Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 Engineering Prototype 48GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit Preview

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

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Those who followed our CES 2024 coverage may recall a couple of images of a set of DDR5 handed to us personally from Patriot while visiting their suite. As we were about to leave after our meeting, Shannon Robb pulled me aside and said wait here a moment. After discussing with Jonny "the DRAM wizard" Cheng, he got the OK to hand me a gift. While not in full retail packaging, we were handed a set of engineering prototype DDR5 to show what Patriot is capable of with some time and effort of extreme binning of their Hynix ICs.

The idea here is to show what is possible when a team puts their heads together and makes some of the most extreme memory available for DDR5 users. We have all seen 8200 MT/s kits, and while we have yet to test any of them, there are 8400 MT/s kits in the wild. However, as we have seen, little is typically left in the tank just because a kit states it is fast. In our experience, with normal circumstances and without a month of tuning, much of the DDR5 tops out at roughly 8400 MT/s while using XMP timings. However, with such a product as Patriot has handed over, we will take a slightly different approach and see what is possible when you eliminate all the boundaries that many consider safe for 24/7 use.

Of course, you will need a 1DPC motherboard and a top-tier 13th or 14th gen CPU from Intel to accomplish what we will show. That being said, this memory is not intended for everyday use. While it will run XMP 3.0 on these builds without much hassle, it is designed for guys like us who love to tinker, or in the case of one of the other three going to Charles "Fugger" Wirth, to set overclocking world records. Sadly, we do not have a binned CPU to go along with these highly binned ICs, but we are going to give it all we've got to see where we land and show off what is possible in DDR5 if the company is willing to spend a bit more time with a kit than what goes into typical retail binning.

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Even though this is not an option in retail channels, we went ahead and made a chart to show what we are dealing with in the most basic sense. In that regard, we have some Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 RGB memory, but it is an engineering sample with no effective part number applied. One major change to this kit compared to other Xtreme 5 RGB is that rather than a white diffuser at the top, Patriot is trying a red diffuser, close to what we saw with the PVX548G82C38K kit, but rather than solid red, they opted for something a bit more translucent.

This DDR5 is non-binary with 24GB per module, and the JEDEC profile has the RAM booting at 5600 MHz with 46-45-45-89 2T timings, using 1.10 VDIMM. While that is cool and all, we still get three XMP profiles programmed to this kit, the fastest of which is 8000 MHz with 38-48-48-84 2T timings, needing 1.45 VDIMM. The other two options give us 7800MHz with the same timings and voltage requirements, while the third is 7600 MHz at CAS36. In reality, this is a good jumping-off point to begin. Still, with the intended application being overclocking and potential world records, we are not too bothered with the default specifications.

Although these are prototypes, you will only find them in the wild in such instances or possibly on HWBot. Also, there is no price associated with them or a slated release date. As we have stated, the idea is to show off what is possible in the land of DDR5 when you do your due diligence, line all of your ducks in a row, and are fearless in pushing the boundaries of what most expect from their DDR5. To us, if this doesn't have you interested, you need to check for a pulse, as Patriot has done something amazing, and it is well worth the time to keep reading, even if to see where DDR5 could be going next before we see the introduction to the CKD chip.

Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 RGB DDR5 48GB (2 x 24GB) 8000MT/s RAM Kit

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
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	$371.02	$371.02	$355.73	$325.14	Buy
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Patriot Xtreme 5 RGB Engineering Prototype

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Using the Xtreme 5 black heat spreaders that we are used to, Patriot uses that PCB layout and puts RGB LEDs on them, along with some of the highest binned ICs they could get their hands on. We also get red tops, but since this set offers RGB illumination, they are not solid red plastic like in previous retail offerings.

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Confirmation of their engineering prototype status is seen on the product sticker on the reverse of each stick. The part number starts with PV for Patriot Viper but is followed with Xs. The serial number is made up, and even when it comes to the XMP information, we find many more Xs.

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From this angle, they still appear identical to the retail examples we have reviewed due to how the lighting hits the kit. Without RGB illumination, you still get that brilliant red on top with the high contrast of white logos and naming on the textured black Xtreme 5 heat spreaders.

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Looking at the diffusers from this angle, you can see that the red is not as intense as in retail examples; there is a jelly-like appearance to the red color behind the black Viper name at the left end of them. While the red diffusers will affect the RGB illumination, it is not as intensely red as expected.

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Even as we look under the heat spreader, things appear to be normal for Patriot. We got a black PCB with eight SK Hynix H5CGD8MGBD X021 ICs, but you cannot see the binning that went into making these kits. Along with the top-tier ICs, Patriot uses an unlocked Richtek PMIC with a 0P=AF model number on it.

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As we do, we ran Thaiphoon Burner to see what information is programmed to the SPD chip. These are binned at 8000 MHz CAS38 and are 5600 MHz speed grade. In the center, we see SK Hynix named, and even with the "?" in the part number, we already found them to be M-die.

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To get an idea of what we are starting with once XMP is applied, we use Mem TweakIt. Here, we can see the primary timings are what we described earlier, but we like the 639 tRFC and the 7801 tREFi that Patriot sets out of the gate. Meaning you are not getting crap performance out of the box just so that they could show high speed by any means necessary.

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As we said, the red diffusers affect the RGB illumination, but only slightly. We can still tell the difference between the violets, pinks, reds, and yellows as they cycle in their default mode. Remember that you can always use motherboard sync to set a solid color or change the pattern like all of the Patriot RGB kits.

Test System Details

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To obtain the Intel CPU-Z screenshots, you will see directly following this image; this is the system we used to do it, as well as to get the results seen in the following pages. Thanks to ASUS, Intel, be quiet!, MSI, EKWB, and Sabrent for supporting us with this venture. Detailed specifications of the system can be found below.

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We want to show what the Viper Xtreme 5 RGB Engineering Prototype RAM delivers via the XMP setting, but we have more in store for you later in this preview. Out of the box, you are greeted with 8000 MHz speed and 38-48-48-84 2T timings. Our APEX Encore sets the voltages to 1.45 VDD and VDDq, using 1.233V for SA and 1.385V for the memory controller.

For giggles, we will run them for our charts with XMP applied, again to show that you are still starting with an amazing set of DDR5, even though they have much more to give than what this profile delivers.

Chad's Intel DDR5 Dual-Channel Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Maximus Z790 APEX Encore - Buy from Amazon
• CPU: Intel Core i9 14900K - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: EK Nucleus AIO CR360 Lux D-RGB - Buy from Amazon
• Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 3090 Gaming Trio 24G - Buy from Amazon
• Storage: Sabrent Rocket 4 PLUS-G 4TB - Buy from Amazon
• Case: Custom Thermaltake Core P3 TG
• Power Supply: be quiet! DARK POWER PRO 12 1500W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Home - Buy from Amazon

Intel Performance

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AIDA 64 read performance is what we expected to see at 8000 MHz. Slightly better than the retail example but well within the margin of error at 121,790 MB/s.

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The write performance is also on par with what we expect with such an XMP profile. At 100,775, we are again on par with the retail Xtreme 5 RGB 8000 C38 kit.

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Our copy performance is more than we expected, as the difference from the retail set is 878 MB/s faster at 106,559 MB/s this time.

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Looking at latency, we landed the prototype set at 61.1, slightly better than what we got with the retail example, but again, just a little bit from the margin of error between the two kits.

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Super Pi likes the engineering prototype better than the retail example. Where the retail kit took four minutes and forty-two seconds to complete, the prototypes finished the test at four minutes and thirty-nine seconds.

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PCMark 10 seems to crap all over kits like this, but we found these prototype sticks to sail through with flying colors at 10067 points, while the retail kit only gets 10021.

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Using 7-Zip to compress files, we see that the retail example and the engineering prototype set scored identically in this test.

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Handbrake transcoding is another metric that appreciated the prototype kit over all else. We were 2.1 seconds faster than the Xtreme 5 8200 MHz kit and nearly four seconds faster than the Extreme 5 RGB 8000 MHz retail kit.

Seeing Extreme Binning in Action

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Before we get too far into the overclocking portion, we must explain the measures taken to do what we did. You will need active cooling to get to the level of overclock we will show. Otherwise, the ICs and PMIC may overheat, causing a false wall for the attempts.

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We didn't use just any fan, either. We chose this Pure Wings 2 fan from be quiet! due to its specifications. It runs at 2000 RPM and delivers 65.5 CFM with 2.23 mmH2O of pressure while not making our ears bleed.

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Taking it a step further, our buddy printed us a duct and feet for the fan so that we could prop this on the top of our GPU, ensuring that the airflow was contained while directed at the RAM.

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As you can see, we set up things where our cooling fan is just a few inches from the RAM. It will allow us to push the voltages until we either run out of headroom with the Xtreme 5 RGB or find our IMC limit, whichever comes first.

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We tried to lower the timings to see if anything had changed with getting highly binned ICs and found we could get further than with any other kit of its class. As seen in the CPU-Z screenshot, we got the initial timings down to 35-45-45-84-129 2T. Most others will stop at 36-47-47.

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Using Mem TweakIt, we can see the secondaries, where we pushed the tRFC down to 620 and left the tREFi at 7801, leaving this kit completely stable for all of our testing metrics.

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As an idea of the performance gains from doing this, we ran AIDA to see what it was all worth. Our read number is identical to the XMP score, write performance lost roughly 100 MB/s, and copy performance floundered, but the latency is better than XMP offers.

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This is where the real magic happens. We were able to reach 8800 MHz with little effort and tuning. We did need to open the timings to 40-52-52-131-183 2T, but it was all worth the effort. Voltage-wise, we are now pushing 1.67 VDD, 1.62 VDDq, 1.55V Tx, 1.32V SA, and 1.439V for the memory controller.

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In this shot from Mem TweakIt, you can see we did have to raise the tRFC to 740, while the tREFi is now at 32767 to get the kit to run any of our benchmarks. Of course, this is not Karhu or MemTest stable, but it is good enough for what we are trying to show in this preview. 9000 MHz would post, but would also instantly BSOD in Windows, as we were hitting the limits of our IMC SP 72 CPU. Looser timings or more voltage did not gain us any headway here.

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To give you an idea of what you get for the effort, we again ran AIDA64, and the results were impressive. The read performance is now 135,179, 13,389 MB/s more than XMP. Write performance jumped to 134,969, an amazing 34,194 MB/s better than XMP. Copy performance also gets a nice boost to 130,982 MB/s, which is 24,423 MB/s better than XMP, and we see 55.5ns latency, the best we have seen from any kit tested.

Final Thoughts

While an exercise in what can be found in great DDR5, Patriot definitely shows their abilities and commitment with these engineering prototype sticks. We only wish our IMC was more capable, as it is the limiting factor with the results. Guys like Fugger, who have CPUs with the IMC SP well over 100 and things like phase change cooling for the CPU, can do much more impressive things with such a product. However, we are still satisfied with what has transpired. With a lame IMC and voltages well within the limits of not killing anything for our testing, we couldn't be happier with what Patriot has accomplished here.

Anyone who reads our reviews knows that many of the 8000 and 8200 MHz examples we have tested will stop averaging around 8400 MHz, give or take. However, these Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 RGB with the fancy new diffusers exceeded our expectations. Keep in mind that these are RGB sticks, and that does draw power. Rumor has it that non-RGB kits clock better than those with RGB, which says something about the prowess of these ICs. Of course, any manufacturer could have taken the time to do something like this, but as far as we know, they aren't, which says a lot about where Patriot is headed in the land of DDR5.

Going the extra mile and providing one of the coolest birthday gifts we have ever been given, Patriot shows why we are always glowing in their reviews. This Xtreme 5 RGB Engineering Prototype DDR5 set allowed us to find our limits, where most others floundered well before we got close to that 8800 MHz number. We have no information as to when or if something like this will hit the market, and we expect not, as the number of ICs that can do this regularly is currently quite limited. Even so, it is yet another feather in the cap for Patriot, and why we continue to advise anyone looking for the best DDR5 on the market should look no further than Patriot. They know what they are doing, proving what we have been on about the entire time.