PDP Patriot Extreme Performance PC3-10666 Low Latency

PDP Patriot sent us its part number PDC34G1333LLK, were the LLK at the model number's end stands for low latency (dual-channel) kit. Offering the same CAS 7 timings as Kingston's high-end HyperX and OCZ's midrange Platinum Edition, these modules also provide something we didn't see in the other kits: 4 GB of capacity. While most brands offer 4.0 GB kits to customers, Patriot is on the only one to supply this capacity for an overclocking and under-latency competition.

That Patriot is confident enough to supply high-capacity modules for a speed race says a lot about its confidence in these parts, as tight timings and high speeds become more difficult to accomplish as capacities are increased. Like Kingston and OCZ, however, the company suggests that builders should enter BIOS and raise DIMM voltage from 1.50 to 1.70 volts before manually setting the rated DDR3-1333 speed for its 7-7-7-20 timings.

In fact, a DDR3-1333 SPD value isn't even found in Patriot's SPD table, but the 7-7-7-20 timings are found for operation at DDR3-1066 (533 MHz clock) using a system's default 1.50 volts. For builders who are comfortable in BIOS, the change is usually as simple as setting the speed and voltage using the detected 533 MHz timings.

A 457 MHz (DDR3-914) SPD value is also found, which allows FSB-800 processors to operate with DDR3-800 memory speed via automatic configuration prior to any manual BIOS changes.

Lacking any DDR3-SPD values, our sample kit defaulted to DDR3-1066 on both Gigabyte and Asus motherboards using FSB-1333 and FSB-1600 processors.