Borderlands 2 Load time
For Borderlands 2 we have recorded the time it takes to fast travel from Sanctuary map to Oasis. Oasis is the beginning of the Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty DLC. This was chosen as it not only is a special level not included in the original Borderlands 2 game and thus contains additional data which should slow the load of this special map.
Saints Row 3 Load time
For Saints Row 3 (labelled ‘SR3’ in the chart) we have recorded the load time from a specific save game. The game was saved just at the end of the ‘Shaundi saved’ version of “Three Way Ending” but before the cut scene. This was chosen as the game not only loads the Three Way Ending data but also the next level “Gangsta’s in Space” DLC level.
Why are there no 16GB results here in the gaming section? The answer to that is simple and yet underscores exactly what the point of 32GB of ram brings to the table. Put simply there is not enough room to fit a modern game into a ram drive and have enough ram left over to run the bloody thing! Hell even 32GB is the absolute minimum and for gaming X99 builds we have been specc’ing out 64GB for exactly this reason.
As you can see the results do speak for themselves: its better to have a RAM Drive than a faster SSD. Though with the prices of the MX200 and new BX200 so low most consumers can easily fit both into their budgets…its only when you get greedy and try to fit a Intel 750 or Sammy NVMe drive that the budget goes out the window!
Crucial Ballistix Elite – Final Score, Summary and Closing Statement
Score Card and Summary
Performance:37 out of 40.
This system may not be the fastest set of DDR4 RAM we have ever seen, and its stock profile is downright conservative but this kit easily makes up for this by being extremely overclocking friendly. Honestly this kit scales and scales well.
Ease of Use:20 out of 20
To our way of thinking the conservative settings that Crucial has used makes this set of RAM extremely user-friendly. On everything from H110, Z170 to X99; and everything from Asus to MSI, this kit was plug and play simple and not once did the system balk at the change in RAM. This is not something that every set of overclocked RAM can boast. The fact that it overclocked like nobody’s business is simply icing.
Build Quality & Warranty 18 out of 20
Lifetime warranty. Check. Lifetime warranty backstopped by one of the best in the business…double check. That alone is one heck of a one-two punch; however those moderately sized heatsinks really seal the deal. Not only do they work extremely well they don’t make like overly difficult as they will not interfere with most air based CPU coolers.
Value: 15 out of 20
This set of DDR4 ram is priced at rather high for DDR4-2666 levels, but is actually pretty reasonable for 32GB DDR4-3000 kits. Mix in a lifetime warranty and the value is not all that bad. Not great, but not terrible at all!
Final Score: 90 out of 100
With its combination of good looks, ease of installation, ease of use, and above all else excellent overclocking abilities the Crucial Ballistix Elite DDR4-2666 32GB is one heck of a kit of RAM. At this level of performance there really is not much to not like – besides the asking price.
Closing Statement
As we have shown in this review the days of using 16GB for gaming builds really are numbered, and in fact 32GB should be considered the minimum amount you use for PC gaming rig these days. This is what we have been spec’ing out for our mainstream and high end builds for a while now, and hopefully you will to. More to the point, opting for more RAM instead of faster RAM also makes a heck of a lot more sense, as the amount of real world performance between DDR4-2666 and DDR4-3000 is rather minute…. but the differences in price is very noticeable!
To our way of thinking the Crucial Ballistix Elite DDR4-2666 32GB kit is damn near tailor made for PC enthusiasts. These sticks not only are overclocking friendly, but are also extremely novice friendly as well. Usually overclocking friendly ram kits can be miniature drama-lamas and we have lost count of the number of times we have had to use a set of ‘stock’ ram to get a system to post, manually configure the ‘proper’ settings for our ‘real’ RAM, save the changes, shut the system down and then and only then install the ‘real’ kit. That is a real PITA to say the least, and having this kit simply work on a whole slew of motherboards was a breath of fresh air.
Sure as they are ‘only’ DDR4-2666 their stock timings may be ‘slow’ compared to some cheaper DDR4 kits, but that really is neither here nor there. Getting this sticks up to DDR4-3000 speeds on a X99 and Z170 systems was a snap. Better still is the fact that they not only come with extremely robust heatsinks that remove any worries about overheating during overclocking but come with lifetime warranties that if they do die…Crucial will replace them. Or at least they will if you don’t push the voltage to insane levels that it leaves scorch marks!
In the end it makes no difference if you are going the Z170 or X99 route, these four sticks of ram are an excellent choice. Their blend of performance, and ease of use make them an outstanding choice for a broad range of builds. Mix in a lifetime warranty backstopped by a company known for prioritizing customer service and you can see why we use them in our builds and why they are used in our testbed. That is not something we can say about all Ram kits available today.
