Patriot Viper 4 DDR4 3200MHz 16GB (2x8GB) Review

Final Thoughts

Price

The Patriot Viper 4 in this particular 16GB dual channel 3200MHz configuration can only be purchased from one online store in the USA. Also, when navigating to Patriot’s official page, it says the product is “not available online” and the section outlining official resellers needs updating. This also means, you cannot purchase the memory in European territories which is a crying shame. Nevertheless, I expect this to only be a temporary problem as stores begin to stock the modules in greater numbers.

In terms of value, the memory currently costs $115 plus any additional shipping charges. This is great value when you consider the G.Skill TridentZ 3200MHz dual channel kit has a retail price of $140. Clearly, it’s a personal choice if you feel the black PCB, and improved aesthetics is worth the extra money.

Overview

Patriot is one of the leading names in the memory industry and produces a whole host of products to suit budget users and extreme usage scenarios. The Viper 4 16GB dual channel 3200MHz kit manages to combine both, and provides great stock performance at a significantly cheaper price than the competition. Furthermore, the DIMMs utilize a sophisticated design which oozes build quality. Instead of opting for flashy LEDs, Patriot decided to adopt a subtle look which works across a wide range of gaming systems. While I’d love to see other colour schemes, it makes business sense to focus on the red and black theme to maximize sales.

Clearly, the main caveat is the memory’s green PCB. When analysing the modules up close, the PCB’s colour creates an outdated feel and could deter many customers from purchasing. However, once the memory is installed, you’re not really going to notice the green PCB. During CES 2016, I discussed the reasoning behind this decision and it seems Patriot had to use high-quality ICs which only came via the green finish.

The memory’s stock performance is magnificent and consistently matched the best dual channel alternatives on the market. This is especially the case during CPU benchmarks, as the numbers in both Cinebench and WPrime left me astounded. Despite the already high memory frequency, it wasn’t too difficult to push the DIMMs further and achieve a very fast overclock. Granted, towards the later sections, I had to loosen some of the timings and apply 1.45 volts but this is still within acceptable limits. If this was my personal rig, I’d probably scale the overclock back slightly and tighten the timings to achieve a better balance.

Once overclocked, the memory reported significant boosts and showcased the kind of improvements you can expect from a manual overclock. To be fair, this can only be witnessed in specialized benchmarks or certain software, but it’s worthy of praise. Overall, what matters most is performance per dollar/pound/euro and I cannot see many other memory kits matching the Viper 4’s exceptional value. Patriot just needs to make sure that consumers can easily purchase the memory from a wide array of stores worldwide.

Pros

• Attractive heat spreader design
• Great overclocking headroom
• Highest DDR4 overclock we’ve achieved so far
• Fantastic value
• Lifetime warranty
• Luxury packaging
• Superb stock performance

Cons

• Green PCB
• Only available in the US at the time of writing

“The Patriot Viper 4 3200MHz dual channel kit offers astounding performance at a very respectable price point. It’s also capable of reaching elite class overclocks while only requiring an incremental voltage change. The only real downside is the green PCB, but you’re not likely to notice it in a standard chassis environment.”

Patriot Viper 4 DDR4 3200MHz 16GB (2x8GB) Dual Channel Memory Kit Review

Thank you Patriot for providing us with this sample.