Overview of the Patriot Viper RGB PVR416G320C6K 3200MHz 16GB Memory Kit. Viper in the rays of light music

Earlier, we already got acquainted with the memory of the Patriot Viper 4 series, which is currently one of the most affordable on the domestic market. Today we will consider the solution of another line, namely Viper RGB. According to the last abbreviation, it is clear that we have a product with a multi-colored backlight that is now fashionable, which is already found everywhere. In addition to the aesthetic component, it also has a positive effect on overclocking, allowing you to reach over 4000 MHz during overclocking! In any case, this is exactly what happens with products equipped with RGB backlighting that came to us for testing. Naturally, this is a banal coincidence, the presence of LEDs does not have a positive effect on the potential of memory, but the trend is very interesting, capable of generating more than one myth. But let’s drop all these fantasies and try it in practice, is it true!

Patriot Viper RGB PVR416G320C6K

The 16 GB kit comes in a rather large box that shows the product to be purchased, the Viper logo, brief memory specifications, and supported backlight sync technologies from major motherboard players.

For better protection during transportation, the modules are placed in a transparent plastic blister.

The kit includes a cardboard insert with instructions for installing memory in a PC and proprietary software for backlight synchronization. There is also a sticker with the Viper logo.

Externally, the modules differ from the previously reviewed Viper 4 and are somewhat reminiscent of Viper Steel. The heatsinks are made of relatively thick, shaped-stamped aluminium, coated in a rough black paint, and centered on a glossy silver-colored snake logo. The eyes of the latter are illuminated by a light guide, which comes out with a large die on top and rises slightly at the edges. On the main part of the light guide there is the inscription Viper, made in black paint.

On top of the radiators there are a pair of hooks on each side, which allow you to slightly increase the rigidity of the structure and limit the movement of the light guide.

The heatsink halves are attached to the chips with a very wide “thermal sticky tape” that covers only 50% of the area of ​​the chips, while some of them even have no contact. There is a porous gasket on the reverse side of the PCB. The light guide is additionally glued with double-sided tape on the sides.

The volume of each bar is filled with eight Patriot PM1G8D4BU-075 chips, which are most likely relabeled SK Hynix CJR or even DJR. The Holtek F52231 controller is responsible for backlight control.

The backlight synchronization is very stable, although it does have occasional breakdowns. The backlight itself is implemented in an interesting way: the central part always glows, shimmering in different colors, while the LEDs on the sides periodically go out.

From the manufacturer’s website, you can download the Viper RGB APP proprietary software, with which you can configure the backlight by selecting one of seven effect profiles. You can disable it altogether or even customize the color of each LED to your liking.

There is a sticker on each module, which indicates: the name of the kit, volume, frequency, CAS Latency and operating voltage. They also did not forget to mention the presence of backlighting.

The kit is designed for a frequency of 3200 MHz with delays of 16-18-18-36 and a voltage of 1.35 V, which is quite a common characteristic of a modern average DDR4 memory.

When the system starts, by default, the memory will operate at a frequency of 2133 MHz with timings of 15-15-15-36-1T and a voltage of 1.2 V. To set the nominal parameters, you will have to activate the XMP profile in the UEFI of the motherboard, or set all the settings yourself.

The dump is attached.

Test configuration

The memory was overclocked on a system with the following configuration:

• processor: Intel Core i5-8600K (4.3 GHz);
• motherboard: ASUS Maximus X Apex (Intel Z370, UEFI 2203);
• video card: GeForce GTX 1080;
• Cooler: Prolimatech Megahalems;
• storage: Kingston SSDNow UV400 480GB (480GB, SATA 6Gb/s);
• power supply: Seasonic X-650 (650 W).

Testing was carried out in the Windows 10 x64 environment. To check the stability of the overclocking of the modules, the LinX 0.7.3 program was used for 15 minutes, the amount of memory in which was set at 6144 MB. The computational cores of the processor worked at a frequency of 4000 MHz, the cache – 4000 MHz. The SA and IO voltages were set at 1.25 and 1.225 V, respectively.

Considering the AMD platform gaining popularity every day, we decided to add to our testing and overclocking the memory on a system that looked like this:

• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X (4.4 GHz);
• motherboard: Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi (UEFI F50);
• video card: GeForce GTX 1080;
• cooler: NZXT Kraken X62;
• storage: Corsair MP600 NVMe Gen4 M.2 2TB (2TB, PCI-E 3.0);
• power supply: Chieftronic PowerPlay GPU-650FC (650 W).

Testing was carried out in the Windows 10 x64 environment. To check the stability of overclocking modules, the LinX 0.7.0 AMD Edition program was used for 15 minutes, the amount of memory in which was set at 6144 MB. The processing cores of the processor worked at the default frequency, the voltage on the SoC was set at 1.1 V. At all frequencies, the memory worked with a Command Rate of 1. At a frequency of 3800 MHz, some parameters were adjusted downward.

Test results

So, at native timings, but with a voltage increase, the memory worked at a frequency of 3333 MHz, and an increase in some delays raised this bar to 3500 MHz, while the voltage could even be returned to the nominal value. A further increase in timings had a positive effect on the frequency potential and we managed to reach 4200 MHz without any problems, which is a very good result for SK Hynix chips. Increasing the supply voltage to 1.45 V gave an increase of another 100 MHz. If you try to speed up the memory at the nominal frequency, you can achieve relatively good performance, but if you raise the voltage to 1.49 V.

Now let’s take a look at the AMD platform.

The CL14 mode with timings of 14-17-18-18-28 at a relatively low voltage, namely 1.39 V, was available up to 3333 MHz, raising some delays and voltage to 1.47 V already made it possible to pass the test at a frequency of 3400 MHz. In the future, I had to weaken the CAS Latency, which made it possible to reach 3666 MHz with timings of 16-19-19-19-32 and a voltage of 1.38 V. Peak 3800 MHz, allowing the Infinity Fabric bus and memory controller to function at the RAM frequency without problems, became possible with delays of 16-21-21-20-40 and a voltage of 1.42 V. With 1usmus, we even corrected the secondary and tertiary timings for this mode .

conclusions

The reviewed Patriot Viper RGB PVR416G320C6K memory kit has an industrial look that will appeal to fans of brutal design who do not shy away from modern fashion trends in the form of RGB lighting. The potential of the modules is at a good level – 4300 MHz, which is already higher than that of available solutions, but still falls short of more expensive products due to large timings. It is unlikely that the Viper RGB will encroach on the laurels of high-level kits, it is rather intended for the average user who wants to slightly overclock and speed up the system. And here the kit has many competitors equipped with backlight from more famous manufacturers that are in the same price range. On the other hand, it is not certain that those solutions will be able to demonstrate similar capabilities in the overclocking process, since the latter is akin to a lottery. In any case, the PVR416G320C6K memory is a good choice and its purchase will already depend on the user’s personal preferences.