Test System

Testing Rated Speeds

Past memory reviews from me have featured a non-overclocked system, but I know that most of us tend to overclock our CPUs. In order to provide you with the same sort of results you will get in the end, and to test memory kits under such overclocked CPU loads, I have overclocked my new memory testing system to match the speeds of Intel's i7-6700K, which defaults to a 4.2 GHz Turbo clock. Most of my Z170-based memory reviews do have that "stock" 4.3 GHz turbo speed in use, although the ASUS board I used for those reviews does set the CPU to 4.2 GHz on all cores, which I matched with my retail i7-6950X CPU with relative ease. Intel's Broadwell-E CPUs with high core counts do not clock up very easily; pushing more than 4.3 GHz with this CPU is harder than I'd like, so 4.2 GHz makes for an easy overclock through all ten CPU cores. I also use a 3300 MHz ring speed for all testing, and the two combined overclocks make for a decent performance boost over a stock-clocked i7-6950X CPU while still providing a decent thermal profile.


Crucial's Ballistix memory has always been easy-to-use for me, and I am sure it will be the same for you. Simply enable the XMP profile and you should have no problems, although it is worth noting that on some systems the 3000 MHz Ballistix Tactical DIMMs will ask for a 125 MHz base clock speed for the CPU. Having spent considerable time with my Intel i7-6950X and the MSI X99 GAMING PRO CARBON I currently use, I know that I can use the 3000 MHz divider with a 100 MHz base clock, so for testing these DIMMs and trying to enable easy performance comparisons with other kits that use a 100 MHz base clock, that is what I used. Although not all systems will be capable of running like this, I do suggest you try as this ensures that you can keep all the default power-saving features enabled that might otherwise be negated by the higher base clock, which not only affects CPU speed, but cache speed as well.