The shipping container used for the SPORT LT is classic Ballistix through and through. The combination of see through clamshell plastic housing with a plastic tray interior provides a level of protection which is very good at protect against blunt force damage while in transit while at the same time being very user-friendly. Be it RMA’s or simply storing the older RAM in this replacement RAMs shipping container is a nice bonus – and something we do look for in replacement RAM – especially RAM with a limited life-time warranty.
The benefits of being able to actually see the RAM before purchasing really cannot be overstated. You will know beyond a doubt if this kit’s aesthetics will work with your custom build or not. That too is classic Ballistix.
Moving on. For Ballistix the new SPORT LT is rather aggressive and bold (but not brash) in the aesthetics department. In the past the value orientated SPORT series was focused solely in providing the best bang for your hard-earned buck. That certainly made it excellent for many builds but the ultra-conservative styling did make it less than optimal for just as many. The SPORT LT on the other hand actually is eye catching. The combination of multiple colors, nice styling to the heat spreader, and silver reflectors really does catch the eye and will help enhance a custom PC build’s color pallet rather than simply blending with it. The fact it comes in multiple colors just underscores this major improvement.
Make no mistake, the new heat spreader design and overall aesthetics is not that aggressive. Compared to many models it still is a conservative design… as it lacks ‘claws’ or ‘wings’ to the top of the heat spreaders. As such it may never whisper to your inner child about how ‘1337’ it is or ‘hardcore’ it is… but that really is not a bad thing. This is a new series meant for ‘all grown up’ builds that preauthorizes elegance over all.
Now with all that said, this new heat spreader design is not perfect, nor will it be right for every build. While Ballistic has dramatically improved the overall look of the heat spreader when viewed side on… the same can not be said when it is viewed edge on. AKA when you look into a case and see the RAM in a working system. This is because the SPORT LT series still does not cover the top of the PCBs. Instead the heat spreader is a two-piece affair that just covers the sides of the PCB and RAM ICs. If Ballistix had just included a couple millimeters of metal the look would have been even more improved.
On the positive side, while slightly above JDEC DDR4 standards the few extra millimeters of height will not seriously impact ease of installation, nor seriously decrease compatibility with larger air-based cooling solutions. Simply stated, they are close enough to being universal that little care in other component(s) selection is required. This is not something most highly aggressive looking RAM models can boast.
As you can see from the above sensor report the SPORT LT DDR4-3200 8GB sticks use very similar RAM IC’s to that of the SPORT AT series. That is to say this is a Micron MT40A1G8SA (vs MT40A1G8WE) based series. This may or may not be considered a positive, as while they are going to be the cream of the crop of any batch (as MICRON is the parent company of Ballistix) these new models may not be optimal for pushing the boundaries of overclocking when using AMD systems. Rightly or wrongly, AMD Ryzen and ThreadRipper builds can be pushed further and harder with Samsung B-die based RAM than they can with Micron RAM. The differences are not that great so it may or may not matter to you. Just take it into your calculations when deciding on this RAM model.
Overall this is a significant improvement to the SPORT series and should work nicely in a rather broad range of builds. Just understand that these are meant for the more value end of the market than the enthusiast end.
