Computer enthusiasts tend to be a very different breed from the rest of us. Recently I was talking with a friend who is building a new system about the importance of good memory, when he interrupted me to mention that to him 'good memory' isn't worth the cost. He's not interested in overclocking, nor is he a gamer, so generic & affordable memory is more than good enough for his rig.

Six years of hard core overclocking have certainly changed my outlook on things like performance-grade memory, but even if you're not into computers as a hobby I still firmly believe you should buy memory that is brandname. History has shown me that it's not if a part will fail, it's when (see: diagnosing bad memory). At least with name brand parts they should be covered in terms of warranty and support, generic parts on the other hand often have 'warranties' which aren't worth the paper they are printed on.

When it comes to support Crucial is in very select company. From its large online knowledge base to its quick support emails and toll free 1-800 support line, it addresses product support head on with a realization that no product is ever 100% perfect. Problems happen, but it's how a company deals with them that really matters to the consumer.

This set of Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 DDR2-800 dual channel memory is 2GB is size, and comes wrapped in bright orange aluminum heatspreaders. The PC2-6400 kit retails from Crucial directly for about $473 CDN ($418 US. £227GBP), and is ideally suited for quick socket AM2 Athlon64 or socket 775 Intel Pentium D / Core 2 Duo computer systems. Compared to generic stuff, Crucial's Ballistix PC2-6400 DDR2 2GB memory kit may seem pricey, but this is premium DDR-2 and in its class is priced competitively.

Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 Memory RAM Memory Type: DDR2-800 / PC2-6400 Individual Module Capacity: 1GB Native Speed & Latency: 800 MHz @ CAS 4-4-4-12

As the model number suggests, the 2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 memory is rated to run at JEDEC's DDR2-800 specification... but Crucial goes one step further than that. At PC2-6400 speeds the Ballistix memory will operate with CAS Latency timings of 4-4-4-12, and while in the dual channel configuration Crucial warranties the memory to a voltage of 2.2V.

Heatspreaders are no longer just for show, with higher voltages being applied to DDR2 memory the module can produce a lot of heat. If you plan to push your DDR2 memory by overclocking and over-volting it, it's best to make sure you have adequate case cooling inside your PC. From PCSTATS experience, additional cooling on the memory definitely helps achieve higher speeds and it should help you as well.

PCSTATS Test Methodology

On AMD socket AM2 est systems, we're only interested in seeing how high we can go with the memory running 1:1, as running with other dividers puts the overclocking bottleneck elsewhere and not with the system memory. The DDR2 RAM latency must run at its lowest possible setting, as quick access is more important to the CPU design. Just for arguments sake, we will also be conducting overclocking tests to see how high the memory will go with lax timings (5-5-5-15), although we will only benchmark the system with the tight memory timings mentioned above. Let's get started!