Viper Blackout DDR4 16GB 4133MHz Memory Kit Review

As CPU architectures get faster and core counts climb, the need to pull data quickly from system memory also gets more demanding. Patriot’s Viper Blackout memory comes in speeds up to 4400MHz and densities up to 32GB per stick. Today we’ll be looking at the Blackout memory in a dual-channel 16GB (2x8GB) kit rated at 4133MHz. Designed with sleek styling and an all-black heat spreader, Viper Blackout is read to bring true performance and stunning good looks to your PC. PC Test Bench would like to thank Patriot for providing us a Viper 4 Blackout kit to check out! What Patriot has to say about the Viper Blackout memory family: Patriot Viper 4 Blackout Series memory modules are designed with both true performance and sleek style in mind. Built for the latest platforms, the Viper 4 Blackout Edition Series provides top-quality performance and matches perfectly with almost any PC build. The Viper 4 Blackout Series utilizes a custom, newly designed, high-performance black heat shield for superior heat dissipation to ensure rock-solid performance even when using the most taxing applications. Built from the highest quality Build of Materials, Patriot Viper 4 Blackout Series memory modules are hand tested and validated for system compatibility. The Patriot Viper 4 Blackout Series is XMP 2.0 ready, high-performance memory, and is compatible with the latest AMD and Intel platforms. Hand tested for quality assurance; the Viper 4 Blackout Edition series is backed by a limited lifetime warranty. FEATURES: Series: Viper 4 Blackout Edition: Black Sides / Black Top Compatibility: Tested across latest Intel and AMD series motherboards for reliably fast performance Feature Overclock: XMP 2.0 support for automatic overclocking Aluminum heat spreader for faster heat dissipation and cooler operation Limited lifetime warranty SPECIFICATIONS: Capacity: 16GB (2 x 8GB) Base Frequency: PC4-17000 (2133MHz) Base Timings: 15-15-15-36 Tested Frequency Profile 1: PC4-33000 (4133MHz) Tested Timings: 18-22-22-42 Tested Voltage for Profile 1: 1.40V Format: NON-ECC Unbuffered DIMM Pin Out: 288-Pin A Closer Look Patriot’s Viper memory kits always use similar packaging with a large clear window showing off one stick inside. Kit capacity and speed are listed in the top left corner. There is a blurb about the Blackout memory family in several languages on the rear of the package. Inside are two sticks and the typical Viper Gaming Logo sticker. As the name implies, the Blackout memory modules are dressed entirely in black with the Viper logo gracing the center of each module in matte black paint. One side of each module has a rather large sticker over the Viper logo indicating the part number, UPC barcode, and specs such as capacity and speed. The top edge of each module has a ridge of heatsink fins to help keep each module cool. System Configuration & Performance Testing Testing Hardware: Asus ROG Strix Z490-I Gaming Intel Core i9-10900K Kingston KC2000 1TB 16GB (2x 8GB) Viper Blackout 4133MHz Testing Software: Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 21H1 Thaiphoon Burner CPU-Z AIDA64 Extreme Edition Passmark Performance Test 10 SiSoft Sandra CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system: Processor name and number, codename, process, package, cache levels. Mainboard and chipset. Memory type, size, timings, and module specifications (SPD). Real-time measurement of each core's internal frequency, memory frequency. CPUz shows us we have two XMP profiles available, one at 4000MHz effective at 19-21-21-41 and the listed 4133MHz effective at 18-22-22-42 that we are running for our testing. Thaiphoon Burner Thaiphoon Burner is the number one solution on the software market to work with SPD firmware of DRAM modules of PC. Thaiphoon Burner provides powerful features for reading, modifying, updating, and reprogramming SPD firmware of SPD EEPROM devices. The program fully supports all popular JEDEC standards for Serial Presence Detects and third-party enhancements, such as NVIDIA EPP and Intel XMP. Comparing to other software Thaiphoon Burner creates the most completed reports for any of the following SDRAM types of DIMM modules: PC SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, DDR2 SDRAM, DDR3 SDRAM, DDR2 FB-DIMM, DDR4 SDRAM, LPDDR3, and LPDDR4. This is achieved due to the universal built-in SPD decoding engine. Thaiphoon shows us Patriot is utilizing 8x of Samsung’s legendary B-die DRAM modules. Here is the full readout if you want to look deep into the specs. AIDA64 Engineer Edition “AIDA64 Engineer has a hardware detection engine unrivaled in its class. It provides detailed information about installed software and offers diagnostic functions and support for overclocking. As it is monitoring sensors in real-time, it can gather accurate voltage, temperature, and fan speed readings, while its diagnostic functions help detect and prevent hardware issues. It also offers a couple of benchmarks for measuring the performance of individual hardware components or the whole system. It is compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit Windows editions, including Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016.” Bandwidth is mostly a function of raw speed so we expect the Blackout kit to be near the top of our chart and indeed it is. A CAS latency of 18 at such a high speed makes for a very low overall latency. Passmark Performance Test - Memory Mark - Threaded “Fast, easy to use, PC speed testing, and benchmarking. PassMark Performance Test 10 allows you to objectively benchmark a PC using a variety of different speed tests and compare the results to other computers.” Passmark’s Threaded Memory Test gives the 4133MHz Viper Blackout kit a score of over 54,000 points. SiSoft Sandra “SiSoftware Sandra provides a robust package of diagnostic tools for testing your system and teasing out its problems--or potential headaches.” Our Blackout kit does quite well in SiSoft Sandra as well with its score just clearing the 44GB/s aggregated bandwidth mark. Overclocking Not that many people realize they overclock their memory. That quick trip into your BIOS on a new build to enable X.M.P. profile your particular memory kit advertises is actually overclocking, albeit done previously by the manufacturer with those settings saved to the modules themselves. We’ll try our hand at going beyond what Viper has provided with this Blackout kit. Viper’s Blackout memory kit is based on Samsung’s legendary B-Die memory, so we expect good things here. We start with a small bump to an even 4200MHz effective and it doesn’t bat an eye. 4300MHz is also painless with no change in settings needed. This shaves about 2 seconds off of our stock (XMP) Super-Pi run of 6:56.387. 4400MHz required a small boost in memory voltage from the XMP 1.40V to 1.42V to get stable, but we didn’t need to change timings. This shaved a tiny bit more off our Super Pi time. We were unable to get 4500MHz to take, even at 1.45V (the highest we test) even with relaxed timings. Final Thoughts & Conclusion Patriot’s latest additions to the Viper Blackout family are fast, not that we expected any less. We’ve been able to check out a great many different memory kits from Patriot & Viper the last few years and they keep getting better and better. The Blackout kits specifically are a great choice for anyone wanting great system performance at a fair price, and if you are jumping on that anti-unicorn puke train or just like a more subdued build without all the bling, Patriots Viper Blackout kits should be the first place you look. With kits available from 3000MHz to 4400MHz, and capacities available from a single 8GB stick to 64GB (2x32GB) kits, you can easily find what you are looking for. Great job Patriot!

Viper Blackout DDR4 16GB 4133MHz Memory Kit Review

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