Installation & Testing:

Installed - ASUS Blitz Extreme

After putting on my fuzziest socks, thickest sweat pants, and a sweater known to cause lightning bolts to streak across the room, the memory was installed on the tried and true ASUS Blitz Extreme. It would've been nice to try the modules out on the Striker II NSE or P5E3 Premium since the chipsets have been tuned a bit more to handle aggressive memory modules.

Test System Fired Up!
CPUZ & 1600 MHz	Mainboard	Memory	SPD Correct

None the less, the system booted up and auto configured the memory to 1333 MHz to match the processor's Front Side Bus. Timings defaulted to 7-7-7-24 which is what I expect on this particular motherboard. CPUZ-SPD correctly displays the module's programmed speeds.

First up, the memory was tested at 1066 and 1333 MHz 6-6-6-18 for people needing only default Core 2 FSB speeds to match their memory. Users with the Conroe 1066 MHz cores can expect about a 10 to 15% drop in memory bandwidth. The memory will be perfectly stable at these frequencies and timings without needing to mess with the memory voltages.

Next, the memory was tested at full its full 1600 MHz frequency 7-7-7-20 timings. If you're wondering if the memory can handle 6-6-6, it can't. It boot with 2.1 Volts, but wasn't quite stable. Anything higher is just a little to far out of the spectrum and not worth the risk.

**1700 MHz 95% Stable

And finally, the memory was overclocked to 1700 MHz 8-8-8-24. This frequency wasn't completely stable with Auto memory voltages. Pumping 2.1 Volts in to the memory improved the system overall, but still produced a couple errors possibly due to the motherboard. Backing the memory back down to 1675 MHz and 2.0 Volts produced a stable system.

If you don't need the full 4GB kit, you can opt for the 2GB Dual Channel kit for far more tweaking potential. If you use your system for TV, videos, music, and lots of gaming, the 2GB will do just fine. Naturally, the 2GB kit should handle 1700 MHz and up perfectly fine. The 4GB kit simply isn't intended for extreme overclocking.

As expected, the system can obviously produce some very playable frame rates when coupled with a stock Core 2 processor. And the system does even better with a 1600 MHz FSB to match the memory frequency. At 1600 MHz, the memory completely surpasses any comparable memory with higher timings. That's one of the nice benefits of a lower latency kit and often worth the price.

1333 MHz 6-6-6

1600 MHz 7-7-7-20

1700 MHz 8-8-8-24

Here's a couple screen shots of the maximum memory bandwidth the kit can produce. Your results will vary depending on the motherboard and whether or not the system BUS is similar to the Blitz Extreme. Kind of makes you wonder what kinds of memory bandwidth scores we'll see when Nehalem arrives. Dare to dream...

As far as price is concerned, their priced at about the middle of the current market spectrum. Naturally, lower latency kits are cheaper since they aren't quite as nice a performer. The range starts at about $290 and tops out around $390. The 2GB Patriot DDR3 will run you about $200 where as the 4GB kit will cost $330 which just about matches comparable kits.

Conclusion:

If you're spending your hard earned cash on the new DDR3 standard, then you expect nothing short of stable, dependable performance whether you're using a 32-bit or 64-bit system. The memory must be reliable if you just play games or if your system is a serious number crunching SETI beast.

DDR3 Approved

The Patriot Viper 4GB PC3-12800 Dual Channel Memory Kit thoroughly tested here offered nothing short of those expectations. The memory is fully backward compatible with your 1066 MHz and 1333 MHz Core 2 series Intel processors. The extra performance gained from the memory's timings at lower 6-6-6-18 setting should be a pleasant bonus which also equates in to plenty of bandwidth.

Of course, the memory's 1600 MHz standard tramples over any memory module with slower frequencies and timings. At 1600 MHz, the system's scalable BUS produced a screaming 11,015 MB/s memory bandwidth. That's some serious bandwidth feeding your gaming or compiling power house systems. If you're ready to make that jump to being a serious power user and looking for sheer performance with room to grow, check out  TigerDirect for the 2GB Dual Channel Kit and Newegg for the 4GB Dual Channel kit. Get your memory on.

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