News Micron Kills Off Crucial's Iconic Ballistix Gaming RAM - Tom's

[UsandThem]

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/micron-discontinues-crucial-ballistix-gaming-ram

The Ballistix series, which has existed since the DDR days, was the only enthusiast gaming memory that Crucial had in its arsenal. Micron's latest move explains why the company never transitioned the Ballistix lineup to the new DDR5 standard. However, Crucial does sell standard JEDEC DDR5 memory, and will continue to do so. Those sticks come as standard DIMMs with a PCB and ICs, but they don't have heat spreaders or any other types of high-end trimmings.

Kind of shocking news actually. Ballistix was a really well known name in memory (I used their products for close to 20 years), and with Micron being a major manufacturer, I'm surprised to see them (apparently) leaving the lucrative premium RAM market.

I guess they are happy just selling the better NAND to various companies to use in their products instead (Adata, Corsair, etc.).

It also explains why they had such aggressive sales on their modules over the last several months (they were likely clearing out inventory).

 

[Shmee]

Oh wow, disappointing.

 

[blckgrffn]

Yeah, given their DDR5 roadmap never mentioned Ballistix I suppose the writing was on the wall.

I always felt like I could do no wrong by going with Ballistix and used it for builds that "mattered" almost exclusively, like my Dads, sons, in-laws, etc.

It was a good run. How long before they realize they can sell the brand to Corsair or something?

 

[Shmee]

Here is the AT article: https://www.anandtech.com/show/1726...ry-goes-eol-micron-realigns-its-dram-strategy

 

[UsandThem]

I had a Discover Cashback bonus $10 discount on Amazon, and they were one of the few retailers left that had any of the Ballistix kits still available. I figured what the hell, one last Ballistix kit for old times' sake.



Two things though:

1. Yes, I'm installing white modules on a black motherboard (ROG STRIX B550-F Gaming). I bet all the people who color coordinate every component/RGB in their builds are likely having an OCD attack at mere thought of that horror.

2. And since my main PC has Ryzen CPU in it, the new obligatory "gem" of: "They really should add the cost of high priced RAM kits with there CPUs because at this point there components are garbage."

 

[mpo]

This plus HyperX RAM being discontinued with Kingston selling the brand to HP.

A couple of lines have gone by the wayside in the past year.

 

[Hans Gruber]

More importantly Micron made their own ram and brand (Crucial) of memory. The only company that sold ram this way. All the other brands use 3rd party ram from either Hynix or Samsung. Maybe a few used Micron chips. So DDR5 will just be Samsung and Hynix?

 

[UsandThem]

So DDR5 will just be Samsung and Hynix?

Crucial will continue to sell modules, they just killed of their Ballistix line (their performance line).

What they will sell going forward will high CAS rating modules with no heatsinks. It appears that so far all of their DDR5 modules are black, otherwise they would be the same as "cheap green modules" that OEMs typically use in prebuilt computers (like Dell and HP).

https://www.crucial.com/catalog/memory/ddr5-desktop

 

[DrMrLordX]

That's a shame. Micron e-die was pretty good, and you could reliably guarantee e-die for overclocking by selecting the right kits. No idea what their generic DDR5 will be like, but without any kind of binning it will be a crapshoot. Might be some discount diamonds in the rough.

edit: I remember when Micron first announced the Ballistix brand. I commented on the Anandtech story that it was unfortunate that they had chosen the "Ballstix" name for their memory, only to get a terse reply from someone who appeared to be a Micron rep chiding me for forgetting the letter 'i'. I had read it wrong.

Wish I could find that old article.

 

[PingSpike]

Once I found E-die that was all I bought. It was a big step up from the hynix in reliability and ability to hit XMP timings and only cost like 10% more unlike B-die stuff. I liked the shorter heatspreaders better than the taller stuff though.

 

[aigomorla]

Tracers were the first ram to have LED's on them, and they were awesome and blingy for its time.


Then everyone copied them and added RGB on it instead of the red lights.

 

[Shmee]

Will there still be good micron based RAM that is binned well, either in crucial/micron branding or in other branded RAM kits? In other words, is there a DDR5 version/successor to E die? As mentioned, I know E die was a good choice for fast, but larger capacity and cheaper RAM for Ryzen on AM4 (compared to B die).

 

[DrMrLordX]

Will there still be good micron based RAM that is binned well, either in crucial/micron branding or in other branded RAM kits? In other words, is there a DDR5 version/successor to E die? As mentioned, I know E die was a good choice for fast, but larger capacity and cheaper RAM for Ryzen on AM4 (compared to B die).

Who knows? All I know is that you can buy generic Crucial DDR5 and bin it yourself (and return the rest, lol) like a true XS forum member. Which might be the way to go, if it's cheap enough.

 

[Grabo]

Just purchased some of the last stock herearound (northern Europe) at not precisely deal prices but DRAM prices have been going up for a few weeks ( https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20220302PD212/dram-memory-chips.html ) and I haven't really seen any "deals".. am currently running 16GB 3600MHz CL16 (Ballistix) and wanted to get 32GB with similar timings and ..well, the Ballistix were still the most economical. I like bright red RAM about as much as a like a bright red paintjob on a car but it'll be behind a mesh : ) Cheers to a good line of RAM