Lighting is obviously one of the main selling points for this RAM kit, so feast your eyes on the video below for a brief demonstration of what is possible within the Ballistix MOD Utility.
Generally, those looking to overclock their memory would buy fewer modules of a higher capacity, putting less strain onto DRAM controllers and reducing signal noise between the CPU and DIMM slots. However, with the included heat spreaders, we decided to see how well they would overclock regardless.
The standard speeds of 3000MHz @ 16-18-18-18-38-69-1T weren’t exactly blisteringly fast compared to some other brands, but it provided us with a decent starting area. We aimed to reach the highest possible frequency without having to slacken any RAM timings and without increasing voltage. Your mileage may vary.
We began by testing our RAM sticks at stock levels to gauge a baseline level of performance, which can be observed in the subsequent pages of this review. We then bumped up the RAM frequency to 3066MHz and stress tested for a short period; again at 3133MHz then 3200MHz. We tried for 3266MHz but encountered instability. Increasing the voltage may well have allowed a higher overclock, but we aimed to stay within the standard 1.35v range.
3200MHz was our overclock, without slackening off any timings.
Cinebench showed a small improvement, from 1644 to 1647, but with this being a CPU intensive benchmark, memory performance isn’t really taken into account apart from when gauging the performance of the Infinity Fabric which directly scales with memory frequency.
We then benchmarked AIDA64 Stock vs Overclocked.
As you can see, latency as well as overall memory performance can be improved across the board.
Generally, those looking to overclock their memory would buy fewer modules of a higher capacity, putting less strain onto DRAM controllers and reducing signal noise between the CPU and DIMM slots. However, with the included heat spreaders, we decided to see how well they would overclock regardless.
The standard speeds of 3000MHz @ 16-18-18-18-38-69-1T weren’t exactly blisteringly fast compared to some other brands, but it provided us with a decent starting area. We aimed to reach the highest possible frequency without having to slacken any RAM timings and without increasing voltage. Your mileage may vary.
We began by testing our RAM sticks at stock levels to gauge a baseline level of performance, which can be observed in the subsequent pages of this review. We then bumped up the RAM frequency to 3066MHz and stress tested for a short period; again at 3133MHz then 3200MHz. We tried for 3266MHz but encountered instability. Increasing the voltage may well have allowed a higher overclock, but we aimed to stay within the standard 1.35v range.
3200MHz was our overclock, without slackening off any timings.
Stock RAM speed and timings on the left, overclocked on the right
Cinebench showed a small improvement, from 1644 to 1647, but with this being a CPU intensive benchmark, memory performance isn’t really taken into account apart from when gauging the performance of the Infinity Fabric which directly scales with memory frequency.
We then benchmarked AIDA64 Stock vs Overclocked.
As you can see, latency as well as overall memory performance can be improved across the board.
