Patriot Viper Venom 7200Mhz DDR5 Memory Review

As with all of our reviews, we pit the default speed system against the overclocked one in a head-to-head byte match.  The only difference is that with our memory reviews we leave the base system (CPU, Chipset etc..) at default speeds so that the only thing we are changing is the memory module.  You can see this with the Sandra CPU Tests and at that point the only performance advantage is from increased memory performance. 

There are different approaches to overclocking memory and while you may not get an extra 25FPS in your games the increased bandwidth and lower latencies can often unlock the potential for better system efficiencies.

The effective overclock for these tests was 8200Mhz and to attain these clocks I used the XMP profile and changed the overall timing map to match the Xtreme 5 memory modules and then started raising the frequently.  I was surprised to see that the system would run faster than 8200Mhz but wasn’t 100% stable and required a voltage bump.  For this overclock I ran through the entire benchmark suite and was rather surprised with the results.

Memory overclocking is a pretty arduous task of trial and error.  As with most overclocking there is a balance that we want to maintain including the relationship between temperature, voltage and frequency.  Given that your system memory also drives CPU performance it is not uncommon to see performance go down with an overclock that has been pushed too far or has a mismatched setting.

Normally I am required to spend hours overclocking memory, the first stage is to test the limits of the module and find out what it can and cannot do and is one of the longest stages of the entire process.  After that I start the benchmarking process to see if there really is a gain.  It may sound strange but, more often than not, when you overclock memory you can slow your entire system down especially when the timing calculations are incorrect.

I’m happy to report that not only can these 7200Mhz Viper Venom DDR5 modules put down some impressive factory scores but, they appear to be built from the same bin used to populate the current Xtreme 5 modules we recently reviewed.