Conclusion
Once again Crucial has a winner on its hands. These sticks perform with the best out there in this price range. We see these online as low as $152 which is an incredible value for 2GB of RAM that overclocks this well. The system was Orthos stable (a stress test benchmark) at all speeds and gave us great performance with minimal hassle. The Micron D9 DRAM chips used on these modules continue to excel in their use on high-end, overclocked memory. If you are in the market for memory you have to give these a consideration, provided you are looking for faster-than-standard speeds. There are only a handful of memory kits that are rated 1244MHz and higher out of the box, so in that aspect you get RAM that competes with the best out there with an easy overclock. We can’t promise these speeds on everyone’s rig - all RAM sticks are different - but these do have the potential to give your rig that added punch when it comes to overclocking.

Pros
+ Overclocks with ease
+ Warranty and service from Crucial is some of the best
+ Offers fantastic performance at the price
+ Maintains low timings while pushing high-end speeds
+ Stylish and classy, looks should fit in with most rigs
Cons
- Runs a bit warm at higher clocks
Rating
9.8 out of 10

Editor's Pick - High Performance DDR2 on a Budget


Crucial’s Ballistix Tracer PC2-8500 2GB RAM kit offers high-end performance without making your wallet suffer. It manages this performance without high-end cooling options and/or exotic heatsinks that needlessly show top of the line engineering and development. It doesn’t hurt that Crucial uses its Micron D9 memory chips, which continue to be the standard of excellence for DDR2. If you are in the market for new or more RAM, you can’t go wrong putting these on your wish list.