Patriot Viper 16GB 4000 MHz DDR4 Memory Review

How Much Does It Cost?

The Patriot Viper 16GB 4000 MHz DDR4 Memory is available now from Amazon in the UK here and US here. Prices are quite broad, as there’s a lot of variants of this memory. A single 4GB 2666 MHz stick is just £25.99, while you can get a 32GB single stick of 3600 MHz for £164.99 each. The one I have is the 8GB 4000 MHz, which are £59.99 each, so that’s basically £120 for the 16GB set. The price is competitive, not a bargain, but it’s OK. Plus, it’s actually in stock and to be honest, it’s rare this stuff is, so Patriot has a big advantage here.

Overview

It’s easily some of the best RAM I’ve tested, and it’s honestly as simple as that. RAM is purely a numbers game, capacity, latency, clock speeds. This memory has respectable timings that make it competitive, 16GB is plenty of capacity, but 4000 MHz right out of the box is very fast for DDR4. Of course, we’re hitting the end of DDR4 now, with DDR5 on the horizon, so it’s no surprise Patriot are good at getting great performance out of such compact modules; they’ve had a lot of practice at this point.

Design

The complete lack of RGB or anything overtly shiny will put off many, I’m sure, but that’s fine. RGB will put off many too. Different strokes for different folks and all that. However, I absolutely love the design here. The fact that it looks like a gun is either a coincidence or a cool design choice, albeit the fact they do not mention it on their product page is strange, as most brands love to wax lyrical about their design philosophies. The muted and rich red with the matte black paint looks awesome, though. It’s a more retro PC gaming look, if only ten years ago counted as retro.

Performance

It’s a 4000 MHz kit, of course the performance was great. I couldn’t get it to jam with an overclock, though, but keep in mind that in every sense of the word, 4000 MHz is an overclock. The fact I got it to post the first time is always pleasant though, even just a few years back, getting 4000 MHz+ to post would have been a complete pain in the arse. These days, it’s just plug and play.

The small heatsinks are clearly enough to manage this level of performance too. I can’t say I noticed the DIMMs being particularly hot either, so a big thumbs up for Patriot yet again.

Should I Buy Them?

Ultra-fast performance right out of the box, makes this one of the best kits I’ve ever tested. No RGB here, just old-school cool PC gamer styles instead. Plus, there’s a wide range of speeds and capacities available, and frankly, Patriot score even higher simply for having stock, when so many things I review are already out of stock these days.