Test Setup and Overclocking
In testing the Crucial Ballistix Sport LT Red DDR4-2400 32GB memory kit, I am using a Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 7 motherboard powered with an Intel Core i7-6700K Skylake processor. Below are the rest of the specifications of the test system.
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64bit
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 7
Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT Red DDR4-2400 32GB
Graphics card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 Ti AMP! Edition
Storage Drives: Samsung 950 Pro NVME SSD
Power Supply: Seasonic 1050W Platinum
Chassis: DimasTech Bench Table Easy V3.0
Here is a CPU-Z screenshot of the Z170 system, where the memory is configured using its Intel XMP Profile.
Overclocking the Ballistix Sport LT DDR4
The Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4 has a clock speed of 2400MHz, so I was hoping that its memory clock speed can be pushed more considering that there’s plenty of room. First I tried setting it to 2800MHz, then 3000MHz with loose timings. Finally I settled with 3000MHz with a timing of 18-18-18-38, and bump up the voltage to 1.35V. It was fairly easy getting 3000MHz with this memory kit, but anything beyond 3000MHz and the system wouldn’t boot or POST properly anymore. So for the OC testing and benchmarking, I went for 3000MHz at 18-18-18-28 / 1.35V settings.
This may look like you could buy a Crucial DDR4-2400 memory kit, overclock it to 3000MHz and save some money instead of buying a 3000MHz memory kit. Usually, memory kits with higher clock speeds are priced higher specially if it’s beyond 3000MHz. But does bumping the Ballistix Sport LT’s speed to 3000MHz from 2400MHz yields any performance improvement? Let’s find out in the benchmark results on the next page.
