Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB 32GB 3000MHz DDR4 Review

Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer

As one of the biggest names in the memory business, Crucial have a fantastic reputation with system builders, gamers, and beyond. With that in mind, I’m very excited to be testing their latest Ballistix kit, which promises blazing fast performance, premium grade hardware, and beautiful RGB lighting. Of course, what else could you want from DDR4 memory these days!

Industry Leading Experience

Crucial have been building memory kits for more than 35 years, so it’s safe to say they know a trick or two when it comes to making a great memory kit. Equipped with four 8 GB DIMMs, our review kit offers up 32 GB of memory, although 16 GB sets will also be available. Running at 3000 MHz on their default XMP profile, with very nice 16-18-18 timings, they should run quick. Of course, they should easily overclock too, thanks to their metal heat spreaders.

Backed up by a lifetime warranty, and offerings RGB support for ASUS Aura, MSI Mystic Light, Gigabyte AORUS and more, it’s certainly ticking all the right boxes, so let’s take a closer look at what else is on offer!

Features

• Customize your rig’s colour scheme with 16 RGB LEDs in 8 zones on each module
• Select RGB LED patterns and adjust brightness
• Control LEDs with the Ballistix M.O.D. Utility or motherboard RGB software1
• Create your own custom light bar with your 3D printer and provided 3D files for the ultimate mod
• Speeds up to 3000 MT/s
• Easily hit advanced speeds and timings with XMP profiles
• Limited lifetime warranty

Tracer RGB

With 16 LEDs in 8 zones built into the top edge of every Tracer module’s design, Tactical Tracer RGB DDR4 modules light up your rig’s colour scheme and other components. Adjust LED colours and brightness, turn them on and off, switch up display patterns on the fly, or sync your memory’s lights with other components using your motherboard’s provided software.

• Get a diffused look with the Ballistix-labeled light bar
• Remove the light bar for maximum brightness
• Or 3D print your own for the ultimate customisation

What Crucial Had to Say

“Performance isn’t enough if you want to customize your gaming rig – your system needs to stand out as you’re crushing opponents. Game at high speeds while firing up Ballistix Tactical Tracer RGB DDR4 gaming memory modules that match your system’s color scheme with RGB LEDs and deliver all the features of the Ballistix Tactical series like XMP profiles, stylish black PCB, and custom heat spreaders.” – Crucial

Specifications

• UDIMM DDR4 PC4-24000
• 16-18-18
• Unbuffered
• NON-ECC
• DDR4-3000
• 1.35V
• 32GB kit (8GBx4)
• Lifetime Warranty

For in-depth specifications, please visit the official product page here.

A Closer Look

Featuring a reasonably familiar Ballistix design, the modules do look fantastic. They use a gun-metal grey design with plenty of ventilation, so they should stay nice and cool.

An all-black PCB keeps things looking neat and tidy, and those chunky heat spreaders feel durable and very well mounted.

The top lightbar is frosted, so it should glow with light quite easily. However, you can strip it out if you want the LEDs to shine directly into your system. However, I think leaving them in is the best option.

Once mounted in your system, the slightly metallic finish on the heat spreaders does look superb. Of course, their neutral colour theme means they’ll blend in with ease.

The RGB lighting is pretty bright and glows with some fantastic and vibrant colours. You can see the light through the top of the memory, as well as through the small cut-outs on each side of each module.