As a fan of high-performance small form-factory builds, one limitation has always been hard to overcome. Advances in CPU efficiency and VRM design have allowed flagship processors to migrate to mini-ITX platforms, but raw footprint has limited the amount of memory you can have. Patriot Memory’s Viper Steel can easily solve this final problem with kits up to 64GB…. With only two sticks of memory. Yes, you did the math right, that’s 32GB per stick, and performance doesn’t take a hit either with speeds up to 3600MHz. Apparently, you CAN have your cake and eat it too!
PC Test Bench would like to thank Patriot for providing us a sample kit to check out!
What Patriot has to say about the Viper Steel DDR4 memory family:
Patriot Memory’s Viper Steel memory modules are designed with true performance in mind. Built for the latest Intel® and AMD™ platforms, the Viper Steel series provides the best performance and stability for the most demanding computer environments.
The Viper Steel utilizes a custom-designed high-performance aluminum heat shield for a clean sleek steel-look inside any motherboard. The Viper Steel is made to ensure rock-solid performance even when using the most taxing applications. Built from the highest quality Build of Materials, Patriot’s Viper Steel Series memory modules are hand tested and validated for system compatibility.
Patriot’s Viper Steel Series will be offered at speeds from 3000MHz up to 4400MHz with XMP 2.0 support. Hand tested for quality assurance the Viper Steel series is backed by a limited lifetime warranty.
Edition: Gunmetal grey sides with diamond-cutting Viper logo / Black top
Aluminum heat spreader with unique and specific design element
Compatibility: Tested on the latest Intel premium/high-end platforms and i7 processors
Limited lifetime warranty
Capacity: 64GB (2 x 32GB)
Base Frequency: PC4-17000 (2133MHz)
Base Timings: 15-15-15-36
Tested Frequency Profile 1: PC4-28800 (3600MHz)
Tested Timings: 18-22-22-42
Tested Voltage for Profile 1: 1.35V
Format: NON-ECC Unbuffered DIMM
Packaging & A Closer Look
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All of Viper Gaming’s Viper Steel DDR4 UDIMM’s come in a black box with a picture of the memory taking up most of the front. The sticker in the top right corner lists the speed and capacity. Inside there is a clamshell pack with both modules and a Viper Gaming sticker. We really liked this new sticker design over the older model that only had the large Viper Head logo.
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Each module is completely covered by a heat spreader with a dark grey brushed metal finish. Some accents are painted either side of the raised Viper head logo. Both sides are identical sans the small sticker denoting the model number and specifications.
The top edge of each module has a raised fin pattern on one end, while the other side is smooth and features the Viper Name.
The black PCB underneath ends in the typical DDR4 edge connector with gold plated contacts. Once installed, very little of the PCB is visible.
System Configuration & Performance Testing
ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming
64GB (2x 32GB) Viper Steel 3600MHz
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 1909
Passmark Performance Test 10
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
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.
Memory type, size, timings, and module specifications (SPD).
Real-time measurement of each core’s internal frequency, memory frequency.
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CPUz shows us we have a single XMP profile available, running 3600MHz effective at 18-20-20-40 at 1T command rate. This is already pretty decent, but once you remember how dense these modules are, its pretty awesome!
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 DRAM modules from Hynix distributed across 2 ranks.
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Here is the full readout if you want to look deep into the specs.
“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.”
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The higher density of the 64GB Viper Steel kit manifests as a slightly higher latency for the same speed and CAS latency, but overall bandwidth is pretty similar to other 3600MHz kits.
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.”
Here again, we see the higher overall latency impacting the score in a small but noticeable way. Given the massive capacity available with this kit, it’s pretty easy to excuse.
“SiSoftware Sandra provides a robust package of diagnostic tools for testing your system and teasing out its problems–or potential headaches.”
SiSoft shows a completely different picture. The massive Viper Steel 64GB kit pulls a noticeable lead here in the Aggregate Memory Bandwidth test.
Blender Benchmark 2.82 – BMW27
A new platform to collect and display the results of hardware and software performance tests. Aimed at an optimal comparison between system hardware and installations using open source software and testing content in the public domain.
For professional workloads, the raw capacity is going to be the key factor, as long as you have enough. Overall latency doesn’t seem to be much of a factor in this type of workload.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Experience Lara Croft’s defining moment as she becomes the Tomb Raider. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara must master a deadly jungle, overcome terrifying tombs, and persevere through her darkest hour. As she races to save the world from a Maya apocalypse, Lara will ultimately be forged into the Tomb Raider she is destined to be.
Shadow of Tomb Raider is one of the few games that like extra space and while it doesn’t come close to filling up a 64GB memory kit, it does seem that the near-universally accepted 16GB being “enough for gaming” doesn’t quite hold up here. Granted, 3-4 FPS isn’t much, but to gamers, every frame matters, especially when you are streaming or otherwise multi-tasking.
Final Thoughts & Conclusion
The last few rounds of motherboards and processors have advertised support for 32GB DIMMs, which left many enthusiasts and professional users drooling, there have been precious few kits actually hit the market so far. The few that have, while packing serious capacity, have been sorely lacking in actual speed. Viper bucks the trend and offers massive 64GB kits at up to a substantial 3600MHz. Lower capacity kits go up to 4400MHz. When you figure in the raw size, ideal speed, and friendly cost it makes these a Steel of a Deal.
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Viper Steel Series DDR4 64GB 3600MHz Kit Review As a fan of high-performance small form-factory builds, one limitation has always been hard to overcome. Advances in CPU efficiency and VRM design have allowed flagship processors to migrate to mini-ITX platforms, but raw footprint has limited the amount of memory you can have.
