Overview of the memory kit Patriot Viper 4 PV416G360C7K 3600 MHz and 16 GB / Overclockers.ua

The American Patriot brand has long been known in the domestic market thanks to memory modules that combine good consumer characteristics with an affordable price. Founded in California back in 1985, PDP System started out as a regular OEM RAM assembler for the major PC manufacturers of the day. In the early 2000s, she had already entered the retail market and, after her name had become firmly associated with the brand of her products, she rebranded. Now, in addition to memory modules, Patriot Memory has “flash drives”, SD cards, all kinds of solid state drives, gaming peripherals and various accessories.

Patriot memory for demanding users and enthusiasts, like gaming peripherals, belongs to the Viper Gaming series, which includes several other lines. These are the Viper Elite with a maximum frequency of 2800 MHz kits, Viper Steel, which boasts 4400 MHz solutions, and Viper RGB with a maximum frequency of 4133 MHz and, you guessed it, RGB lighting. There is another one – Viper 4, which we will just get acquainted with on the example of the Patriot PV416G360C7K kit.

Patriot Viper 4 PV416G360C7K

The Viper 4 series was introduced with the release of the Intel LGA2011-3 platform and motherboards based on the X99 chipset. Initially, the kits were quad-channel and were supplied with four brackets in one package, but with the advent of more affordable platforms with DDR4 support, such kits became dual-channel, which is quite logical, because for HEDT systems it is enough to buy a couple of such “instances”. At the moment, the maximum memory frequency in the series reaches 3733 MHz.

The Viper 4 kit comes in a small red box that has a cutout for getting to know the product you are purchasing. Despite the fact that platforms based on the X99 and 100 series chipsets have long gone into oblivion, their mention is still on the packaging.

To protect the memory sticks during transportation, they are additionally placed in a plastic blister. In the package, the user will find stickers with the Viper series logo in the form of a red snake head.

The modules are made on black textolite and are covered with aluminum radiators of the same color with red combs with additional ribs diverging to the sides in the upper part.

On each side, along the radiator, there is a decorative sticker with the name of the series and, in theory, it was supposed to make the appearance of the modules brighter along with the combs, but everything looks a little dull in the end.

Each half is attached to the memory chips through a thermal Velcro (and an additional gasket, where there are no microcircuits), and the same red comb is used to stiffen the structure.

It is fastened with two screws from the edges of the bar, and if it does not play a special role in increasing the heat dissipation area due to poor contact, then it is simply necessary for rigidity.

The fact is that over the past five years, the design of printed circuit boards for DDR4 memory has changed a bit, the microcircuits have shifted down, closer to the contacts. But the shape of the heatsink has remained the same during this time, and now, due to the S-shaped profile at the bottom, the aluminum plates are in contact with only half the area of ​​the memory chips.

If you pick up a module without a comb, then the halves of the radiator begin to “play” back and forth, moving away from the printed circuit board in the upper part. In addition, the issue of cooling chips arises, but the manufacturer assured that this will not affect the durability of the memory. Considering that some solutions of competitors have no contact at all in half of the microcircuits, this is readily believed.

After removing the heatsinks, you can find eight Samsung chips marked K4A8G085WB-BCPB soldered on one side of the PCB. Although they are designed for a frequency of 2133 MHz with timings of 15-15-15, their potential, as we know, is quite good.

Each module has a sticker with the kit model, volume, effective frequency, CAS Latency and operating voltage. No other delays are specified.

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 switch to operating mode, you will have to manually activate the XMP profile in the motherboard firmware or configure all parameters manually, then the memory will work at 3600 MHz with delays of 17-18-18-36-2T and a voltage of 1.35 V. Interestingly, delays of the form 17-19-19-39 are indicated on the manufacturer’s website for this kit.

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);
• 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 passes, 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.

Test results

Although users are used to the fact that modern hardware has phenomenal potential, overclocking, whatever one may say, was, remains and even will be a banal lottery. So in our case with the Patriot Viper 4 PV416G360C7K kit – the maximum that was achieved was 3733 MHz with timings of 17-18-18-39 with Command Rate 2 and a voltage of 1.35 V. And this despite the Samsung K4A8G085WB- BCPB, which in recent testing worked quietly at 4300-4400 MHz. For the nominal frequency of the memory in question, we managed to reduce CR to unity at the operating voltage, or with an increase, but with the possibility of setting CAS Latency at 16. An even more aggressive CL required already 1.49 V, but the Command Rate had to be returned to 2. Processor change or motherboard did not affect the results in any way.

conclusions

Patriot memory, designed for gamers and enthusiasts, is one of the most affordable on the domestic market, which, in addition to high frequencies, also offers minimal delays, while similar solutions from competitors are already a little more expensive. The reviewed Viper 4 PV416G360C7K set has a modest design by today’s standards and will be a good choice for users who are far from serious overclocking, but who want to get a fast gaming PC with minimal intervention in the system. Those who like to experiment with settings will be able to speed up their computer a little more by lowering latencies and even slightly overclocking. It is quite possible that someone will be more lucky, and they will be able to reach the coveted 4000 MHz, but our kit turned out to be incapable of this. If you want to guarantee high frequencies during overclocking, you can try your luck with the Viper Steel series, in which top kits operate at frequencies up to 4400 MHz.