Crucial BL12864BE2009
Crucial Technology has long been a name synonymous with the supply of an eclectic range of modules, at competitive prices, through its online configurator and scanning tools. Known for its customer service, Crucial has tended to concentrate on the mass market, leaving truly high-end modules to the likes of Corsair and OCZ - two companies that regularly battle it out for the title of 'world's fastest memory manufacturer'.
Now, though, Crucial -whose parent company, Micron, manufacturers many of the underlying DRAM ICs used by other so-called manufacturers - has released some 2,000MHz-rated DDR3 modules of its own, under the enthusiast-oriented Ballistix brand.
2GHz system memory is the preserve of the enthusiast that has the necessary hardware to reach such a speed, and our testing has shown that the NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI is the only one capable of hitting the barrier on a consistent basis. The current proviso is that you can do so with only two DIMM slots populated.
Ideally, when running high-speed DRAM it's prudent to raise the chipset's front-side bus (FSB) to as high as it will go, allowing the significant bandwidth available, totalling some 32GiB/s in dual-channel mode, to breathe. It's worth noting that even a 2,000MHz FSB will yield 'only' 16GiB/s between the northbridge and CPU on present LGA775 processors. More bandwidth is good and a 2GHz DDR3 pack has gobs of it, albeit with potential latency issues.
An innocuous-looking box hides some of the fastest system RAM you can currently buy, at a hefty price of £340 for a 2GiB pack.
The size, speed and CAS latency are printed on the shielding bag.
The 2GiB set, comprising of two 1GiB modules, is pre-programmed with EPP 2.0 profiles, making it easy to configure for 2GHz - motherboard allowing.
The SPD table paints a rather conservative picture, though, with the pair rated with 9-10-10-25 timings at 1,333MHz and with 1.5V. They POSTed at 9-9-9-24 1T at 1,333MHz with a 1,333MHz FSB CPU and 9-11-11-29 2T at 1,600MHz with a 1,600MHz FSB CPU.
A little EPP 2.0 magic soon brings them back into high-speed DDR3 line, as shown below.
The lofty 2GHz clocking, also at 1.9V, is somewhat hamstrung by the relatively high latencies, but the cycle time is actually low, due to the frequency.
The Crucial BL12864BE2009 (great name, huh?) is the fastest set of system memory we've ever tested, but, as you would expect, it comes at a significant price.
Crucial offers a lifetime warranty on its Ballistix range and if the HEXUS Ratings are anything to go by, the warranty and service are some of the best in the entire industry.
Official specifications
2GiB pack comprising of a matched pair2,000MHz operating speed with 9-9-9-28 latencies at 1.9V
EPP 2.0 compatible
Aluminium heatspreaders
240-pin (incompatible with DDR2, however.)
Lifetime warranty (limited)
£340 (as at 16/05/08)