I know the overclocking isn't much in this particular review and I blame it entirely on my motherboard. It has not overclocked memory well at all since the day I got it and no matter how many BIOS` I update it with, it still does not want to cooperate. I can overclock the CPU like crazy, but that doesn't help me with memory. So I apologize for the weak overclocking results in this review and I will surely use a different platform next time. If you google more reviews of this memory kit, you'll find numerous reviews that state overclocks up near the 1200Mhz area which just solidifies the quality of the IC's used in these kits. Of course, I didn't find anyone else testing on a Striker Extreme...so they're luckier than I was this time.

   I do however want to point your attention to the results I did get at 1066MHz. If you notice that, although I couldn't get the MHz very high because of this test platform, I was able to lower the timings at 1066MHz down to 4-4-4-12 at the stock 2.2v! That's fantastic in itself and with the ridiculously low DDR2 prices right now make this kit an absolute steal! Notice too that 1066MHz @ 4-4-4-12 yielded better results than overclocking to 1120MHz @ 5-5-5-15! That's just one example on why higher isn't always better when it comes to overclocking. I don't know about you, but lower timings at a safer speed is always preferred to me rather than a super high speed and higher timings.

Conclusion:

   Once again since this memory is so similar to the 800MHz kit I reviewed previously, my conclusion won't differ much at all. This Crucial Ballistix Tracer is without a doubt the best looking memory I've ever seen. It's also some of the best overall performing memory I've ever used. During testing I had not a single issue with this memory. It runs great at stock speeds. It runs even better at 4-4-4-12. And it does all this while looking fantastic.

   The green and red LED's across the top of the Ballistix Tracer kit move around seemingly randomly, but it's based off of memory activity for the most part. Sometimes they'll dance rather quickly around and sometimes they change around slowly depending on your computing at the time, but they never stay the exact same for long. The high intensity blue LED's that shine down into the pins and memory slots are what really set this kit off. They make all the difference in my opinion. Those are solid at all times by the way and give the kit sort of a hovering effect. Just gorgeous.

   I think the Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC2-8500 2GB DDR2 memory kit has easily garnered itself an Editors Choice award even though my motherboard gave me fits, it's not the memories fault. I think that's obvious by taking into account all the great overclocking results from other reviews of this kit on the web. We get a lot of hardware here at Virtual-Hideout, and most of it comes in and out of the office, but this memory kit has earned itself a spot in my exclusive list of keepers along with the PC2-6400 Kit. 

   Big thanks go out to Crucial for not only sending this kit in for review, but also for creating the single best looking memory kit I've seen since the PC2-6400 Kit :) My recommendation is to head over to the Crucial Store right now and grab yourself a kit while the prices are crazy low!

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