Author: Peter Kapas Date: January 27, 2008 Manufacturer: Crucial Provider: Crucial

Specifications and Packaging » Page 1: Introduction

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Introduction and About Crucial


Many of us heard about Crucial and their high quality Ballistix Tracer memories. Crucial was nice enough to send me the Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2x 1GB DDR2-8500 Memory modules for today’s tests and I must say that these memories are exceptional compared to other vendor memories that you can find on the market at the moment. With two rows of activity-indicating light - emitting diodes (LEDs) and ground-effects LEDs we can say that these memories are far the best looking memories on the market at the moment. But with its great look, can it keep up with the other memories? We’ll take a look at it in this review.


What is Ballistix Tracer memory?
Ballistix Tracer memory is specifically built for performance enthusiasts and case modders who want to push the performance envelope while adding flash appeal to their boxes. The Ballistix line of high-performance memory modules features advanced speed grades, low latencies, and integrated aluminum heat spreaders. Ballistix Tracer memory features a black PCB, black integrated heat spreaders, and one or two rows of eight "chasing" red and green LEDs atop the module, circulating in a random pattern based on memory utilization. A custom-designed circuit relays bus activity to the LEDs, allowing them to accurately reflect usage of each memory module. In addition, eight blue ground effects LEDs emit a constant glow near the pins.

What Crucial Has To Say About Their Company…
Crucial is different from other memory vendors. As a division of Micron, Crucial Technology is the only company in the world that actually manufactures memory and sells it directly to individual computer users. The comprehensive Crucial(R) Memory Advisor(TM) tool makes it easy to find the right memory for any system—and compatibility is 100 percent guaranteed. Our customers buy from us with the confidence that all high-quality Crucial memory is backed by award-winning service and support.

About the Company
The Crucial story starts with Micron Technology, Inc., one of the largest dynamic random access memory (DRAM) manufacturers in the world and the only one based in the U.S. Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, Micron manufactures DRAM chips and assembles them into high-quality memory modules for sale to original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs") worldwide.
For nearly three decades, Micron has learned that when you make some of the very best memory in the world, lots of companies want it, from computer makers to wireless device manufacturers to printer producers. (And we're really glad that they do!)

But then Micron asked, well, what about the end user? What about the everyday folks who want to upgrade their existing systems with OEM-quality memory — the home desktop user, the IT network guy, the student notebook user? Why don't we offer our memory to the public, at factory-direct pricing?
So in 1996, Micron responded to a growing demand for high-quality memory upgrades among end users who wanted the best possible performance from their systems. Micron launched Crucial Technology in September of that year, and for the first time, end users had the opportunity to buy directly from the manufacturer the same memory modules bought by the world's major OEMs for original installation in their systems.

Having a direct sales division focused on selling Micron's DRAM to the public was apparently an idea whose time had come, and 10 successful years later, we have expanded our product line to include flash cards and readers, and USB flash drives.

Why is Crucial thriving? We offer our customers a number of clear advantages over our competitors.

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Specifications and Packaging » Page 1: Introduction Page 2: Specifications and Packaging Page 3: A Closer Look Page 4: Overclocking, Testing and Results Page 5: Conclusion