No problem, I don't mind answering questions at all. A few times before the problem started I had ran the PC with the cover off during a 3Dmark benchmark to see how hot it was getting. It was never hot to the touch and I could keep my finger on the heatspreaders as long as I wanted without feeling it was being burned. The SI-120 heatsink may be part of the reason. It hangs over the first RAM slot and the 120mm fan blows throught the heatsink fins onto the RAM.
 
(cf)Eclipse said:
they run hot. people overclock em and overvolt them without adequate cooling. it's like running 1.7v through your venice on the stock cooler and removing the fan while your at it. :(
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure it could take it. Seen that thread, where they ran a Venice at stock using only a BGA ramsink for cooling it? Well, actually it depends on the heatsink design a lot too. A heatsink that's designed to be used with a fan wouldn't work very well as a passive. However, if you were to find a passive heatsink that gets you the same temps as stock+fan, then it shoudl work quite well. 1.7 on stock cooling is nothing though...
 
Ive had 2 sets of Ballistix's



2x PC3200 512mb (1gig total)

these failed 3 times (ie the replacements have also failed)




2x PC4000 1gig (2gig total)

Both failed this week




While the RMA's take just over a week (due to weekend) and there customer services are great (so far) i CANNOT beleive the failure rate im having with these. :mad:
 
Mine failed after about 3 weeks. I ran them at 2.6V the whole time and had 270 stable for a couple of weeks then one day it just started bluescreening. Mostly while I was playing BF2. It blue screened with directx files, video drivers, sound drivers.

I dropped it back to 250 and there was no change, tried upping the vdimm to 2.7, dropping down to 200, nothing worked. The blue screens got worse over a few days.

Oh yea, I had a bunch of corrupt files and had to run scandisk which found several errors.

They were warm to the touch even with 2.6V but with an xp-120/Panaflo right over them heat shouldn't have been a problem. I want to know if anyone that isn't using a DFI board has had a set die like this.
 
I would add my stick but I just got the replacment today. I will post if it frys on me.
 
Read the other threads. You don't have to overclock to have failures. There's a major issue going on here with Ballistix 1GB modules.

-Larry

(cf)Eclipse said:
they run hot. people overclock em and overvolt them without adequate cooling. it's like running 1.7v through your venice on the stock cooler and removing the fan while your at it. :(
Click to expand...
 
It's been the same for everyone. Blue-Screens after 3-5 weeks of use.

-Larry

(cf)Eclipse said:
do explain what symptoms you're seeing
Click to expand...
 
TechLarry said:
Read the other threads
Click to expand...
something you don't have say to me.. trust me. i'm getting my own title cause posting everywhere is kinda a habit of mine :D
 
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