Crucial Ballistix Gaming DDR4 3200 MHz (4x 16GB) review - Introduction

Crucial Ballistix Gaming DDR4 3200 MHz 64 GB (4x 16 GB)
It’ll blast a ballista into your game!  

Today we are looking at Crucial Ballistix Gaming DDR4 3200 MHz CL16 memory in a 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) set. It’s another offer from Micron, an American company, which brands its products Crucial and Ballistix, but you can still see some OEM solutions with the Micron name on them as well. Ballistix Gaming is a successor to the modules that we reviewed about a year ago, namely Ballistix Sport LT DDR4 3200 MHz 2x8 GB, which overclocked very well and are widely recommended for AMD Ryzen systems thanks to that and also to Ballistix Elite 3600 MHz (C16).  The new series replaces Micron’s existing suite of Ballistix Sport, Tactical, and Elite products (there’s also the Ballistix Max range with a higher frequency: up to 4400 MHz). We’ve received a kit of 4 x 16GB 3200 MHz DDR4 modules, which looks very attractive and most users would consider it optimal. The anodized-aluminIum heat spreader is available in black, white or red.

The low-profile form factor is ideal for smaller or space-limited rigs. Versions with RGB are available as well (but the tested product is not one of them). As for the frequency, latency, and capacity options, here you go:

The 2400 MHz version is available only in black (but that shouldn’t be an issue in a budget system). The RGB series start at 3000 MHz, so you can skip the 2666  MHz variant right away. The kit of 4 x 16 GB would be a good solution for quad-channel platforms, but we have a Z390-based motherboard/CPU, as well as an X470 platform (yes – it’s a new addition) in our test system, so only dual-channel will be applicable here. 

You shouldn’t forget that the RGB version is compatible with:

• Asus Aura
• Asrock Polychrome Sync
• Gigabyte RGB Fusion
• MSI Mystic Light Sync

The 3200 MHz kit is not the fastest one in the Crucial Ballistix Gaming range (there are also 3600 MHz variants), but we are traditionally still going to try to squeeze something more out of it, so the standard 3200 MHz is not the last word here (as for Ryzen 3000 processors, it’s good to have even 3600 MHz). You can always stay on the safe side and stick to the advertised frequency and latencies, using the Intel XMP 2.0 memory profile. Naturally, the kits are optimized for both AMD and Intel systems (this will be tested in this review). The MSRP is $159.99 (16 GBx2, 3200MHz). Next page, please.