A Closer Look

Patriot Viper Venom line is currently the only DDR5 series available under the Viper Gaming branding. It is not sold with different color variations either, meaning this two-tone heatsink is the only option when it comes to themed system builds using Patriot memory. That being said, Patriot continues to come up with aesthetic designs that are easy to identify as a Viper Gaming product. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of their labs next!


Patriot has placed the Viper branding on both sides of each memory DIMM. On the left is the Viper brand logo and to the right side is the word "VIPER"


On one side of each DIMM module is the identification sticker listing the product number, rated XMP operating frequency, voltage, and CAS timings.


Laying the DIMMs on the side, you can see "VIPER" written in red lettering in the center. Since these are not the RGB versions, instead of an opaque light bar, the top is solid black in its place.


Patriot Viper Venom DDR5-7200 kit weighs in at 51 grams on the scale. For Z-height, it comes in at 43 mm rounding up.


After taking the heatspreader off, we see that these are single-sided DIMMs with eight 2 GB ICs. This is as expected for 16 GB DDR5 DIMMs. The thermal pad covers all the memory ICs. This particular kit does have a thermal pad covering the PMIC and surrounding components. This is a nice addition from Patriot to include a thermal pad when many other vendors do not. It becomes extra important for those who will do heavy overvolting and don't want to take these apart and use custom heatspreaders.


A closer look at the ICs shows that these are SK Hynix (H5CG48AGBD-X018). Currently, Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix are the three suppliers of DDR5 ICs. When it comes to higher frequency memory, SK Hynix was unmatched until the recent 3 GB ICs (24 GB DIMMs) started to appear from Micron. While those are new, they're also untested to the same extent as SK Hynix A-Die ICs. A-Die DIMMs are still considered the "go to" for top frequency overclocks and lower primary timings as well.


With DDR5, one of the major changes is how the motherboard directly provides 5 V to the memory module's PMIC, which is then stepped down and split accordingly. No longer is the motherboard responsible for regulating the voltages, as with DDR4. The PMIC has the part number "0D=9E34C" Software reports this as Richtek being the manufacturer. Internet investigation provides no additional information.