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Patriot Memory 2GB PC4000 ELK


Date
: 05/1/06 – 07:33:37 PM

Author
:

Category
: Memory

Page 1 : Index

Manufacturer:
Patriot Memory

Price
: $169.62 (Monarch Computer)

Patriot Memory has been around for quite some time, many of you will recall a few memory reviews by a company called PDP Systems. Patriot Memory is now its own division of PDP System, Inc. They specialize in premium memory modules, for all platforms, and a wide number of flash products. These same great folks that brought us the Patriot PC2-5600 1GB +XBLK DDR2 has sent us their 2GB PC4000 kit for review.

Their latest 2GB kit uses a slightly different heat spreader than before but the new design should help and we should be in for quite a ride.

Page 2 : Package

As with every other memory package we receive at Overclockers Online, the PDC2G4000ELK arrived in its own blister package.

The back of the package is pretty bland; an insert has been used to describe the package contents as well as a few features common to Patriot Memory products.

On the other side of the insert, Patriot Memory has expanded on the lifetime warranty by noting a technical support phone number you can call.

Pulling the sticks out of the blister package we see that Patriot Memory has opted for a slightly different heatsink. Instead of the flat heatsinks or a honey-comb grilled model, they have opted for a finned solution.

The use of fins will increase the surface area and thus heat transfer. Also fixed onto the heat spreader is the Patriot logo and a DDR logo.

Like many memory manufacturers, Patriot Memory is a victim of the oversized product label.

While it provides the specifications to the product and the warranty sticker, companies need to adopt a new label that does not require so much surface area. Perhaps Patriot Memory could stamp out the specifications on a thin sheet of aluminum and attach that to the heat spreader. This will provide all the specifications to the buyer, looking nice and most importantly, not negatively affect heat transfer as the aluminum will transfer from the memory stick to the air.

From this angle, we get a better view of the finned heat sink.

Another feature worth noting is how the heatsink is attached onto the ICs. Most heat spreaders of this nature are lined with a strip of thermal tape to enhance heat transfer and clamped onto the PCB. Patriot Memory has opted to go without the clip.

We will see later on in the review the thermal tape they use for bonding. First, let's move onto the specifications.

Page 3 : Specifications

Heading over to Patriot Memory's website, it wasn't easy finding the memory information on these sticks. As a matter of fact, a seach for it brings us to a 404!.

This is the information I did get from Monarch Computer.

It's time we take the heat spreader off and see what's beneath these puppies. You should never remove the heat spreader as it may damage your modules and could void your warranty. We will always remove the heat spreader after the benchmarks are done so you don't have too.

The heat spreader is held in place with a strip of adhesive. It's one I've never seen before.

Beneath the head spreader are the ICs, here we see
Samsung KH4510838C-UCC
's with a 540 production date.

You'll notice that these are the exact same chips found on my OCZ EL DDR PC-4000 Gold GX XTC 2GB. What you don't get is the hefty cost of the OCZ brand name and the guaranteed tighter timings offered by OCZ.

If you want more information about these UCCC's, I recommend you take a look at the Samsung specifications page. It has far more detail than we'll need to cover.

While both kits use six layer BrainPower PCBs, Patriot Memory is using B6U815 on my particular set.

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It's time we installed these puppies and did some overclocking!

Page 4 : Installation & Overclocking

Memory installation has to be one of the easiest jobs around. All you need to do is unclip your old one and clip in your new ones. Motherboards are even color coordinated so you know which DIMMs are dual channel capable.

With that said, I had the new kit up and running in about two minutes. For those who have never installed memory before, the insert in the package doubles as a memory installation guide!

I booted to 250*9 as that is the rated specifications and let the kit MemTest for 24 hours making sure it is problem free and nicely burned in. Using the default timing, 3-4-4-8 1T, I worked my way up until it was no longer stable. This was at a mere 260 MHz, exactly where the OCZ Gold kit stopped. In order to get it any higher, I loosened the timing to 3-5-5-10 1T and that let me squeeze another 5 MHz out of the sticks. With 265 MHz at 3-5-5-10 being the absolute maximum I could achieve, it was time to see how tight the timings could be at 200 MHz. This happened to be 2.5-3-3-5. All the frequencies had 2.9V going through them, increasing the voltage did not improve stability. Stability was determined to be a successful 32M pi calculation, a run through the entire 3DMark family and a minimum of 2 hrs of Prime memory stress test.

Here's a final list of the frequencies and timings I will benchmark with:

Let's get to the performance!

Page 5 : Performance

Let me first begin by giving you the specifications of the system I'll be using.

A recap of the frequencies I'll be benchmarking with…

To analyze the performance, I'll subject the kit to a variety of benchmarks. I started with the FutureMark 3DMark 2006 and 3DMark 2001SE. I then went on to use PCMark 2004 and 2005. Sisoft Sandra memory benchmarks were also tested along with ScienceMark and Everest. Super Pi 1.4 1M, 2M and 32M calculations were used and all ran without a hitch. Finally, I tested the frame rates of Half-Life 2, Doom III and Battle Field 2 at 1024*768.

The results….

FutureMark 3DMark 2006

FutureMark 3DMark 2001se

FutureMark PCMark

Sisoft Sandra Memory Benchmark

Everest – Memory Bandwidth

Everest – Latency

ScienceMark 2.0 – Memory Benchmark

ScienceMark 2.0 – Molecular Dynamics & Primordia

Super Pi 1.4

1024*768 Gaming

It's quite clear that as we increase the frequency, the performance also increases. Tightening the timings will also have the same affect but as we loosened the timing to 3-5-5-10 for 265 MHz, the performance gain wasn't nearly as dramatic. In some cases it actually performed worse.

Let's move onto the next page where I wrap everything up.

Page 6 : Conclusion

Another review draws to an end and Patriot Memory has churned up a kit that matches the performance of the big leaguers while keeping its price at a very affordable range. Sticking to the stock timings, we were able to push the kit up to 260 MHz which is respectable for the Samsung UCCC but nothing spectacular for those making the jump from 1GB to 2GB. At 200 MHz, we dipped down to 2.5-3-3-5 which is about average for any given kit and one hardly used by any reader here.

The red heatsinks, while cosmetically attractive, did their part in keeping the kits warm but not excessively hot that would require active cooling. With the voltage set no higher than 2.9V in order to saturate the performance, you won't have to worry about creating a pool of molten silicon.

With AM2 and Conroe fast approaching, there's no doubt that DDR2
is
the future. DDR1 is slowly fading away and the time to go 2GB to keep your system running in the long run is now while the supply is high and the price of the PDC2G4000ELK is still nice and low.

Advantages

Very affordable
Lifetime warranty
Low voltage requirement suitable for all motherboards

Disadvantage

Mediocre overclocking

Overclockers Online would like to thank Patriot Memory for making this review possible.