Testing:

Crucial Ballistix MOD Utility:

Before getting to the benchmarks, lets take a minute to review the Crucial Ballistix MOD Utility for monitoring memory temperatures. As stated previously, the 32-bit and 64-bit Crucial MOD utility allows you to see and record real-time temperatures of the Crucial memory chips via an integrated temperature sensor. The utility also has provisions for controlling integrated heatsink LEDs but this functionality requires you purchase Ballistix "Smart Tracer" memory. The literature online says you "can manipulate LED lights while monitoring temperature through a free, downloadable utility." More on that - here. Using the Ballistix MOD utility the following temperatures were recorded, using AIDA64's "memory burn-in" stress test to load the memory.



I would classify the MOD Utility as something "cool to have," but not incredibly useful. If cooling memory was really important all manufacturers would use heatsinks at a minimum and most would include fans to increase air flow and promote system stability. I would also like to point out that only Crucial Ballistix memory modules will work with the MOD Utility because non-Crucial memory does not have the onboard thermal sensors required to read chip temperatures. In any event, I have included a chart of the case temperature, memory at idle, load, and overclocked load below for your reference.