Manufacturer:
Price: $276 USD (Newegg.com) / $379 CND (Anitec.ca)

Today I have the distinct pleasure of introducing a company for the first time to Overclockers Online readers. Crucial Technology is a division of Micron Semiconductor Products, Inc., which in turn is a subsidiary of the memory giant, Micron Technology Inc.. Micron is no stranger to myself but for those that don't know, Micron Technology Inc. manufacturers memory of almost every kind including NAND Flash, PSRAM, Mobile DRAM, DRAM and more. Micron also produces complete DRAM modules and sells them under the Micron label to OEMs but also under the Crucial brand to end-users.



In 1996, the Boise Idaho based DRAM giant, Micron Technology Inc., decided to create a direct link between the company and the end-user in the computer memory market. Up until that point, Micron had only supplied OEMs with their products. The company responsible for creating that link from manufacturer to end-user is Crucial Technology and over 10 years later, Crucial has built the brand into a world leader in the memory market. Today, Crucial markets many products including flash cards, USB flash drives, graphics cards and in conjunction with standard DRAM memory lines, an enthusiast line of memory called Ballistix.



For the first Crucial product to be reviewed here at Overclockers Online, I will be looking at a member of the Crucial Ballistix family, a 2x1GB kit of PC2-5300 DDRII memory rated for 3-3-3-12 operation at DDR667 with 2.2v. The Ballistix memory from Crucial are their best of the best with performance and reliability being top priority. The rated frequencies and timings are very aggressive and with a bit of help from my two favorite motherboards, I am sure I can make these modules run much more than their rated frequencies. Overclocking and testing will be completed on an AM2 platform as well as a Core 2 Duo based setup so we better get started.