How does a large-scale memory manufacturer differentiate its wares from the rest? This is the conundrum that companies such as Crucial and Kingston find themselves in from time to time.

Crucial has an established Internet model that intelligently fits memory upgrades to your particular machine, and it works well enough. However, to better compete in the enthusiast space, more is needed, and that's why we've seen Ballistix and high-speed DDR3 memory become available through the online configurator.

Now, taking another step into market differentiation, Crucial is launching select DDR3 Ballistix Tracer modules in three colours. Want to see what I mean?

So on top of the black-coloured heatspreaders that signify the Ballistix Tracer line, you will soon be able to buy them in blue, red or green, as long as you opt for some DDR3 tri-channel memory packs, suitable for Core i7 CPUs.

The 'gimmick' extends to more than just the heatspreader, which is milled to better reflect light. The PCB and 24 LEDs (on a dual-sided stick) are also colour matched, and the orientation is such that Crucial can add LEDs to different parts of the PCB: there's ample space.

The underlying ICs are the same as regular Ballistix Tracer, but expect to pay a premium of between $5-$10 for these special-edition models. If successful, Crucial may well invest in an online system that lets you choose the colour of the PCB, LEDs and heatspreaders, to match your system's.

Gimmick or actually cool? What do you think?


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