Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 Aurum DDR5-8000 UDIMM 32GB Dual-Channel Memory Kit Review

TweakTown Rating: 99%

Our Verdict

These aren't your average 8000 MT/s kits. The Xtreme 5 Aurum is not just here for the looks and admiration, its hiding some beastly ICs ready for just about anything you want to throw at them.

Pros

• Slick new gold aesthetic
• Performance and OC headroom
• Hynix A-die
• XMP / EXPO
• Microfiber towel included

Cons

• Whitewashed ICs

Should you buy it?

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Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing

We have seen white with black trim, black with white trim, and even a matte silver in the Patriots MPOWER lineup, yet this time we have something altogether different in appearance. While visually different, we also get RAM kits that aren't the usual suspects. With a fair bit of binning and much love to the timing, Patriot offers us yet another 8000 MT/s DDR5 set for testing. However, what you will see is not just lipstick on a pig, as Patriot is still tinkering behind the scenes to ensure a slight uplift in this series compared to those tested in the past.

Latin was the language of choice as Patriot chose Aurum as the signifier for their newest gold-emblazoned heat spreaders. If the shape and name on the sticks aren't enough to differentiate Patriot kits from the rest of the market, their Aurum DDR5 sticks are covered in something slightly different from what we've seen from other manufacturers in the past. Rather than opting for the standard gold color, Patriot chose a color closer to the motherboard colorways currently on offer.

With the basics in mind, let us introduce you to some of the best-performing DDR5 at 8000 MT/s. We will divulge everything we know about this pre-release sample in our possession. Any of you who follow our social media accounts may have seen what we have and what is possible. Still, we can guarantee one thing: by the time you are finished reading this review, you will be hard-pressed to find another set of retail kits that deliver the way ours do with our Viper Xtreme 5 Aurum. Patriot packs them with A-die ICs and comes with plenty of overclocking fun, making an already fantastic kit even more awesome.

Obviously, a new model number comes into play with the new Xtreme 5 Aurum, and this time it's VXA532G8038K. Breaking that down, we get Viper Xtreme Aurum 5, 32GB, 8000 MT/s at CAS 38 with EXPO/XMP enabled. Along with some timing magic, the Aurum also comes with its aluminum heat spreaders covered with a shiny gold colored coating, two things never done by Patriot, until now.

Each stick is 16GB in density, making up the 32GB kit, and the IC of choice is SK Hynix A-die, taking us back to the earlier days of DDR5, when voltage ruled, and ICs had a ton of wiggle room. JEDEC is updated to current standards at 5600 MT/s, using 46-46-46-90 2T timings with 1.10 VDIMM. Patriot also programs all three XMP slots, giving us XMP1 at 8000 MT/s with 38-48-48-84 2T timings, needing 1.45 VDIMM. XMP2 is 7800 MT/s 38-48-48-48 2T using 1.45 VDIMM, and XMP3 offers 7600 MT/s with 36-48-48-84 2T timings, again requiring 1.45 VDIMM.

Compared to other Xtreme 5 we have measured, these are slightly bigger: the Aurum we have is 136mm long, 48mm tall, but only 6.8mm thick. At 47.3 grams, they are a tad heftier as well, but that could be down to the additional coating applied to the aluminum heat spreaders.

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Like all Patriot Viper kits, the Viper Xtreme 5 Aurum comes with a limited lifetime warranty to ease your mind if you run into issues along the way. The most significant part of the deal is still unknown at this time, but as information becomes available, our links and data will be updated. Given how touchy the subject is currently, we can compare it to other kits on the market to gauge a price point. All we see is the Trident Z5 Royal Neo in gold, which costs $500, and they do not offer as tight a timing set. Knowing Patriot, they will beat that price, but as screwed up as the current market is, if you want a fantastic set of DDR5, you are going to have to pay through the nose, no matter which set you choose.

Packaging and Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 Aurum UDIMM

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All Xtreme 5 come in matte black packaging, but with these sticks, the text at the bottom is gold to match the kit, while the logo and name stay traditional. At the top-right corner is the density and speed of the kit, with an Au/Gold icon at the bottom-right.

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Under the gold DDR5, we see that these are performance UDIMMs, and the sticker to the left shows the same part number we mentioned earlier. Along with the social media links and product page delivery code, we also get a view of those slick, shiny gold sticks inside.

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Inside the box is a plastic clamshell that locks the RAM into the tray, protecting the finish and preventing static from damaging it during transit to you. Patriot also includes a branded blue microfiber cloth to ensure a dust- and fingerprint-free look for your very special set of Patriot RAM.

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Finally unimpeded, we get one of the sexiest views in DDR5. Not only did Patriot coat the spreaders in their own choice of gold to better match a wider variety of motherboard colorways, but the diffusers also match, as we have no RGB to worry about. As expected, we get screws in the spreaders for access under the hood, but that shiny reflective surface is top-notch and will trade blows with what G.Skill is producing.

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While both sides sport the Viper logo and the Xtreme 5 paint treatments, the reverse offers the product sticker. On it, we get the model number, type, density, speed, CAS, and voltage, along with the serial numbers. Another thing to note: the gold does change color depending on the light, as it appears more copper with less light on the Aurum.

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Standing up, with a bit more light added, we can see how the Aurum from Patriot is almost done with a flip-flop paint job. By that, we mean that in the dark, we get a much redder orange, but with a bit of light on the subject, as seen at the far end, the gold is much more brilliant.

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The plastic differs across the top, which is screwed into the heat spreaders and receives the same Aurum treatment as the rest of the sticks, and the diffuser shape is typical of what Patriot delivers on its DDR5. Loads of chances for light play and reflections, with the bold white Viper painted at one end.

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To get this far, first you must remove the screws, and the diffuser lifts off the top of the assembly. After some heating, we gently pulled on the spreader to expose the layout underneath. We blanked the ICs because they were whitewashed, but they may not reflect what you see with yours. Otherwise, it's typical of what we usually get from Patriot, down to the thermal pad for the PMIC.

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Even though the chip says MPSG 5431, our EUFI defines it as an unlocked Richtek 5100-series PMIC. As for the SPD chip at the top-left, it is made by Montage and holds the JEDEC and XMP/EXPO files.

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One thing we love is reflective DIMMs, showing their natural color with a brilliant display of all the bits and bobs next to them as they reflect the motherboard. With the bold white paint, no matter what you see in that shiny surface of gold, the Viper logo and Xtreme 5 will always show.

38-48-48 has been done at 8000 MT/s, but while G.Skill is OK with a 124 tRAS, Patriot kicks that in the taint, dropping it to 84. At 639, the tRFC is tight as well, and we understand the need for 32767 tREFi to let things breathe a bit. The other timings are as tight as we have seen for this speed, and we eagerly await testing to see if performance increases again.

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 ASRock, our wallet, HYTE, Patriot, GIGABYTE, and be quiet! for supporting us with this venture. Detailed specifications of the system can be found below.

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The Xtreme 5 Aurum spun up as they should with the use of the first XMP option. CPU-Z shows they are at 8000 MT/s with 38-48-48-84 2T timings. Voltages for our setup were 1.45 VDIMM, 1.280 VCCIO, and 1.392 VCCSA.

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Being A-Die-based, the Aurum should have quite a bit of wiggle room, and here is proof of concept. 36-48-48 runs stably without voltage changes, but we were looking for more. Upping the VDIMM to 1.55V, we were able to run the Xtreme 5 Aurum at 8000 MT/s with 34-46-46-84 2T timings.

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Looking for extra speed, we hit a personal best, and it is the fastest we have ever gotten a review sample stable. We achieved 9000 MT/s, although we did need to open the timings to 42-52-52-84 2T, and shockingly, this is with 1.55 VDIMM, 1.280 VCCIO, and 1.392 VCCSA.

Chad's Intel DDR5 Dual-Channel Test System Specifications

Intel Performance

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Slightly faster read results than the Viper Ultra at 8000 MT/s, the Aurum slides in just behind the XPG ECO at 124,659 MMB/s. At CAS34, the difference is minimal, although better than XMP, but at 9000 MT/s, we saw 133,706 MB/s, some 9047 MB/s faster than XMP.

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AIDA's write performance is much better than the others'. Entering the game at 101,767, the Aurum is only bested by the Patriots' 8200 MT/s sample. Opting for tighter timings nets us a little less than 1000 MB/s boost, while at 9000 MT/s we only saw 1032 MB/s advantage over XMP.

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Copy performance out of the box is extremely good. With only the Corsair at 8400 MT/s, and 2 MB/s separating them, that says quite a bit. Starting at 109,611 is terrific on its own, but with the overclocking options, we get another 1053 MB/s using CAS34, and 6390 MB/s with all that extra speed.

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The Viper Xtreme 5 8200s and the XPG ECO are slightly faster in latency, but the difference between the three is only 4/10 of a nanosecond. We were able to get the Aurum to the top of the chart with overclocking, but it was still well into the high seventies.

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Super Pi did not react as we expected to the XMP profile, as its six-minute, nine-second run left it near the bottom. Tightening the timings shows us what not to do for this test, but at 9000 MT/s, they do sneak by the Viper Xtreme 5 8200 kit.

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As results show, PC Mark 10 gives you an idea of how efficient the kit is across various workloads. The Xtreme 5 Aurum starts strong in fourth overall, but any way we tinkered with the kit landed us much further down this chart, as expected from this metric.

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If file compression is your thing, the X5 Aurum is the best in its class, four seconds faster than XPG. Adding all the speed we could, we gained another 4.5 seconds, but when we tightened things down, we saw a 5.5-second advantage over XMP.

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Using Handbrake, the X5 Aurum is in its expected range for XMP, with half a second separating it from the XPG kit. Tighter timings didn't help the cause here, but man, that added speed delivered one of the fastest times we've ever recorded to complete this test.

Final Thoughts

Starting with the obvious, and while a bold move to take, we applaud Patriot and their team for looking outside the box and having the guts to try new things. While keeping the design of the Xtreme 5 series, that shiny gold coating puts this kit in a league of maybe three or four other sets that we have had the pleasure of testing. They broke the mold with the MPOWER, which likely led to this, but damn, these Aurum sticks are a step above anything Patriot has offered in the past and not just based on aesthetic appeal. We didn't even miss the lack of RGB, as the rest of the system's lighting did wonders on all those shiny, angled surfaces.

Performance, on average, was what we expect for the class it resides in, swapping places with its direct competition, and, typically, when behind, it is only slightly behind. Yet other metrics show the Xtreme 5 Aurum to be among the best in its class, surpassing faster kits in our charts. 32GB may be the bare minimum for some, but what we see is nothing to be mad about for a kit like this and its intended market, since Xtreme 5 was never designed for the base system or lower-end parts powering it.

Overclocking was a blast, and not only did it take us back to when awesome A-Die was all over the market, but it also surpassed anything we had achieved thus far. Running 8000 MT/s with the XMP profile Patriot provides is impressive on its own, but having complete stability with the timings dropped to 34-46-46-84 2T with just a tenth of a volt added to the VDIMM feels insane to us as average Joe overclockers. However, that wasn't even the best part. While everyone out there is looking for the next big thing and a way to maximize your RAM purchase in these screwed up times, it's hard to turn your head when you see a kit deliver a 1000 MT/s overclock with so little effort that it feels like cheating. We have only seen such an OC in one other DDR5 kit, but we started much lower with those and ended up nowhere near 9000 MT/s benchable, let alone stable, with only 1.55 VDIMM. The gold plating isn't just an aesthetic play; it denotes some of the best retail kits in the game.

While we may not know the price Patriot plans to release these kits at to the masses in a week or so, we can tell you this: they always play on the lower end of the price segment. That bluntly means, you will get a ton of fun for your money, although right now, that money is much more across the market, and not just a problem for Patriot. That said, if you have the coin to play, we strongly urge you to get your hands on the Viper Extreme 5 Aurum DDR5, as it makes a guy with limited skills look like a hero. Imagine what these will do in the hands of more experienced XOCers? In our minds, we have yet to have more fun, and the shiny gold is stellar-looking, but it's just icing on an already tasty treat.