Reviews - Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR3-1,600: putting bling before value?

[HEXUS]

Available in three colours with LEDs to match, Crucial looks to woo the enthusiast keen on aesthetics.

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[Michael H]

Considering the criticisms applied to this pack can also be applied (to an even greater extent) to the £500 Corsair Dominator pack tested earlier in the week, what justifies the crucial scoring 62% and the corsair 80%?

[Zhaoman]

the lights look sweet, hopefully these will go down in price come the summer.

[Tarinder]

Considering the criticisms applied to this pack can also be applied (to an even greater extent) to the £500 Corsair Dominator pack tested earlier in the week, what justifies the crucial scoring 62% and the corsair 80%?

The value portion of the final score is much smaller for high-end and extreme modules than it is for run-of-the-mill mid-price components.

The Corsair DOMINATOR scores very poorly on value, with the Crucial faring only slightly better, but it does better (and much) in terms of performance. Yes, the benchmarks only show a little difference, but the DOMNATOR is the fastest RAM you can buy. In comparison, the Crucial, is barely above mid-range but also horribly expensive.

The DOMINATOR is that £1,000 CD or Blu-ray player and receives recognition, via scoring, that this is the creme de la creme of DDR3 desktop memory. You want memory? There is nothing that's currently better, and price is somewhat incidental.

The Crucial Ballistix is in no mans' land, being some way from the fastest and, as noted above, priced highly. It's difficult to recommend no matter which way you look at it.

We have no intrinsic problem in passing impartial judgement on ultra-expensive kit if we can see a demand and point to it. The DOMINATOR has that point, we believe, whilst the Crucial doesn't, hence the deviation in scoring.

[Brewster0101]

Products released at the price point have little interest too 99% of consumers. They are products that lead the way for things to come in the future. They shouldnt be rated on value. They should be rated on technical acheivement and how well they work.

[jim]

If that was going to hapepn, there would need to be a second rating system... would get a bit complicated.

The tracers are a bit pointless at the end of the day, but they'll always find a market somewhere. Personally, I reckon you'd be better off buying some ballistix and some Christmas tree lights.

[marshalex]

If that was going to hapepn, there would need to be a second rating system... would get a bit complicated.

The tracers are a bit pointless at the end of the day, but they'll always find a market somewhere. Personally, I reckon you'd be better off buying some ballistix and some Christmas tree lights.

lol considering how much cheaper the normal ballistix sticks are thats a hell of a lot of fairy lights!