Ballistix Sport LT 32GB DDR4-2666 SODIMM on ASRock X299E-ITX/AC

Specifications and Features

Product highlights

• Speeds start at 2400 MT/s
• Faster speeds and responsiveness than standard Crucial DDR4 memory
• Increased performance and frame rates for systems with integrated graphics
• Ideal for gamers and performance enthusiasts
• Black PCB design with digital camo features
• Easy plug-and-play installation
• Intel© XMP 2.0 profiles for easy configuration
• Optimized for the latest Intel processors
• Limited lifetime warranty

Our memory kit contains four 8GB modules which specification you can find below.

What is interesting, under the stickers we will find Micron C9BHF. What is so interesting ? Most Micron memory chips are marked as D9xxx. I can’t even find description of this IC on the Micron website while it’s clearly in mass sales as our review sample is typical, retail product.

Memory modules are single rank what usually gives hope on better overclocking so exactly what we are looking for. On the other hand Micron is known of not the best overclocking memory so we don’t really know what to expect ( well, I already know but you have to wait 🙂 ).

Programmed XMP profile works withou issues. Motherboard runs with memory at DDR4-2400 16-16-16 using auto settings and at DDR4-2666 16-18-18 using XMP profile. Exactly as we expected.

Below is screenshot which is showing memory stability after nearly 9 hours of full memory load in quad channel mode at XMP settings.

Package and Closer Look

The Ballistix Sport LT comes in a typical blister package which is the most popular package type for memory modules and many other components.

Our memory wasn’t designed as quad channel kit and each memory module was packed separately. However, all of modules with the same product number supposed to be based on the same IC. In this case, as I already mentioned, it’s Micron IC what is the most typical and expected considering that Crucial and Ballistix are Micron brands.

On the memory modules are stickers which look like think heatsinks. DDR4 memory is not heating up much so heatsinks are not really required. Even while overclocking additional cooling is not really required. Typical temperature of modules is below 50°C under heavy load while maximum operating temperature is about 80°C so it’s perfectly safe.

SODIMM modules are designed to work in laptops so how memory looks like doesn’t really matter. In our case memory will work on a desktop motherboard where more users care about the looks. The Sport LT modules look quite good. Black PCB with gunmetal grey/silver stickers should fit to most builds. Our motherboard is black so it’s a perfect match.

Since I mentioned the motherboard then here are couple of words about it.

Test platform – ASRock X299E-ITX/AC

This is amazing what ASRock can do and competition is not even trying. ASRock X299E-ITX/AC is the only ITX motherboard on the market so far and I doubt we will see many more.

ASRock X299E-ITX/AC Specifications:

• Unique Feature
  ASRock USB 3.1 Gen2
  – ASRock USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A Port (10 Gb/s)
  – ASRock USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C Port (10 Gb/s)
  ASRock Super Alloy
  – Premium 60A Power Choke
  – Dr. MOS
  – Nichicon 12K Black Caps (100% Japan made high quality conductive polymer capacitors)
  – Matte Black PCB
  – High Density Glass Fabric PCB
  Intel^® Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 (AC Wave 2 + BLE BT4.2)
  ASRock Steel Slots
  ASRock Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA3)
  ASRock Full Spike Protection (for all USB, Audio, LAN Ports)
  ASRock Live Update & APP Shop
• CPU
  – Supports Intel^® Core™ X-Series Processor (79xx, 78xx Series) for the LGA 2066 Socket*
  – Digi Power design
  – 7 Power Phase design
  – Supports Intel^® Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0
  – Supports ASRock Hyper BCLK Engine III
• Chipset
  – Intel^® X299
• Memory
  – Quad Channel DDR4 Memory Technology
  – 4 x DDR4 SO-DIMM Slots
  – Supports DDR4 4000+(OC)* / 3866(OC) / 3800(OC) / 3733(OC) / 3600(OC) / 3200(OC) / 2933(OC) / 2800(OC) / 2666 / 2400 / 2133 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
  – Max. capacity of system memory: 64GB**
  – Supports Intel^® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) 2.0
• BIOS
  – 128Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with multilingual GUI support
  – ACPI 6.1 Compliant wake up events
  – SMBIOS 3.0 Support
  – CPU, DRAM, PCH 1.0V, VCCIO, VCCSA, Voltage Multi-adjustment
• Graphics
  – n/a
• Audio
  – 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec)
  – Premium Blu-ray Audio support
  – Supports Surge Protection
  – Supports Purity Sound™ 4
  – Nichicon Fine Gold Series Audio Caps
  – 120dB SNR DAC with Differential Amplifier
  – NE5532 Premium Headset Amplifier for Front Panel Audio Connector (Supports up to 600 Ohm headsets)
  – Pure Power-In
  – Direct Drive Technology
  – Impedance Sensing on Front Out port
  – Gold Audio Jacks
  – 15μ Gold Audio Connector
  – Supports DTS Connect
• LAN
  – Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
  – 1 x Giga PHY Intel^® I219V, 1 x GigaLAN Intel^® I211AT
  – Supports Wake-On-LAN
  – Supports Lightning/ESD Protection
  – Supports Dual LAN with Teaming*
  – Supports Energy Efficient Ethernet 802.3az
  – Supports PXE
• Wireless LAN
  – Intel^® Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265
  – Supports IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
  – Supports Dual-Band (2.4/5 GHz with 80Mhz bandwidth and MU-MIMO)
  – Supports high speed wireless connections up to 867Mbps
  – 2 antennas to support 2 (Transmit) x 2 (Receive) diversity technology
  – Supports Bluetooth 4.2 / 3.0 + High speed class II
• Slots
  – 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slot (PCIE1: x16 mode)
  – 1 x Vertical M.2 Socket (Key E) with the bundled WiFi-802.11ac module (on the rear I/O)
  – 15μ Gold Contact in VGA PCIe Slot (PCIE1)
• Storage
  – 6 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, Intel^® Rapid Storage Technology 15 and Intel^® Smart Response Technology), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
  – 1 x Ultra M.2 Socket (M2_1), supports M Key type 2230/2242/2260/2280 M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s)*
  – 2 x Ultra M.2 Sockets (M2_2 and M2_3), support M Key type 2280 M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s)*
• Connector
  – 1 x Virtual RAID On CPU Header
  – 1 x TPM Header
  – 1 x Power LED and Speaker Header
  – 1 x RGB LED Header
  – 1 x CPU Fan Connector (4-pin)
  – 1 x CPU Optional/Water Pump Fan Connector (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)
  – 1 x Chassis Fan Connector (4-pin) (Smart Fan Speed Control)
  – 1 x 24 pin ATX Power Connector (Hi-Density Power Connector)
  – 1 x 8 pin 12V Power Connector (Hi-Density Power Connector)
  – 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector (15μ Gold Audio Connector)
  – 1 x USB 2.0 Header (Supports 2 USB 2.0 ports) (Supports ESD Protection)
  – 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Header (Supports 2 USB 3.1 Gen1 ports) (Supports ESD Protection)
  – 1 x Rear Button Switch (A: Clear CMOS Button; B: Power Button)
• Rear Panel I/O
  – 2 x Antenna Ports
  – 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
  – 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A Port (10 Gb/s) (ASMedia ASM3142) (Supports ESD Protection)
  – 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C Port (10 Gb/s) (ASMedia ASM3142) (Supports ESD Protection)
  – 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Ports (ASMedia ASM1074 Hub) (Supports ESD Protection)*
  – 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
  – 1 x Clear CMOS Button / Power Button
  – HD Audio Jacks: Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone (Gold Audio Jacks)

What is even more interesting is what this motherboard has to offer. Three M.2 sockets with VROC support, six SATA ports with RAID, two LAN ports, WiFi, Bluetooth, USB 3.1 and much more. What is the most interesting for me is the fact that this motherboard supports SODIMM DDR4 in quad channel mode. Actually I wonder why isn’t it memory standard for desktops. Capacity is similar, performance is similar but modules are smaller.

Above are couple of more photos of the test rig which also contains the i9-7900X processor and EVGA GTX1080Ti graphics card.

One would wonder if it’s possible to build small PC using these components as under full load it may pass 600W. I guess this will be my next challenge.

Right now let’s focus what we can achieve with the Ballistix Sport LT DDR4-2666 on the ASRock X299E-ITX/AC. Our results are on the next pages of this review.