Patriot Viper 3 Intel Extreme Masters Memory 1866MHz 16GB Review

ccokeman - September 6, 2012
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Testing:

Memory is often hard to separate between one kit and another in gaming, though when it comes to number-crunching and computing, some memory provides an extra boost in comparison. To see just what kind of performance this kit has to offer, I will be running the modules through a series of benchmarks. There will be 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB kits tested, ranging in speed from 1866 MHz - 2400 MHz, tested at native speeds as well as overclocked. Overclocking, of course, will be dependent on exactly how far the testing rig will allow, though I'll push it as far as I can. The testing setup used for these benchmarks is listed below, where Turbo Boost has been disabled to eliminate uncontrolled clock changes that may skew the results. The CPU will be run at default clock speeds for baseline testing and bumped up to 4.5 GHz or as close as possible, where possible, for OC testing. All current updates and patches have been installed for Windows 7 Professional 64-bit and the current AMD Catalyst driver version 12.6 will be used for the video card.

Testing Setup:

Processors: Core i7 3770K
CPU Cooling: Corsair Hydro Series H100
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus V Gene
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Intel Extreme Masters Series 16GB 1866MHz
Video Card: XFX HD 7970 Black Edition
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200
Hard Drive: Corsair Force GT 240GB SSD
Optical Drive: Lite-On Blu-ray
Case: Corsair Obsidian 650D
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Comparison Modules:

CPU-Z: This application visually shows the settings that we have chosen in the BIOS. Items shown in this application include CPU speed and bus settings, motherboard manufacturer, BIOS revisions, memory timings, and SPD chip information.

CPU-Z

Task Manager: We use this utility to show physical memory, kernel memory, page file, and processor usage.

Task Manager

Overclocking:

Processor: Intel Core i7 3770K 4515MHz (107.5MHz x 42)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Series 10-11-10-28 2006MHz

Overclocking these Intel Extreme Masters modules proved a little more difficult than I initially thought – they were mainly due to how the Viper 3 modules just kept scaling when voltage was added to the equation. This set of modules did not want to go much over the 2000 MHz plateau, no matter what I tried in terms of voltage and dividers. Increasing the CAS latency did not pay off in higher clock speeds when coupled with voltage increases to 1.6 V and 1.65 V. Setting the divider to 2133 MHz using 13-13-13 latencies and 1.7 V did not allow a successful boot either, so I stayed right with the as-delivered timings, with exception of dropping the TRAS to 28 and scaling the clock speeds up until I reached the limit of the modules. I finally managed to increase the voltage to 1.62 V to reach 2006Mhz, Any higher and the modules would not pass memtest. Reaching over 2000 MHz is a fair accomplishment for these modules and represent just over a 7% bump in frequency.

Maximum Memory Speed:

The maximum memory speed for each set of overclocked modules is indicative of how well the modules ran on this test system. As such, your results may differ in either a positive or negative way based on the capabilities of your hardware. In other words, your mileage may vary!

The benchmarks used in this review include the following:

Benchmarks: