The Crucial Package

It's time to open up the static wrapping and get a look at what we are dealing with. Instantly I noticed the really cool color scheme of the Crucial Ballistix Tracer series ram modules and notice how good these things look. The lightweight design and heatsinks are awesome and stylish to say the least.

The Ballistix Tracer memory is encased in very attractive Aluminum heat spreader. The finish is very good with the Ballistix Tracer logo on each side of the heatsink. One side of each module has the part number, batch number, and model number as well. The obvious difference between the standard Ballistix and Tracer edition are the different colored heat spreaders. The black heat spreaders do a good job of showing off the Ballistix Tracer logo, don't you think?

Currently the Ballistix Tracer DDR500 memory modules are only available in 512MB capacity. And yes indeed until last year Crucial also had the 1024MB modules as a dual channel kit but due to the move to DDR2 the 2GB matched pair has been discontinued.

Specifications

• 500MHz Speed DDR (250MHz FSB)
• 2.5-4-4-8 Memory Timings
• Unbuffered DIMM Type
• Ballistix Tracer 184-pin DIMM
• 2.8V Operation
• 1GB (2x 512MB) Dual Channel Kit
• Aluminum Heat Spreader
• Lifetime Warranty

What sets the Ballistix Tracer modules apart from Crucial's standard Ballistix line is the appearance. The Tracer modules consist of a black PCB, black heat spreaders, eight blue ground effects LED's that emit a constant glow at the base of each memory module, and eight chasing red and green LED's atop the module that circulate, or trace, at varying speeds depending on memory usage.

The memory modules are provided on a black plate with black passive heat spreaders which are supposed to enhance the cooling of the memory modules also with higher frequencies and/or higher voltages. Thus one achieves on the one hand better results with overclocking and on the other hand a longer lifetime, whereby Crucial by the way grants lifelong warranty for the buyer.

Crucial's Ballistix memory comes wrapped in black heat spreaders on both sides, with wide silver clips holding the heat spreaders in place. These are the higher quality clips that we've praised before, not the flimsy clips used on earlier generation heat spreaders. The PCB is black and shiny. In the middle of each memory stick we find back the product branding that indicates that we are taking about the Ballistix Tracer memory modules.

Both sides of the ram modules are quite the same, the only difference between both sides are the extra information put by Crucial. The heat spreaders themselves are completely the same for both sides. As we have checked the main features and specifications we can dig a bit deeper and take a closer look at these awesome looking Ballistix Tracer sticks.