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Benchmark Results And Final Analysis
Photos are the best way to get the attention of a casual observer, but experienced builders will want to jump straight to the data so we’ll lead with a table. We’ve selected a group of benchmarks that are somewhat sensitive to bandwidth, latency, or both. Large performance differences are typically limited to vastly different DRAM types, so we’ll look a little more closely at small differences. Note that the 1.35V used in this assessment is measured voltage and occurs at the motherboard’s 1.330V firmware setting.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Lowest Stable Timings at 1.35V (Max) on Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming G1 (BIOS F5i)
Row 0 - Cell 0
Patriot Viper Elite 16GB PVE416G320C6KGY
G.Skill Trident Z 32GB F4-3000C15D-32GTZ
Patriot Viper 4 16GB PV416G340C6K
G.Skill Trident Z 8GB F4-4000C19D-8GTZ
DDR4-3200
15-15-15-30 (1T)
15-15-15-30 (1T)
16-16-16-32 (1T)
15-15-15-30 (1T)
DDR4-2666
12-12-12-28 (1T)
13-13-13-28 (1T)
13-13-13-28 (1T)
13-13-13-28 (1T)
DDR4-2133
10-10-10-28 (1T)
11-11-11-28 (1T)
11-11-11-28 (1T)
10-11-11-28 (1T)
Patriot Viper Elite takes the lead in lowest stable timings, but only at lower-than-rated data rates. Its best timings match two of three dual-channel contenders at its rated DDR4-3200.
Viper Elite model PVE416G320C6KGY appears focused on enhanced overall timings, so we shouldn’t be surprised to find relatively modest overclocking potential. Overclockers who spend all day experimenting with secondary and tertiary timings will likely achieve better results.
At DDR4-3200 CAS 15 optimized values, Viper Elite surpasses the bandwidth of Patriot’s own DDR4-3400.
Better achievable timings set Viper Elite PVE416G320C6KGY slightly ahead of comparison parts in Sandra Latency.
Grid 2 is sensitive to memory performance, but those differences usually show up at far lower settings (for either the memory or the game). Unfortunately, those lower settings aren’t applicable to the memory’s target market.
Viper Elite falls slightly behind the competition in Battlefield 4, though differences this small can’t be distinguished in game play.
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3ds Max shows the low capacity G.Skill kit with the best completion time, though most serious users will want far more capacity. Viper Elite matches the other samples at data rates above DDR4-2133.
Viper Elite performance is also par in WinRAR.
Patriots Viper 4 DDR4-3400 was slightly cheaper than its Viper Elite DDR4-3200, so it leads the chart in a cost to performance comparison. This is mostly an entertainment chart however, since we’re looking at varying capacities.
When we compare the previous cost-to-performance score to each kit’s capacity, we see clear leadership for G.Skill’s lower-frequency 32GB kit. That means buyers who need 32GB will find better value by starting out with a pair of 16GB modules. Builders who believe that they’ll never need more than 16GB in a specific machine will still save money with the 16GB Viper Elite or Viper 4 sets.
I love how almost all reviews of this kit are single-Rank kits with the highly-overclockable Samsung K4A8G085WB chips and black, presumably 8 or 10 layer PCBs. I tried two retail kits and both were dual-rank with puke green JEDEC Samsung PCBs and K4A4G085WD ICs.
