Patriot Extreme Performance PC2-9200 2GB Memory Kit

Today HardwareLogic takes a first look at an enthusiast memory kit from Patriot Memory. I say first because this is the first opportunity we've had to work with Patriot or test their products for an official review.

Although not as well known outside the enthusiast community as companies like Corsair, Kingston, and OCZ, Patriot is well regarded by enthusiasts for producing high performance memory kits every bit as impressive as those offered by the aforementioned companies.

Today we look at Patriot's Extreme Performance DDR2-1150 memory kit. With latencies of 5-5-5-12-2T at 2.3V, the Patriot PC2-1150 kit offers some slightly better specs than the competition in its performance range, but in the crowd this kit keeps, you have to balance performance with value. Read on to see how this Patriot fares.

"Patriot's Extreme Performance line is engineered to deliver performance for gaming and power users. This performance line is devoted to users that need the lowest latency of the fastest speed out of their memory solutions. All module solutions are manufactured with components that have been thoroughly tested, not to just meet expectations, but smash through to bring you the next level of Extreme Performance. Built with heat shields to reduce thermal build up, and strictly tested to ensure performance, Patriot EP line rocks.

Patriot Extreme Performance (EP) Enhanced Latency line is engineered to expand your gaming options. These modules are designed to operate at PC2-9200 with timings of 5-5-5-12 and are available in 1GB and 2GB kit capacities. They are equipped with heat Patriot bladed shield technology to improve module stability and performance while operating under extreme overclocking conditions. Engineered with the best quality components, Patriot Extreme Performance line is the ultimate solution for extreme overclockers and gamers."- Patriot Memory

With "bladed" gun metal gray heat spreaders, these sticks look like your average memory kit. No crazy heat pipes, blinking LEDs, or saw toothed heat sinks here. However, the bladed heat spreaders theoretically should perform better than simple flat aluminum heat spreaders. On one side, the Patriot logo is screened onto the middle of the DIMM, on the other you'll find a label listing the part number and specs, as well as a screened "DDR2" logo.

The Patriot Extreme Performance PC2-9200 Memory Kit targets the extreme enthusiast crowd by way of its PC2-9200 clock speed (DDR2-1150). Some of the kits we've seen from OCZ (PC2-9200 Reaper and Flex XLC), Corsair Dominator (PC2-10000), Kingston Hyper X(PC2-9600), and Mushkin XP2 (PC2-9200) offer comparable clock speeds, however only the much more expensive Mushkin kit can match the Patriot's advertised 5-5-5-12 latencies. The extreme clockspeeds these kits offer come at a price though, requiring an uncomfortably high 2.3V+.

The Patriot Extreme Performance PC2-9200  supports EPP (Enhanced Performance Profile) and is recognized as SLI-Ready memory by NVIDIA 680i boards (which we use for memory testing). Using the EPP feature limits the clock speed to DDR2-1142, while non-EPP usage scales a bit higher to DDR2-1150. So what's the advantage of EPP? For anyone new to overclocking or those looking for quick and hassle free speed bumps, EPP can greatly reduce the trial and error process. All modern RAM ships with predetermined latency and voltage settings (SPD, or Serial Presence Detect) that your motherboard's BIOS will auto-detect, and EPP/SLI RAM takes the concept one step further by adding additional information geared towards performance.  Of course, manual tweakers and enthusiast overclockers will end up running their own gamut of stability tests to determine a stick's capabilities.

Overclocking Disclaimer

First and foremost, when purchasing a kit of RAM (or any component, for that matter) overclocking results are never guaranteed. Many factors can influence what a kit is capable of, including complimentary components (motherboard, processor, power supply), user experience, and simple luck of the draw. Two identical systems will not necessarily yield identical results, and anything over the rated specification should be treated as a bonus, not an expectation.

HardwareLogic has some of the most stringent memory testing on the web. When it comes to stability, we require a kit pass five cycles with the Ultra-X R.S.T PRO2 Memory Tester (The same testing hardware used by Corsair Memory and several other memory manufacturers to validate kits, however even most memory companies only require a kit to pass three cycles). We then require the test kit pass 20 passes of MemTest86 v1.70, and then finally our entire benchmarking suite without error. If a memory kit can pass this torture test.....I'd say its 100% stable.

Setting the board to EPP and rebooting the system, the eVGA 680i board on the HL test bench automatically recognized the Patriot Extreme Performance PC2-9200 Memory Kit at 5-4-4-9-2T and booted without issue.

Unless I'm testing a DDR2-800 kit, one of the first things I do is test a kit's versatility. While the absolute overclock is the most important feature of a kit like this, many people like to tinker with their system to find the optimal performance settings. I typically start out at DDR2-800, and see what the best timings I can achieve are, in this case 3-3-3-9-2T. From here I use our stability testing to push the memory kit as far possible.

The Patriot Extreme Performance PC2-9200 Memory Kit scaled clear to DDR2-853 @ 3-3-3-9-2T with 2.3V, without issue.

Next up was 4-4-4-12-2T @ 2.3V, and the Patriot kit really shined here, scaling all the way to DDR2-1100, still at the default 2.3V.

Loosening up the timings to the kit's rated 5-5-5-12-2T I pushed on. The kit topped out at DDR2-1222 at 2.3V, Definitely no slouch, considering the timings. Loosening up the timings a bit further to 5-5-5-15-2T yielded no benefit, which kind of disappointed me. It's not that the performance was bad, but because after hitting DDR2-1100 at CAS 4, I fully expected this kit to top out around DDR2-1250 to 1270 (particularly at the relatively high 2.3V setting), which would really put it in some elite company.

However, stepping back and looking at the big picture, this kit offers some slightly better specs than maybe some more popular choices out there. What should really be the deciding factor is price......