By: Jonathan Kwan
October 26, 2018
The morning after we returned from our epic Yellowknife road trip, I was at the car rental office returning our rental SUV. "What is the most kilometers you have ever seen someone put on in a week?" I asked the manager. "I don’t know, did you put on too many?" He replied. "It’s unlimited mileage, right?", to which he paused for a moment and nodded. "Well, I put in 4000 kilometers." At that point, he freaked out a little bit. "What!? We didn’t make any money on this one. We better pull it off the lot for an oil change now!" For the $360 I paid to take the SUV out for a week, whether it is depreciation or regular wear and tear, I definitely got my money's worth on this one. After all, the more we drive, the more we make out of it, since we are paying the same amount of money besides gas regardless of how much we use the vehicle. I can reflect on a similar scenario when it comes to computer RAM. The truth is, memory density has not changed much in the last six or so years. I reviewed my first 2x8GB kit back in 2012 with the G.Skill Ares F3-1866C10D-16GAB. I doubt many can tell the difference in day-to-day use even though DDR4 has become mainstream and clock speeds have gotten a lot faster since then. To make the most out of the products they have without actually giving you more capacity, the 2018 solution for Patriot, like many manufacturers as of late, is simple: Add RGB. Read on to see how the Patriot Viper RGB PC4-25600 2x8GB performed in our tests!
Our review unit of the Patriot Viper RGB PC4-25600 2x8GB came in a small, brown corrugated cardboard box from Fremont, California, USA as always. Using the UPS Saver service, everything arrived in excellent condition from Patriot's headquarters to us here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada for our review today. We have last reviewed the Patriot Viper LED PC4-24000 2x8GB only a few months ago; it is nice to upgrade from just regular LEDs to a full-on RGB LED set today.
I have always found Patriot's retail memory packaging to be interesting, and the latest Viper RGB is no exception. As you can see in our photo above, the Patriot Viper RGB's retail box design is quite large for a memory kit. I am a big fan of products that come in an actual retail box and not a blister pack. The white background is neutral, but it is complemented by a RGB version of the Viper logo repeated several times in the background. A photo of the memory modules is shown proudly in the foreground in all its RGB glory. The silver Viper logo is located at the upper left-hand corner. Meanwhile, on the upper right corner of the box, you will find a label indicating its compatibility with lighting control software from major motherboard manufacturers, followed by a second label indicating its model, capacity, configuration, and speed. Our particular variant features a white heatspreader. Lastly, the Viper RGB branding and Gamer Certified badge -- whatever that means -- is found along the bottom. Inside the box is a clear plastic clamshell package to hold the memory in place.
Before we move on, let us take a look at the features and specifications of the Patriot Viper RGB PC4-25600 2x8GB, as obtained from the manufacturer's website:
Capacity: 16GB (2 x 8GB)
Base Frequency: PC4-17000 (2133MHz)
Base Timings: 15-15-15-36
Tested Frequency: PC4-25600 (3200MHz)
Tested Timings: 16-18-18-36
Voltage: 1.35V
Format: NON-ECC Unbuffered DIMM
Pin Out: 288-Pin
Out of the box, you will receive each memory module in the Patriot Viper RGB kit packaged in its own compartment in the clear plastic shell. Besides that, two Viper stickers are included for you to show off your RAM as well as a short instruction card. There is nothing else included, but I am not sure what else you can expect from a DDR4 kit either, haha.
A screenshot of the memory tab in CPU-Z with Patriot's Viper RGB PC4-25600 2x8GB installed. The SPD timings table in CPU-Z reads standard JEDEC specifications programmed into the memory as well as Intel XMP data for running the memory at various speeds. Using the latest BIOS revision, our Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 motherboard used for testing had no issues detecting and working with the Patriot RAM right out of the box. The Patriot Viper RGB PC4-25600 2x8GB retails for approximately $170 at press time.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 CPU
4. Benchmark: AIDA64 FPU
5. Benchmark: AIDA64 Memory
6. Benchmark: PCMark 8
7. Benchmark: 3DMark
8. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 9.0
9. Benchmark: SuperPI 1M, Cinebench R15
10. Overclocking and Conclusion
