By: Jonathan Kwan
May 31, 2019
If anyone were to name the fiercest format war in the history of consumer electronics, little will stray from the infamous VHS versus Betamax showdown in the 1970s. Although Betamax was a technically superior format with better audio and video quality, consumers generally valued long recording time, cheaper machines, and wide compatibility instead, resulting in VHS dominance for over 40 years. Many decades later in 2006, we saw a parallel in the rise of the second major format war between HD DVD and Bluray. By all means, Bluray was the decisive winner, but this was a hollow victory for Sony. This is because, although history books say Bluray won the war by 2008, the real winner was really internet streaming. I think the moral to the story is winning one niche is one thing, but the real disruptor could be something completely different. Back in the days, if you were to buy an SSD, it would be a 2.5" unit that connects to your motherboard via SATA. But it seems SATA's tradition of doubling its bandwidth every new revision was quickly overcome as manufacturers began to look for something way faster than anything it currently has or projected to offer. What did we end up with? How about connecting your SSD directly to the PCI Express interface with a logical interface? With NVMe SSDs in the last few years, we have witnessed performance like never before. Today, Patriot has their latest in the game with the Viper VPN100 512GB. With Phison's latest E12 controller for up to 3300MB/s read, a whopping 800TBW endurance rating, and a cool looking heatsink on top, is this the SSD for the enthusiast? Read on to find out!
Our review unit of the Patriot Viper VPN100 512GB arrived from Fremont, California, USA, where Patriot's offices are located. The SSD was packaged inside a small, brown corrugated box, and made the trip up north to us here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada using UPS Standard. To ensure everything arrived in perfect condition, extra bubble pockets were placed inside to absorb any bumps and drops during transit. Nothing appears to have been abused during its trip, and this was confirmed after we cracked open the box. With that in mind, let us take a look at the content inside.
I have always found Patriot's retail packaging to be interesting, and the latest Viper SSD is no exception. A lot has changed since we reviewed the Patriot Hellfire M.2 240GB. As you can see in our photo above, the Patriot Viper VPN100's comes in a box. I am a big fan of products that come in an actual retail box and not a blister pack. The black and red background is sharp, and a photo of the SSD is shown proudly in the foreground to show off the heatsink, while the Viper logo is located at the top. Below the photo of the SSD, you will find its maximum read and write rating, but it is only for the top capacity version and not the 512GB variant we are reviewing today, which can be a bit deceiving in my opinion. Feature highlights and specifications can be found on the other side. Inside the box is a clear plastic clamshell package to hold the solid state drive in place.
Before we move on, let us take a look at the features and specifications of the Patriot Viper VPN100 512GB, as obtained from the manufacturer's website:
• Phison E12 Controller
• 2280 M.2 PCIe Gen3 x 4, NVMe 1.3
• DRAM Cache: 512MB
• External Thermal sensor
• Heatshield design
• Extreme high performance
• Operating Temperature - 0° ~ 70°C
• TBW: 800TB
• 4K Aligned Random Read: up to 700K IOPs
• 4K Aligned Random Write: up to 480K IOPs
• Sequential Read (ATTO): up to 3,300MB/s
• Sequential Write (ATTO): up to 2,200MB/s
• Sequential Read (CDM): up to 3,300MB/s
• Sequential Write (CDM): up to 2,200MB/s
• O/S Supported: Windows 7/8.0/8.1/10
Other than the SSD itself, you will find nothing else included from the factory. Clipped on the clear plastic tray is the Patriot Viper VPN100 512GB. Although this is a performance product, SSDs are a mainstream commodity in 2019, and this is evidence to the state of things. For what it is worth, I do not know what else you can expect, haha.
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
4. Benchmark: ATTO Disk Benchmark
5. Benchmark: Crystal Disk Mark 6.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tach 3.0.1.0
7. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 5.70
8. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 9.0
9. Benchmark: PCMark 7
10. Benchmark: PCMark 8
11. Conclusion
