Patriot Intros DDR4 Kits With Two Modules, Ups Highest Frequency To 3400 MHz

By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

Patriot decided that it's about time to expand its options to include kits with just two modules, rather than sticking to kits with four or eight modules. It also upped it highest frequency to 3400 MHz, up from 3000 MHz.

Patriot's Viper 4 series of DDR4 memory kits have been on the market for quite some time now. They originally launched in January, and we even saw a 128 GB kit made with 16 GB DIMMs at Computex. Now, the manufacturer is unveiling two new frequencies: 3200 MHz and 3400 MHz. Up until now, the kits came in frequencies ranging from 2400 MHz through 3000 MHz.

This latest release doesn't only up the frequency range, it also introduces the Viper 4 Dual kits, which are comprised of two memory modules. Thus far, Patriot had only been shipping kits with as few as four modules, which is not quite ideal for smaller systems that have only two DDR4 memory slots, such as many Z170 Mini-ITX boards.

In the dual-kit range, Patriot's capacities will be either 8 GB with two 4 GB modules, or 16 GB with two 8 GB modules. Frequencies for the dual-DIMM kits range from 2400 MHz through 3400 MHz.

The timings for the 3400 MHz 8 GB Dual kit sit at 16-18-18-36, and the modules need 1.35 V to operate properly. The 3200 MHz kit's timings are a little friendlier, at 16-16-16-36, and they also need 1.35 V.

"This is our fastest Viper kit yet," said Les Henry, VP of Engineering at Patriot. "In order to hit these speeds, Patriot will prescreen each IC prior to building the modules to ensure stability. If you are looking for a top-of-the-line rig, then these kits are a must have."

The Viper 4 Dual kits will be available at major retailers by the end of this week, with prices ranging from $64.99 through $169.99, depending on the capacity and speed.

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Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • deksman
    The timings are atrocious.
    DDR4 with faster frequencies but much higher timings?
    I don't think this is worth it.
    Better to wait until the timings are improved.
    Reply
  • none12345
    Man we really need some new memory tech in the computing world.

    DDR came out 15 years ago, and from then till now, latency hasnt gotten any better. Sure burst bandwidth has improved, but that only helps certain workloads.

    Where is the 3200mhz cas 2 memory?
    Reply
  • Sakkura
    You two geniuses just don't understand how memory timings work. CL16 at 3400 is faster than CL8 at 1600; 9.4 nanoseconds vs. 10 nanoseconds. Getting CL2 at 3200 is ridiculous, that's 1.25 nanoseconds. That's the kind of latency you get from cache. The distance from the memory chips to the CPU in itself causes latency approximately on the order of a quarter to half a nanosecond.
    Reply
  • none12345
    Yes i understand how CAS works perfectly.

    Whats wrong with wishing that in 15 years they would improve latency? Sure bandwidth improvements help certain workloads(for instance GPUs need lots), and dont matter at all for others. And ya you can get cherry picked memory down to about 8ns or so against the 10 that DDR had back then. So, ya thats faster, but not really that much faster.

    I would realy like some faster memory... Whats wrong with wanting cas 2 ddr4 3200. Sure its completey impracticle with the DDR spec and silicon. But thats my point, we need a NEW memory technology that actually improves latency. Something that makes you go wow i want that....

    Which is what the computing industry has been lacking for awhile now. 5% improvements a year are boreing! I want the old days back where technology doubled in power every year or so.
    Reply
  • rothbardian
    HBM perhaps? The same technology AMD uses on the Fury line of video cards. The memory and the CPU on the same interposer on a very wide bus. You will need to buy the CPU and the memory together, as they will come in the same package.
    Reply
  • scogar
    Memory that uses light pipes directly into the CPU is still prohibitively expensive and a long way off (and even then people will be complaining about the latency of light speed), but Hey, Just look how far we've come from 8-bit atari's working at 400Khz with memory clocking in at 250Kbps... be patient, we will get there, but you have to give moores law the most important element, time.
    Reply