Test – Ballistix Elite DDR4 2 x 8 Go 3000 MHz |Specs | Price

Hi all!

Ballistix, the “gaming” subsidiary of Micron (which also has Crucial) offers memory for desktop computers. Today I am going to offer you a 2 x 8 GB DDR4 kit clocked at 3000 MHz, particularly suitable for people hungry for performance! The kit is part of the brand’s Elite range, the most upscale and equipped with the best memory chips from Micron for the best possible performance. Offered at a price of around € 175 and given the significant increase in memory lately, it ranks very well compared to the competition, let’s take a closer look!

The Ballistix Elite memory kit is of course delivered to operate in “Dual Channel”, that is to say in pairs, especially with Intel motherboards based on Z270 / X99 (or older) or even the very latest AMD. AM4.
Compatibility obliges the kit during the first start will run at a “basic” frequency of 2133 MHz, for latencies of 15-15-15-35, in order to ensure at least a first boot without finding yourself in front of a black screen which could be very frustrating 😉 In order to reach the frequencies for which the kit is sold an XMP 2.0 profile is available and will overclock the kit to 3000 MHz for latencies of 15-16-16-35 and a voltage of 1.35V, timings rather tight so that will ensure maximum performance.
One more thing, and I can’t stress it enough, if you want to acquire a high frequency memory kit like this be sure to look at the motherboard compatibility list, otherwise you might be able to end up with a PC. which refuses to start once the XMP profile is activated. Even if your motherboard accepts high frequency memory, it may not be directly compatible without updating the BIOS

As usual at Ballistix (or Crucial, it’s even marked on the box 😛) the packaging is minimalist here, namely plastic allowing the animals to show through. A sticker is affixed giving technical information such as the total capacity, the number of bars, the voltage etc.

Here are the beasts! The brand is not flashy here as we can see from other manufacturers, the radiator is completely black and different logos are present. The build quality here is excellent as usual and the product is quality! Note that despite the low height of the strips, the radiators protrude from the PCB, so care must be taken when installing a radiator that does not have much space.

A label is present on each bar, it shows the model, the frequency as well as the timings and the voltage in order to know what we are dealing with without having to look at the box.

No LED and even less RGB here, only the brand’s logo in white, at least it’s quite sober.

Note that unlike DDR3 DDR4 strips do not have a straight PCB at the pins, in the center the pins are longer than at the sides, there may be a practical reason for this, such as a drop of the breakage during the installation, I could not say!