Crucial is the latest company to come to our DDR3 call.  We've been reviewing a few kits here, trying to get a grip on how the DDR3 market is moving.  A couple of months ago, DDR3 was off to a very slow start, but now it seems like companies are starting to hit their stride and really starting to increase the speed and tighten the timings.  Crucial has sent us over some Ballistix memory to test out.  The speed and timings aren't the best you can purchase currently, but the Ballistix name implies better memory chips and PCBs, hopefully.  So maybe we can juice these bad boys up and get some really good results.

 Crucial Ballistix PC3-12800 Features

• 240-pin, unbuffered dual in-line memory module
  (UDIMM)
• Physical dimensions are compliant to JEDEC MO-269B
• Fast data transfer rates: PC3-12800
• 1GB (128 Meg x 64)
• Exclusively designed for high-performance systems
• Critical performance parameters tested for functionality
• Speed verification performed in-system
• VDD = VDDQ = +1.8V ±0.075V
• VDDSPD = +3.0V to +3.6V
• Reset pin for improved system stability
• Nominal and dynamic on-die termination (ODT) for data, strobe, and mask signals
• 8 internal device banks for concurrent operation
• Fixed burst length of 8 (BL8) and burst chop of 4 (BC4) via the mode register
• Adjustable data-output drive strength
• Serial Presence-Detect (SPD) EEPROM
• Gold edge contacts
• RoHS compliant
• Fly-by topology
• Terminated command, address, and control bus
• Aluminum heat spreader
• 1.18” (30.00mm) PCB Height

     The Ballistix line is specifically built for performance enthusiasts who want to push the performance envelope without worrying about data loss or corruption, mysterious intermittent errors and display problems, or worse — the dreaded BSOD!  The Ballistix line of high-performance memory modules features advanced speed grades, low latencies, and integrated aluminum heat spreaders.

     Ballistix 240-pin DIMMs are found in DDR3 memory. DDR3 — the next generation of memory — boasts an improved architecture allowing very fast data transmission. Ballistix 240-pin DIMMs are available in DDR3 PC3-12800 SDRAM (DDR3-1600).

     A Ballistix dual inline memory module (DIMM) consists of a number of memory components attached to a black printed circuit board. Gold pins, found on the bottom of the DIMM, provide a connection between the module and a socket on a larger printed circuit board. The pins on the front and back of a DIMM are not connected to each other.

     To use DDR3, your system motherboard must have 240-pin DIMM slots and a chipset that supports DDR3 — which is a different technology than that of than its predecessors, DDR2 and DDR. DDR3 incorporates different sockets; they are not interchangeable or backward-compatible. (Information about which memory technology your system uses is included in the Crucial Memory Advisor™ tool.)

     The number of black components on a Ballistix 240-pin DIMM can vary, but it always has 120 pins on the front and 120 pins on the back, for a total of 240. Ballistix 240-pin DIMMs are approximately 5.25 inches long and 1.18 inches high, though the heights can vary. These 240-pin DDR3 DIMMs have only one notch within the row of pins, and each technology has the notch in a slightly different location on the module.