Patriot Viper Elite 5 RGB DDR5-6000 96GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit Review

TweakTown's Rating: 96%

The Bottom Line

Cost may come into play, but our first 96GB kit to hit the lab is amazing. The Patriot Viper Elite 5 RGB delivers good XMP performance, and still has quite a few tricks up its sleeve for the overclockers.

Pros

• + Performance
• + Overclockability
• + White DDR5 is rare
• + Tightly tuned XMP 3.0 profile
• + Eliminates need for 4-stick solutions

Cons

• - Limited availability
• - Pricing is steep
• - Friends will be jealous

Should you buy it?

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Buy at Amazon

Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

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Non-binary DDR5 is all the rage, and we have covered many sets with various speeds. We feel we have a good handle on what the market offers, at least regarding the 48GB solutions. However, because we could, as we had two kits, we set a pair of 48GB kits in our HERO EVA system, more or less for giggles. While we do not need the density per se, we appreciate all four slots full of RGB goodness. Along with the pretty factor, we did notice random crashes and oddities, which were not present with other combinations. The reason is that even with lower speed options when you populate all four DIMM slots, you are stressing the system, sometimes more than it can handle.

Suppose you are into productivity, 3D rendering, and many other jobs requiring more system RAM, but you do not want the idiosyncrasies we ran into by adding more sticks. In that case, there is yet another option for those wanting density and stability. Today is the first from any manufacturer to send over a 96GB set of DDR5 in two sticks. This orientation and layout of DDR5 leave us with dual-sided sticks, but as far as the motherboard is concerned, it is easier to control dual-sided PCBs than to allot and keep track of four-stick setups.

However, if you happen to be like us, where XMP is never good enough, does Patriot have the ability to deliver this kind of density and still deliver what we have seen from everything else they have sent over the years? It may surprise you to see what we can do with this set of Patriot Viper Elite 5 RGB with its 96GB density. This is one review you will want to stick around for, as Patriot proves you don't have to compromise because 32GB, 48GB, or 64GB solutions are not enough for your needs.

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Breaking down the part number, the PVER5 stands for Patriot Viper Elite 5 RGB DDR5. The 96G refers to the density. The 60 represents the 6000 MT/s it's rated at. The C42 alludes to the CAS latency, where the KW stands for a kit and the white color. Beyond that, we know that this is DDR5 UDIMM memory, and they are built with white aluminum spreaders to match the milky white RGB diffuser. Unlike all of the other non-binary offerings we have seen till now, the Patriot Viper Elite 5 RGB here is 48GB per stick, for 96GB of density to take advantage of.

Out of the box, without any input from the customer, the Patriot Viper Elite 5 RGB will run at 4800MHz with 40-40-40-76 2T timings at 1.10V from the JEDEC profile set on this kit. If, after clearing CMOS, you go back into the BIOS and enable the XMP option, you get all of what Patriot intended to deliver from them. You will run them at 6000MHz with 42-42-42-80 2T timings using 1.35V. Just in case, if for some reason you have issues with this option, there is a second XMP solution. The second option has the RAM at 5600MHz 38-48-48-78 2T at 1.35V.

Dimensionally, you are getting sticks that are 133.69mm long, 41.1mm tall, and 7mm thick. When placed on a scale, each stick weighs in at 44.8 grams, but not all of the added weight is aluminum, as we do have to account for the extra eight ICs in that total. As with all Patriot Viper DDR5 products, you are backed with a limited lifetime warranty.

A couple of things are yet to consider when getting your hands on a set of Patriot Viper Elite 5 RGB with 96GB of density. First of all, there is availability. While we see them for sale at Amazon, Newegg seems to carry them only in 48GB, which also leads to a bit of math. The 48GB option is priced at $172.99, and if we wanted to fill all four slots, that comes to $345.99, but it also comes with some potential problems. The listing we found on Amazon has this DDR5 selling for $391.05, but you get none of the worries. However, that $45 cost increase delivers a large amount of density and stability and a huge amount of overclocking headroom that we never expected from a product such as this.

Patriot Viper Elite 5 RGB DDR5-6000 96GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$397.57	$397.57	$381.27	$429.53	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 4/26/2024 at 9:25 pm CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Packaging and Patriot Elite 5 RGB

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As all the Patriot Viper Gaming Elite 5 RGB come in, our 96GB DDR5 2 x 48GB PC5-48000, 6000 MT/s set is shipped in a white box with the RAM image front and center. There is also a notation for RGB, which can be seen illuminated on the sticks above.

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On the back, we are told that this is DDR5 performance UDIMM with XMP and EXPO support, with a limited lifetime warranty. Below, we see the part number on a sticker to the left of the windows, allowing a view of the sticks and the product stickers. We also see a product page code, social media handles, and all the support icons for RGB sync.

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As they should, our Elite 5 RGB is also packed inside plastic to eliminate static shock as a reason for failure. It is also form-fit to keep the RAM from moving around while in transit, and due to that, the finishes are also protected.

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There are not many kits that are in this high of a contrast. All that white, accented by the black PCB around the edges, the Viper logo, and the bar at the left that displays the Viper name, make this one of only a select few with this appeal.

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As you may have seen through the packaging, the back of both sticks is identical to what we saw on the front, but we also get the product sticker this time. On it, we get the part number, type, density, speed, latency, voltage, where they are made, and the serial number.

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No matter what system you have, as long as it supports DDR5, it will allow this RAM to stand out in as much contrast as the kit offers, assuming you have a black motherboard. Or, for some lucky few with white or white accented motherboards, the Viper Elite 5 RGB is a perfect choice.

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While some wild diffuser shapes are on the market, the Elite 5 RGB keeps things more subdued. The bulk of the spreader is flat and is where the Viper is painted on them. Nearer to us, there is a slight dip, and the rest of the diffuser is angled downward.

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As we do, we popped the spreader off the ICs and found a set of eight SK Hynix, H5CG08MGBD X021 chips, all powered by the unlocked 0P=AJ, Richtek PMIC. Marketing also states these sticks have ten RGB LEDS, and while we only see eight currently, we will get to the other two. On the back of the spreader, we see thermal tape for the ICs and a thermal pad for the PMIC.

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With double the density, the back of the PCB is also populated with another eight M-die chips. The thermal tape on this side tore a little easier than the other, but we can see the pair of RGB LEDS in the center, making ten total.

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Opening Thaiphoon Burner confirms what we have been saying thus far. Patriot programmed the SPD hub, showing these are 4800-speed grade and Hynix-based with a Richtek PMIC. The last column shows us that the SPD hub is not named, and we see no mention of thermal sensors, but they are in place.

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Mem TweakIt allows us to look at the timing set, and while we already knew the primaries, the secondary ones look good. With this much density, we assumed the tRFC and tREFi would be much higher, but it shows that Patriot is performance first, everything else second with what we see in this screenshot.

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Against the dark APEX with its mirrored surfaces catching the light and the bright white APEX seen next to the Elite 5RGB, we cannot complain about the appearance. We love the contrast, and it should stand out when you make something as good as what we are about to show. As to the illumination, we are still using the default mode, but the color blends are smooth, and there are no indications of hotspots.

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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To get what you should from the Elite 5 RGB, you should clear the CMOS before booting and then get to the BIOS to enable XMP or EXPO. Once done, restart the system, and you should see what we have in this image. Our Viper Elite 5 RGB is at the rated 6000 MHz speed, and we get the 42-42-42-82 2T timings using the 1.35VDIMM we were told they would. As to the SA and Mc voltages, they are at 0.833V and 1.243V, respectively.

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We got way more than we had ever expected when lowering the timings with this many ICs. What you see is not a joke. The only changes we made to do this were bumping the VDD, VDDq, and Tx to 1.45V and then using 1.12V for the SA and 1.35V for the MC, and what you see is what we got. Going from 42-42-42 to 28-36-36 while retaining stability took us by surprise. We did better with this 96GB kit than the 48GB kits we tested before these.

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Typically, we see 400 to 600 MHz as a decent overclock for M-die, but Patriot pulled another rabbit from the hat when we overclocked this 96GB kit of Elite 5 RGB. We are sitting at 7000MHz currently, but we had to enter the timings manually and forgo XMP as the starting point. We also had to increase the tRFC to 825, the tRFC Same Bank to 750, and anything less than 16383 for the tREFi caused us instability. We also needed 1.5V for the VDIMM, but all others stayed the same.

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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Things do not start great for Patriot, as the 93,623 MB/s XMP result is lower than Crucial and Kingston at the same speed. Timing affects outcomes, as we get another 615 MB/s, but with added speed, the Elite 5 RGB is darn close to the Elite 5 with tighter timings, some 12,873 MB/s more than what XMP delivered in read performance.

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Stepping past those in its class, the 86.494 entry of the XMP run supersedes their competition. We got a boost of 1355 MB/s using CAS28 at 6000 MHz, but we topped the chart with added speed. 22,077 is the boost gained at 7000MHz, which passes by the Patriot 8200 MHz XMP results when looking at write performance.

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Starting in the copy performance chart at 88,836 MB/s, the Elite 5 RGB is considerably faster with copy performance than their direct competition. With tighter timings, we gained 1801 MB/s over XMP, but just short of the top honor, we see the 7000 MHz run giving us 19,656 MB/s more with very little effort involved.

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Out of the box, at CAS42, and with thirty-two ICs in play, we did not expect great latency, and the 72.2 ns proved us correct. However, if you like to tinker, you can get those results to 64 to 65 ns, which is fairly good.

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Running Super Pi with the Elite 5 RGB did not fare well using the XMP setting, where it takes four minutes and forty-seven seconds to complete the run. We gained a little over five seconds with tighter timings, and with more speed, we are seven seconds faster than XMP posted.

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PCMark 10 leaves the Elite 5 RGB at 96GB, a bit under 10,000, whereas the Kingston and Crucial are over that mark. However, efficiency increases with some tinkering, as we make headway on Kingston with lowered timings, but took second place overall at 7000MHz.

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File compression via 7-Zip is promising. Passing Kingston and Crucial, the Elite 5 RGB score is closer to some much faster kits. Opting for CAS28, we reduced the completion time by nearly nine seconds, but an astounding nineteen seconds, and first place in this chart, by changing the speed.

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Handbrake has the Elite 5 RGB and the FURY Renegade almost dead even using their XMP setting. Tighter timings do not show much of an advantage with this metric, but we did gain five seconds per run at 7000 MHz.

Final Thoughts

As we have said before, when looking at any of the Elite 5 RGB from the Patriot Viper Gaming series of DDR5, we love the styling, and it is a tough call to find a set of RAM with this amount of contrast and understated appeal. Remember, we are only speaking of the sticks sitting there without power. Once you add power, and the RGB kicks in, not only does it illuminate the surrounding area, it is some of the best RGB in the game. There are only a few, Patriot, Corsair, and G.Skill, where we would say that soft color blends, proper intensity, and control are all done well, and you will not be dealing with chunky movement, hotspots, or lack of options.

While we are dealing with 6000MHz and 96GB of density, the series has much more to offer, both in the sizes offered and with higher speed. We can appreciate that many consider this the sweet spot for gaming or general use, and it is all of that. Swapping places in our charts with the Crucial Pro and the Kingston Fury Renegade, with Patriot winning more times than not, we have to give the edge to the Elite 5 RGB. We know neither of those kits, at only 32GB worth of density, has half the flexibility that Patriot delivered to us, just sitting there waiting to be used.

Whether you want to run your DDR5 at the lowest possible timings, where these Elite 5 RGB pass all other solutions with how low they can go and retain stability, no matter the voltages used. On the flip side, there is one (Sabrent Rocket comes to mind) and possibly two kits with similar headroom for an all-out speed run. With 1000MHz just sitting there, with minor changes made to make it happen, it leaves the likes of these Patriot Viper Elite 5 RGB in a special category. We saw 7200MHz in Windows and passed some of the tests, but it was not fully stable, so we turned it back a notch.

While this is not a set for the enthusiast overclockers looking for 9000, 10,000, and maybe 11,000MHz from your latest-gen Intel or AMD CPUs, that is where the Xtreme 5 comes into play. However, with this much density involved, a mainstream set of DDR5 able to do what Patriot has done alludes to their prowess with binning, tuning, and customer satisfaction. From what we got from the Elite 5 RGB we have here, we could not ask for more from a retail kit taken from stock.

Of course, you have their limited lifetime warranty to fall back on should a problem arise, but you still have to overcome the cost hurdle. At first, we were on the fence with the $391.05 price we found on Amazon. After seeing everything in play and considering all of the factors, we have to say, while a tougher pill to swallow, we get more from this 96GB kit than any other we have seen from the series. If that doesn't prove to you that there are still companies delivering performance, style, and the fun overclockers enjoyed from years past, we feel it may never sink in. The Patriot Viper Elite 5 RGB may be expensive for some, but there is no reason to look elsewhere for those who need this much density and still want the fun of less dense kits.