OCZ or CRUCIAL Ballistix

Void

Obliviot
Hello

I want to buy ram for my new computer, and I have a little dought's,
- Crucial ballistix 800mhz or 1066mhz
- ocz ddr2 pc - 8500 sli ready 1066mhz

Some guys said that crucial 800 and 1066 are the same memory models because
they have same chips you can see it on this page http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/ I don't know if that is the truth.

What would memory would you suggest me to buy for my (gigabyte ga-p35-dq6, Intel e6750 2,66ghz, and Evga 8800 gts 640mb).

Thanks
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
Either kit will serve you well, so I wouldn't necessarily pay extra just to have the DDR2-1066 speeds. Chances are that the Crucial Ballistix 800MHz will do 1066MHz anyway, if you are not afraid of dabbing in some overclocking. Really, any of those kits will be fine. I do admit I really like the Ballistix 1066MHz kit though, even though it doesn't overclock as high as the others.
 

Karlo

Obliviot
I´ve got 2gb Crucial ballistix 800mhz and it´s working very good
In Croatia they don´t even have ocz ram so i don´t know how it is working
 

b1lk1

Tech Monkey
I'd go with the Crucial. Guaranteed Micron D9 ram so it will clock well. On a sidenote, I just bought some OCZ Gold D9 PC2-8800 ram (got it stupidly cheap on another forum) and I can't wait to play with it since my current ram tops out around 900MHz.

EDIT: Crap, I just noticed old this damn thread was..................
 

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
As I recall my own kit of Ballistix PC2-8500 would not boot on my P35-DQ6. I had to use my other RAM to boot into the BIOS and first change the RAM voltages before the system would even POST with Ballistix installed... all of my Gigabyte boards are that way though.
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
As I recall my own kit of Ballistix PC2-8500 would not boot on my P35-DQ6. I had to use my other RAM to boot into the BIOS and first change the RAM voltages before the system would even POST with Ballistix installed... all of my Gigabyte boards are that way though.

That's interesting. I don't think I've run into a system-specific issue like that since the DDR1 days. Back then, a few DFI boards were notoriously picky.
 

CoolZone

Obliviot
I read on some forum that the Ballistix chips are having tough times with the motherboards that are powered with X38 and X48
 

werty316

Partition Master
Ultimately I would have to go with OCZ has they have never let me down thus far however I think I would go with a nice Reaper set instead; I guess its just something with the heatpipe cooing that pulls me in..., that and the cool Reaper branding.
 

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
That's interesting. I don't think I've run into a system-specific issue like that since the DDR1 days. Back then, a few DFI boards were notoriously picky.

It was all over the XS forums back during the 965P days, it was extremely spotty but most D9 chip based users couldn't get their Gigabyte boards to boot without first performing those steps I gave. I wasn't to sure of it myself until I got to experience it first hand... sadly I don't think Crucial can claim their kits work in all situations anymore, and it kinda killed any interest of mine in Crucial enthusiast kits. Even booting from a single module just wouldn't work!

It pretty well cemented Corsair as my brand of choice, there just isn't anything these PC2-6400 kits can't do.
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
I guess I have been fortunate... I haven't had issues at all. I can't understand why it would only be Crucial's modules though... they use the same chips that most other non-budget DDR2 used (given they are built in their back yard).
 

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
I dunno... just another one of those things maybe? Honestly even after setting 2.2v as the stock voltage I always got the strong impression that my boards just didn't play well with the Ballistix.

I chalked it up as something similar to when ASUS motherboards and some brands (Antec was one) of power supplies weren't compatible awhile back, so the systems wouldn't boot. They had to change either the PSU circuitry or the motherboard design to fix that...
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
I remember that issue, but from what I recall, it was actually Antec's (or someone elses) fault, since they went ahead and made a certain PSU spec higher than it should have been, and for whatever reason, other PSU manufacturers followed suit.

It was then that the motherboard manufacturers had to alter their boards in order to handle the new spec.

I think it had to do with the +5VSB, which Antec (or again, whoever) upped to 3.5A, when it should have been 3.0A. I could have my facts mixed-up, but I'm quite sure it had something to do with the +5VSB.
 

Merlin

The Tech Wizard
Ultimately I would have to go with OCZ has they have never let me down thus far however I think I would go with a nice Reaper set instead; I guess its just something with the heatpipe cooing that pulls me in..., that and the cool Reaper branding.
Got a pair and they Rock :eek:
very overclockable...if thats what you want
I'm very satisfied with mine

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:
 

Greg King

I just kinda show up...
Staff member
I vote for the Ballistix simply because thats the same line of memory that brought me to Techgage in the first place :D

Like Rob originally said, either kit will serve you well. To be fair to OCZ, I have never had a problem with their memory either. Most of my RAM memories in the past can be chalked up either to motherboard compatibility or user ignorance.
 
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