Crucial Ballistix 2x1GB PC4000 kit gone bad (merged)

[Squid1]

I dont' get the mentality here. You run the memory at 260 or 270, which is above the spec speed and after a while it starts to fail. Then these exact same people b!tch becuase they are suggested to active cool the ram. If I was Crucial and knew whom were o/c the ram above spec, I'd deny any replacement request.

 

You forget to mention the little detail that all other vendor's RAM does not degrade under the same overclocking and with no active cooling either.

 

And I don't see any indication that active cooling actually helps this problem. Do you?

[jEnuS]

You forget to mention the little detail that all other vendor's RAM does not degrade under the same overclocking and with no active cooling either.

 

And I don't see any indication that active cooling actually helps this problem. Do you?

 

I did not forget to mention that detail, becuase it is not apart of this discussion. There is a reason it is rated at 250Mhz and not , 260, 279, or 295 - but I guess you're over looking that.

 

Put it this way - If you buy a new sports car that has a RPM redline of 5,000, but you go ahead and drive it around reving it up to 7,000 RPM. You throw a piston out the side of the block and now try to drive it at the 5,000 but it isn't working either (duh, missing piston + hole in block = no good). Do you go back to the dealer and request an exchange becuase you felt like "playing with fire"? You break it going above the Manufacturer's spec and want it replaced now?

[Squid1]

Do really think that just repeating the same sentense over and over will magically convince me?

 

Again, whatever "abuse" people administer to Ballistix, all other RAM vendor's RAM seems to stand it just fine.

 

Second, you have no actual base for your claims that all of the failed kits have been overclocked and/or were run without active cooling.

[deathman20]

Do really think that just repeating the same sentense over and over will magically convince me?

 

Again, whatever "abuse" people administer to Ballistix, all other RAM vendor's RAM seems to stand it just fine.

 

Second, you have no actual base for your claims that all of the failed kits have been overclocked and/or were run without active cooling.

 

Agreed.

 

And the second statement, where does it say in the instructions that it needs to be activly cooled at stock speeds and 2.8V also. I know everyones mentioning it, but yet I have not seen a single thing of paper saying it should (not aimed at you Martin)

[Craybit]

@jetjaguar

 

how much cfm do those fans put out ?? wondering if its worth doing .. i have so many fans already lol

 

I'm not sure about the cfm, it's 2x40mm fans at 4500rpm so I'm guessing there's a formula to figure it out but it's quiet and seems to cool the pwmic area as well as memory. I bought it when my first set of Ballistix was "degrading" because I had to push the vdimm up to 2.8v to get them to run at even 200mhz and they were HOT (Manufacturer spec voltage and below speed /blinks at jEnUs). The blinky lights can be annoying for those over the age of 14 but a little blue electrical tape fixes that right up. For 15 bucks I'd say get the thing if you have room in your case...

[jEnuS]

Martin Cracauer - Its my opinion and I'll leave it at that. I'm all for figuring out the issue rather than pointing fingers.

 

I don't think its a batch issue as they (from what people have posted).

[LanceDiamond]

Comparing an engine with moving parts to memory which only moves electrons is sort of flawed.

 

The way memory would be damaged by OC'ing it beyond spec is, over time you'd get too much heat and electron tunneling and the like (I'm no EE and I'm just talking out my butt here - I'm great at that.)

 

In my case, I ran Ballistix at 260 for 3 weeks - and yep, 260 is above spec. But even to run it at 250, I had to apply 2.7 or 2.8 volts, I forget which now. Also, even at 250, it got just incredibly hot. I firmly beleive that had I run at 250 instead of 260, result would have been the same. I had no active cooling, other than an XP120 with a 120mm fan blowing air right onto the memory - but no high-CFM fan blowing at it. My ambient temps are cool and airflow is great, I took great care with cables and fans and have said all that several times - think this'll be the last.

 

Ballistix needs to tell people if these sticks require active cooling at stock voltage/speed. Also threatening people that have had too many RMAs seems like questionable customer service. Sending someone back their same memory and saying "it works, go away" isn't great customer service either. And RMA'ing one stick of a dual channel pair of $300 memory? Please...

 

My own admitedly subjective comparison of Ballistix customer service and OCZ customer service, neither of which I have ever actually talked to (remember - talking out my butt!), leads me to beleive OCZ provides far better service. I've read posts about people dealing with both companies and read OCZ's forums - they seem to have GREAT customer service.

 

I now have OCZ memory, running at stock speed and it never gets anywhere near as hot as the Ballistix got at stock speed.

[stu3y]

i just orderd 2gb of this balistix! and i also have the DFI Ultra D mother board socket 939!

am i going to have all this trouble? im tempted to cancel my order and change the ram!

 

what should i do?

[Keekles]

i just orderd 2gb of this balistix! and i also have the DFI Ultra D mother board socket 939!

am i going to have all this trouble? im tempted to cancel my order and change the ram!

 

what should i do?

 

Keep it.

 

Not everyone has had trouble.

 

 

I am experiencing great reults with mine.

 

As have others.

 

If for some reason, they are bad when you get them, return them.

[Diverge]

In my case, I ran Ballistix at 260 for 3 weeks - and yep, 260 is above spec. But even to run it at 250, I had to apply 2.7 or 2.8 volts, I forget which now. Also, even at 250, it got just incredibly hot. I firmly beleive that had I run at 250 instead of 260, result would have been the same. I had no active cooling, other than an XP120 with a 120mm fan blowing air right onto the memory - but no high-CFM fan blowing at it. My ambient temps are cool and airflow is great, I took great care with cables and fans and have said all that several times - think this'll be the last.

 

I gotta agree with you there, i've read a few peoples post on other forums where people claim to have never overclocked them and ram at stock specs, and they still died. And i think that will hold true if someone just setup a rig to run memtest 24/7 at stock specs for 2 months, chance are they will degrade. i leave my main pc on 24/7 365 days a year.

 

Ballistix needs to tell people if these sticks require active cooling at stock voltage/speed. Also threatening people that have had too many RMAs seems like questionable customer service. Sending someone back their same memory and saying "it works, go away" isn't great customer service either. And RMA'ing one stick of a dual channel pair of $300 memory? Please...

 

Yep, this doesn't sit right with me at all, it should be lifetime warranty. it'll be the last time i buy a crucial product. I tried to get newegg to refund my money, since it was past the 30-day refund period. they couldn't help me. i hope when/if my next sticks go bad i don't have to deal with BS like denied RMA's, ect. I've never RMA'd anything in my life, until the past month.

 

My own admitedly subjective comparison of Ballistix customer service and OCZ customer service, neither of which I have ever actually talked to (remember - talking out my butt!), leads me to beleive OCZ provides far better service. I've read posts about people dealing with both companies and read OCZ's forums - they seem to have GREAT customer service.

 

Another reason i won't buy crucial products again.. lack of support. Notice that Crucial labs guy hasn't posted since the last batch of people posted problems that thier ram degraded or died? Next time i buy ram, it will be from one of the vendors that is part of the OCing community, ex, OCZ, g.skill, perhaps mushkin.

[Sharp]

My previous pair of BallistiX developed a fault in 1 of the sticks, I had them for more than 8 months, no overclocking and ran them at 2.8v.

 

They also did not get hot and they did work fine during the summer without active cooling.

 

2 sticks both under the same conditions and 1 goes faulty.

And it was only 1 error in memtest, always in the same location.

 

I dont know what to make of it, maybe I got unlucky or it is related to everyone elses issues.

 

I thought Crucials RMA service was ok.

Looking at everyones posts, there is not a lot that CrucialLabs can do other than advise people to RMA/try things.

 

It will take some time for Crucial to investigate the problem but I am sure they are not sitting around having tea and biscuits.

 

Should my new kit go funny I will let everyone know.

This time I am overclocking and only using a max of 2.64v.

 

I also got a better power supply to use with the new kit as my old one seemed to be outputing lower values then normal. (This might have been my problem, wait and see )

[Guest Crusader]

I'm wondering how long my BallistiX will last with all these horrorstories about them! At the mo I'm just running a very mild overclock and run the mem at 255Mhz at 3-3-3-8 1T @ 2.6 Volts. Tried to run them at 280 (to go 10x280) but memtest would constantly fail test #8 no matter what I tried so I backed off. Anyway, so far so good and I'm not actively cooling them (mobo is still outside the case as I'm in the middle of a new build).

 

Oh and here are the details of my sticks: both are CL1115T.DG 56278 and there's a little white sticker on both that reads BL12864Z503.16TD. Purchased them less than a month ago.