Though it may have not started off that way, today's performance industry sees these two giants that we evaluate today - OCZ Technology and Crucial - butting heads across product lines. Both products promise the same speed, and carry the same capacity, and to be honest, even manage to perform with the same latencies - despite what Crucial has to say on the tin. So what is it then, that sets these products apart from the clashing titans? Only time will tell.

Features, Specifications and a history lesson - OCZ:

   Way back in the heady days of DDR memory, when we all spent hours pushing our poor Socket 478 Pentium 4, and Socket 939 Athlon 64 processors, cooling on performance memory was really starting to be an issue. Despite issuing much of it's memory with the then-standard block heatspreaders, OCZ found that users still managed to burn out it's TCCD and Winbond UTT Memory (UTT, for you newer readers is the successor to Winbond's former legend BH5 - memory that could hit astounding frequencies at perfect latencies (2-2-2-5), with maddening voltages). In order to combat this re-occurring problem (one that could easily have been solved by users simply adding a fan over their memory), OCZ devised a two-fold attack - first, would come new heatspreaders that promised the ability to cool via convection - something that those former closed-top coolers of times past had forgotten. Secondly, by creating an entirely unique looking product, they hoped to gain instant recognition. Unfortunately, these two things met with mixed results.

You see, the ringlet mesh that OCZ puts to employ on each and every model featuring their XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection) heatspreader... well, it's fairly unable to draw air from behind it due to the fact that it's almost entirely covered on the inside by thermal tape. So, to throw it as an analogy to you, it's as effective as a closed window, sometimes. Now, considering that in recent months and years performance ram runs a little cooler than ever before, this is less of an issue, even if it does manage to defeat the purpose this product first carried.  The question now, then, is if the heatspreaders will be able to quell the fire which is 16 DDR chips. Time will tell. Right after these lovely specifications

Features, Specifications and a history lesson - Crucial:

Much like OCZ, Crucial also saw a dilemma long in past - how do we break into a densely populated enthusiast market? Despite the strong brand name of Crucial, and the even stronger reputation of the parent company - Micron, their products lacked a true enthusiast foothold. In response to this, they debuted the Ballistix lineup - a series of black PCB, Orange heatspreadered modules that didn't take anything from anyone. While these in fact did so very well (despite intermittent fears of unreliability due to rare batch failures), these modules somewhat failed to stand out in the crowd. Yes, they were quite aesthetically different, but the heatspreaders in play were much the same as everyone else - just like OCZ before the drop of XTC.

The Ballistix Tracer line - home of the product we're reviewing today - came as somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction, to be honest. In an effort to stake out their place in the market, Corsair released the XMS Pro lineup of modules, which featured a series of LEDs along the top of the modules that would glow, pertinent to the amount of memory being put to use. Not to be one to be out done, Crucial fought back with the birth of the tracers. Featuring a similar selection of LEDs along the gap in the lip of the heatspreader, and 4 LEDs per side on the module, these sticks set your motherboard aglow, and flickered throughout your case - at a time when the computer modification trend was at it's height. Though this trend has since stymied, and enthusiasts now tend to prefer silent, subtle systems, the Ballistix Tracer line lives on. Which leads us to a nice, simple question. Are these little monsters going to have the same bite as their ancestors? I think it's good and time we found out. - Right after these specifications.

• Module Size: 6GB kit (2GBx3)

• Package: Ballistix Tracer 240-pin DIMM (with LEDs)

• Feature: DDR3 PC3-12800

• Specs: DDR3 PC3-12800

• 8-8-8-24 • Unbuffered • NON-ECC • DDR3-1600 • 1.65V • 256Meg x 64