Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 DDR5-8200 48GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit Review

TweakTown's Rating: 100%

The Bottom Line

Another set of DDR5 from Patriot that leaves us no choice other than Editor's Choice. With a limited investment, and the right components, you will see the best performance out there under one of the slickest looking sets of DDR5 in the game.

Pros

• + Top-tier performance
• + Overclockability
• + Lower cost
• + Outstanding visual appeal

Cons

• - Not everyone can run XMP
• - Need a 1DCP motherboard

Should you buy it?

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Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

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While we may not have addressed this as much in previous reviews, we are getting some DDR5 that goes beyond what the average user might be capable of using, at least as intended. Most custom PC builders tend to opt for mainstream motherboards, and the problem there is that many feel that four slots on a motherboard equals better, as you could always add another pair of sticks for more density. While that is true to a certain extent, two issues arise. The topology of the motherboard is not designed to take DDR5 to the extreme levels of what we are seeing. With the newer non-binary movement in RAM, you can get plenty of density for gaming and productivity with just two sticks. While there are only a select few motherboards currently available, like the APEX, APEX Encore, Tachyon, and an ASRock B760i Lightning we saw at CES, there are options, although all but one of them will come with a hefty price tag.

You will also need a seriously good 13th or 14th gen CPU from Intel to make it happen; beyond that, you will need an above-average example. We see many users out there with the right motherboards, but with many CPUs, you have to get extremely lucky to get anything beyond, say, 7600 MHz stable. There is a lot of chatter about SP numbers with these CPUs, and while it may have some merit, the CPU we use to test all of our DDR5 has an IMC SP of 75, which many would consider a junk chip. With some know-how and advice from friends, you can overcome the barriers many say are a line in the sand you cannot cross, but our experience has taught us not to trust everything you read.

As long as you have all of your ducks in a row and want to run benchmarks more than playing games, Patriot has something you will want to see. While not the fastest kit available on the market, you will soon see a set of DDR5 that boasts impressive speed, but for those who can run them, you will also get some of the best-performing sticks money can buy. On top of being some of the best in the game, they are also some of the most affordable options in their class. If we still have your attention, please continue, as what you will find in this set of Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 is chart-topping and a ton of fun to play around with.

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One version of the fastest DDR5 that Patriot makes is the PVX548G82C38K we have in hand for this review. As the product number alludes, these are Patriot Viper Xtreme RAM without RGB, hence the lack of an R after the PVX. It is DDr5, of course, and this kit is 48GB in density, with the speed set to 8200 MHz and CAS38 for the primary timing applied via the XMP 3.0 profile. The K at the end designates that they are black, but this time, we get solid red tops on the sticks.

Looking at the rest of the chart, we mention the black, which covers the entirety of the textured aluminum heat spreaders, and the red goes on top, but for added contrast, all of the logo and printing is done in white. Each stick in this set is 24GB in density to get us to the 48GB we mentioned above, and unlike many others, the JEDEC speed is set to 5600 MHz with 46-45-45-89 2T timings but still requires only 1.10VDD to function. The XMP 3.0 profile will deliver 8200 MHz of speed to your system with the timings set to 38-48-48-84 2T, but you will need 1.45VDD to make that happen this time. Dimensionally, these Xtreme 5 sticks are 135.8mm long, 47.4mm tall, and 6.8mm thick, weighing 47.3 grams each. As always, all Patriot Viper RAM comes with a limited lifetime warranty.

Today's availability is virtually non-existent, as Patriot has smaller batch runs of their top-tier DDR5. When it was released, we saw it at our normal haunts, but the only listing we found was at B&H, and while listed, it shows as out of stock. Nonetheless, we asked Patriot about the cost of such a beastly product, and they reported back with a shocking $239.99. Compared to others in this class, TEAM and G.Skill require $299.99 for theirs, and the Narvic Black we just saw is $309. We suggest that you wait; from what we already know, if performance is more important than speed to brag about, you will want this Patriot option over the others.

Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 RGB DDR5 RAM 32GB (2X16GB) 8000MT/s

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$229.99	$229.99	$229.99	$229.99	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 4/26/2024 at 10:47 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Packaging and Patriot Xtreme 5

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Opting for a black backdrop, Patriot Viper has a pair of the Xtreme 5 with bright red tops in the center of the packaging, with whisps of smoke around them, as they are smoking hot at 8200 MT/s. Unlike the last set of Patriot RAM we reviewed, we are back to non-binary with the 48 GB of density shown on the sticker.

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Around back, we were told that these are DDR5 performance U-DIMM that are XMP 3.0 ready and backed with a limited lifetime warranty. Next to the windows, allowing us a peek at the RAM inside, we see the sticker showing the PVX548G82C38K part number, a code to take you to their site, and their social media tags.

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Patriot ships these Viper Xtreeme 5 in a form-fitted plastic clamshell to protect the paint and plastic tops and is used as an anti-static measure. In this instance, we found our kit in perfect condition, and for those who enjoy stickers, there is one floating freely inside the box.

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No matter how often we see this black, red, and white combination, we cannot get enough of it. Being so different from the masses with this aesthetic means they are easily distinguishable. If you pay attention to social media and overclocking influencers, most of them use this specific kit to attempt world records.

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The reverse of the sticks is identical to what we saw on the front, but Patriot adds a sticker in the lower-right corner. On it, we see the part number, serial number, type, density, speed, CAS latency, power requirements, and that they are made in Taiwan.

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How can you not like the Viper Xtreme 5? As many will see in any build, the textured black aluminum spreaders work well with two body lines, and the top is cut at angles. The white paint pops for the logo and the name, while the shiny red tops are shaped to match the spreaders and have little wings at either end for added flair.

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Even if you use a DIMM.2 card and cannot see the other side due to a large head unit or air cooler, the Viper name is still visible. This time, painted in black on the red tops, Patriot ensures everyone knows what is at the heart of your system.

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Since Patriot opts to screw the spreaders together, we can remove a pair of them and were able to remove the heat spreader. Under the aluminum, we find thick thermal tape for the ICs and a light blue thermal pad for the PMIC. Speaking of the PMIC, we find a Richtek 0P=AF unlocked chip for voltage control. The ICs are SK Hynix H5CGD8MGBD X021, M-die chips.

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Looking at Thiphoon burner, we can see much of what we just covered is true. On the left, we can see that speed grade at 5600 MHz, as JEDEC confirmed. The center column tells us they are Hynix M-die chips and are XMP 3.0 compatible. On the right, we are not told who makes the SPD hub, but the model is there, and we also see that temp sensors are not installed.

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Mem TweakIt shows us how well Patriot tuned their Viper Xtreme 5 8200 kit. The primary timings are tight enough, and the tRAS at 84 is tighter than we saw on their 7000 Elite 5 RGB. The tRFC at 657 is quite tight, and with 7996 set for the tREFi, you can tell Patriot isn't just slapping these together and boxing them. Some fine-tuning went into delivering top-end performance at this speed.

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Against a sea of black and dark gray, the Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 stands out and is the main attraction in our build. Again, we cannot get enough of this style, as it is bold and contrasting and takes us back to many older ASUS motherboard color combinations that were slick in their day, just like this memory is today.

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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With the components we used for testing DDR5, we had no issues running the XMP 3.0 profile without any extra adjustments. After getting to the desktop, we opened CPU-Z and found the Viper Xtreme 5 running at 8200 MHz with 38-48-48-84 2T timings. Using 1.45 VDD, we checked the SA, which is set to 1.233V, and saw that the IMC voltage is set to 1.385V.

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With a slight bump to the VDD and VDDq to 1.55V, leaving the SA and IMC voltages where they were, we lowered the timings until we ran into instability. The lowest we got with full stability was running the Viper Xtreme 5 at 8200 MHz with 36-47-47-84 2T timings.

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Sticking with the same voltage parameters, we topped our quest for more speed at 8400 MHz using the XMP timing set. If you push the voltages further and open up the tRFC and tREFi, you can easily get into the 8600 to 8800 MHz range, but you will need more than 1.6 VDD to get there.

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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Not only does the Viper Xtreme 5 take top honors in read perforce of AIDA64, but it is also well above what TEAM and their Narvic Black kit did. With 124,246 MB/s throughput right out of the box, many will never need more from this RAM. We did lose a little ground with tighter timings but got another 2150 MB/s out of them with just 200 MHz added on.

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The advantage over the Narvic Black widens as Patriot delivers 102,639 MB/s from XMP 3.0 in write performance. This time, we lost some ground with the added speed, but reduced timings awarded us another 1624 MB/s for a few moments worth of work.

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The copy performance is just as chart-topping as the others. We start with 108,562 MB/s out of the box, and tinkering only makes it better. While we gained just 129 MB/s with additional speed, tightening the timings got us 366 MB/s more.

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Latency is also the best we have seen so far. Breaking below the 60ns barrier, the XMP profile offers 59.8ns latency. Adding speed added a touch of latency, but using them with 36-47-47-84 2T timings lands the Viper Xtreme 5 at 59.4ns.

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It isn't hard to see that Super Pi likes the way Patriot designed this kit. Not only do Patriot top their 7600 C36 numbers, but they do so with a three-second advantage out of the box. Speed did not seem to be liked as well, but it is still close to the XMP result. With some tinkering with the timings, we got the lowest time to complete this test ever.

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We have addressed that PCMark 10 is about the efficiency of everything that goes into making DDR5. Even though the XMP result at 9992 is a tad low for what we expected, when we overclocked the kit, it sprang to life and made its way very near the top of the chart, only surpassed by their Xtreme 5 7600 C36 kit.

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Back to the usual chart placement, when compressing files with 7-zip, nothing we have tested is better. Nearly three seconds faster than the next kit in line is a great start for the Xtreme 5 8200s. We lowered that by more than a second with additional speed, but at CAS 36, we are nearly three seconds faster than what XMP delivered.

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Transcoding files is a bit tougher than compressing them, and even with the extra workload, the Viper Xtreme 5 8200s handle their business. Using XMP is a great start; it is nearly two seconds faster than the Xtreme 5 RGB 8000 kit. Lowering the timings is roughly identical in time to complete this test, but with added speed, we gained two and a half seconds back from what XMP offers.

Final Thoughts

We could go on and on about the styling and aesthetic choices that Patriot made with this set of Viper Xtreme 5, but by now, you all know how we feel about that. Instead, let's dive into the meat and potatoes of what makes this set of DDR5 one of the ultimate options in current offerings. Beyond looks, you get some of the best ICs on the planet, and we do not just mean that they are M-die. To accomplish this level, with stability, it takes hours of binning them to get kits like this out in the wild. On that note, you also get things like a 5600 MHz JEDEC profile, three XMP 3.0 options, and some of the tightest secondary timings in the game. It takes a lot of know-how and patience to deliver top-tier performance.

In all but one metric, Patriot and their Viper Xtreme 5 8200s show that nobody else is close to accomplishing what they can do. While we go on about this in every Patriot review, there is no substitute for chart-topping results, which seems to be ongoing with all of the Patriot kits we test. If they don't top the charts, they tend to lead their class at least, and not just by margin of error. Tangible benefits are what we are talking about here, and when it comes to buying something faster than JEDEC speeds, the whole reason is for performance, and Patriot delivered that in spades.

Keep in mind that there are parameters that must be met to use such a kit, but if you are willing to hunt out the best of what DDR5 can do, you may as well not cheap out on the CPU or motherboard either. With the right components, you can do what we have, and likely more if you are willing to push the voltages. Kits like this are not intended to be used daily at excessive voltages, but for suicide runs in benchmarks, as long as you keep them actively cooled, your IMC and RAM clocking skills are your only limits.

The cherry on top of this amazing sundae is that you will not have to dig deeply into your savings to get a set. While availability is poor as we write this, it is well worth the wait for them to get back in stock. With other kits just below or over the $300 mark in this class, it is hard not to see the value of the Viper Xtreme 5 8200 C38 kit we have in this review when they can be had for just $239.99. If you want the best of the best for your next overclocking session or have the parts lined up and want some of the snappiest, sexiest, and most affordable options in its class, by all means, get your hands on a set of PVX548G82C38K RAM and enjoy the ride.