Introduction

Last week I took a look at some new memory on the market, but today, we go back in time a bit, all the way back to October 19, 2010, and take a look at an older kit, that just might be more relevant to an overclocker than first meets the eye. The Patriot PX538G2000ELK is a 2000 MHz kit that was originally intended for the P55 platform, but we have entirely different plans for this kit. Here's what Patriot themselves has to say about this kit:

The Patriot Viper Xtreme Series, part of the Extreme Performance (EP) line, is the ultimate performance memory solution for the Intel P55 platform. Engineered for extreme enthusiasts and PC gamers, the Viper Xtreme modules utilize our custom heatshield solution with an extruded aluminum outer shield built around a copper core to provide improved cooling. Each module has 6 grams of copper at its core paired with an extruded aircraft-grade aluminum outer shield to deliver a 5% improvement in cooling over traditional aluminum heatshields. The Viper Xtreme series are built using only the highest quality pre-sorted IC’s available and are subjected to rigorous testing and validation on the P55 platform to achieve optimized performance and maximum quality. These modules are engineered to reach 2000MHz (PC3-16000) at 9-10-9-27 timings and are available in 4GB and 8GB kits and carry our lifetime warranty.

These kits were launched a long time ago, and since then, I can't honestly say I've seen many users with them, but they are around for sure, so either this kit is an amazing product that noone has ever had issues with, or perhaps it's as of yet "undiscovered", a gem hiding on your local store's shelves. Patriot themselves have been around for quite some time, and are no strangers to the memory market at all, offering a wide range of products from value-level all the way up to high-end enthusiast products. The Viper Xtreme Series has an interesting look that I've personally never forgotten, with copper peeking out from under a matte-black heatsink. Hopefully this Viper doesn't bite me back.

Specifications

Packaging

The Patriot PX538G2000ELK kit showed up on my doorstep wrapped in a standard cardboard protective box, with very little info on the front, other than the Patriot branding and a model number. The black and red box also has a logo for Patriot's 25th Anniversary, however, since it's been some time since this kit was originally released, it's been some time since that anniversary, but it does go to show just how long Patriot has been around. Flipping the package over and looking at the rear of the box, as shown in the second picture above, I again noticed very little information, which for me, having done motherboard reviews primarily, is a bit shocking, but in the end memory doesn't need alot of info other than speed, size voltage, and timings, all of which but voltage and timings is found right on the front of the box, anyway.


Inside the cardboard box I found another plastic package which contains the DIMMs themselves, as well as a paper installation guide, seen in the first two images above. The missing info about timings and voltages is on the sticks themselves, but I would have liked to have seen this on the outside of the box, too. Patriot does have two kits with very similar model numbers, but different timings, so showing this information on the outside of the box, to me, is critical in ensuring you get the right kit.