At the beginning of last year (2020), Micron’s Crucial brand launched Ballistix and Ballistix Max series for users with mid to high-end performance needs of computers and replaced the Ballistix Sport, Tactical and Elite product portfolios. Therefore, when you buy Crucial memory in the future, you only need to think about whether you want to buy high-end or mid-end, and whether you need LED lighting effects. And this article for you to introduce out of the box is Crucial’s Ballistix Max 32GB Kit (2 x 16GB) DDR4-4000 desktop gaming memory for high-end computer performance or gamers (no RGB lighting effect). Version), the product model is BLM2K16G40C18U4B, the highest speed is 4000MHz, and its timing is 18-19-19-39.
This time out of the box is the Ballistix MAX 32GB Kit (2 x 16GB) DDR4-4000 dual channel version
Main product specifications
| DRAM series – Ballistix Max |
| Capacity-32GB Kit (16GBx2) |
| Speed-DDR4-4000 |
| CAS Latency – 18 |
| Timing CL, TRCD, TRP and TRAS: 18-19-19-39 |
| Voltage-1.35V |
| Computer speed-PC4-32000 |
Crucial Ballistix is the only brand that combines die level custom tuning in gaming memory, creating world record performance. In September 2020, an overclocking enthusiast used the Ballistix MAX 5100 gaming memory, which reached an extremely fast speed of 6,666MT/s, the fastest speed ever for a DDR4 module. This record-breaking frequency and CPU -Z verified screenshots have been published in HWBOT.
Although the protagonist of this article is not a limited edition Ballistix MAX 5100 gaming memory, it is definitely enough for most players or enterprise users to provide a stable and excellent memory choice because its performance is also very outstanding. The product adopts High-quality aluminum radiator design, so the heat dissipation efficiency is absolutely excellent, and the accurate temperature sensor can provide players with the highest stable speed to monitor the temperature.
Let’s stop the introduction first, and then let’s introduce this pretty fascinating Crucial Ballistix Max Gaming DDR4 4000 overclocking memory to everyone out of the box!
Unboxing
Picture / Different from Ballistix RGB / Ballistix offers 3 colors of black, red and white, while Ballistix MAX RGB / Ballistix MAX only has black style, but the flagship version adopts hard box design, the texture is much better than Ballistix series!
Picture / Ballistix RGB / Ballistix products and packaging design
Picture / There is the crucial brand logo on the outer box of the product, and the product series name “BALLISTIX MAX GAMING MEMORY”
The packaging of the product is very delicate, adopting a diagonal flip-over design
There is product specification information in the upper right corner, including 32GB KIT set, DDR4-4000 specification and 1.35V voltage design (to reach 4000MHz, the memory voltage must be powered by 1.35V)
The back of the product packaging box is designed, and there is a product introduction in multiple languages here, indicating that the product is born for speed, and is optimally designed for Intel and AMD systems; the product has a limited lifetime warranty service
The hard box is covered with a plastic protective box to prevent dust, and to prevent the product from being impacted by falling.
The version tested this time is a non-RGB version; the front and back of the memory module are designed as shown in the figure above. You can see that the front and back of the heat sink design are the same, but there is an extra sticker on one side. Here are some like the origin (Mexico ), timing (18-19-19-39), voltage value, and product model details.
On the top of the memory module, there is a silkscreen text of BALLISTIX MAX, which has a very good texture!
The very deep black texture is invincible. Of course, its inner part is also very good. Let’s continue to read it~
BALLISTIX MAX uses high-quality aluminum radiator, so it has excellent heat dissipation performance. The width of the memory module including the heat sink is actually measured to be about 5mm. There are grooves on both sides of the top to help air cooling and heat removal. In addition, the height of the product is only 39mm, which is also very suitable for constructing SFF.
Looking at the memory module from the side
Looking at the memory module from the bottom
Enlarged view memory module should adopt single row design
The detailed specification of Ballistix Max Gaming DDR4 4000 is DDR4 PC4-32000, timing is 18-19-19-39, Unbuffered, no ECC, DDR4-4000, voltage value is 1.35V, single module adopts 2048Meg x 64 combination. It is understood that the memory circuit board adopts an eight-layer PCB design, and the memory module adopts a single-line design, using Micron’s D9XPF (MT40A2G8VA-062E: B) memory particles.
Accurate temperature sensor built in memory module
A closer look at the precise temperature sensor
Micron’s D9XPF memory particles
After getting a general understanding of the product specifications, let’s conduct performance tests!
Installation and performance test
The default frequency of the product is 2666MHz, and the voltage value is 1.35V. Adjust the memory frequency directly through the motherboard to make settings, and make sure that the system can work normally before performing related benchmark tests.
testing platform
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
Motherboard: ASUS CROSSHAIR VIII HERO (WI-FI)
Graphics card: ROG STRIX RTX3060Ti 8G GAMING
Memory: Ballistix Max Gaming DDR4 4000 2x16GB dual channel
System Disk: Seagate FireCuda 520 SSD
Power supply: ASUS ROG Srtix 1000W
Case: Thermaltake S300 TG
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64bit (1903)
The next step is to share the memory’s overclocking settings and running score-related data for your reference~ The overclocking setting is done through the motherboard’s BIOS.
The memory module is assembled on the motherboard (DIMM2 & DIMM 4; dual channel)
Check the memory information of the system through CPU-Z; DDR4 is detected, 32GB in total, dual channel, timing 20-19-19-43
Here you can further see the information of a single memory module; for example, we can see that the product manufacturer is Crucial, the DRAM manufacturer is Micron, and the product model is BLM16G40C 18U4B.M8FB1.The capacity of a single module is 16GBytes, and the frequency of power supply varies
Enter the BIOS setting function of this motherboard of Asus, you can get very detailed memory module information; you can see that the default memory speed is 2666MHz
First let the system automatically detect and adjust the parameters without setting any voltage and overclocking settings (the default voltage of the system is 1.2V), use AIDA64 to test the memory module test information as shown in the figure above, the performance is very good! The memory read speed reached 37918 MB/s, the write speed reached 21284 MB/s, and the delay time was only 91.1 ns!
Ballistix Max memory modules run at the speed of DDR4-2666, and the timing is 20-19-19-43. If players do not make manual adjustments, they can use the built-in XMP configuration file of the module to automatically configure the frequency and timing to DDR4-4000 and 18-19-19- with 1.35V DRAM voltage after selecting in the motherboard BIOS. 39.
Then adjust the voltage to 1.35V through the motherboard BIOS, manually adjust the frequency to 4000MHz, and use AIDA64 to test the speed greatly! The memory read speed reached 43019 MB/s, the write speed reached 25543 MB/s, and the delay time was only 96 ns!
Without applying voltage, manually adjust the frequency to 4266MHz, and use AIDA64 to test the speed as an increase; the memory read speed reached 43049 MB/s, and the write speed reached 25544 MB/s, but the test delay time was only 90.3 ns! And the copy speed has increased significantly from 42882 MB/s to 43832 MB/s
Next, let’s take a look at whether the increase in memory frequency is obviously helpful for the operation of the processor system!
Operates at 2666MHz
Operates at 4000MHz
Operates at 4266MHz
From the test here, it is very helpful to increase the memory speed from 2666MHz to 4000MHz! However, the subsequent improvement may require a variety of attempts before it will be more obvious. For example, it may have to increase the voltage, the processor may have to be overclocked, and the heat dissipation must be strengthened… etc.
I also tried to increase the memory voltage to 1.5V and there is no problem. At this time, the speed should be improved a lot. The actual result is left to the players to try to reveal!
Summary of experience
Crucial’s series of memory products use Micron’s E-Die memory particles as a guarantee of performance. Players can match the useful Ballistix MOD tool software. In addition to monitoring the temperature of the memory at any time, it can also be used in the RGB version. It is really pretty good to do quite a lot of LED RGB lighting effect adjustments! Those who have extreme gaming performance needs and a sufficient budget can consider this Ballistix Max series of memory products.
The product’s voltage and speed tolerance values are quite wide. I think foreign overclockers also think it is very stable at 4200MHz. I tested 4266MHz and ran most systems without any problems. You can rest assured to regard it as 4200MHz. Just use it! (Accelerate without price increase, ha)