A few weeks ago, we got a hands on look at Patriot Memory’s new Viper III DDR3 memory in the 2133 MHz flavor. We discovered that the ICs underneath the light weight, attractive spreaders were Hynix and offer about 2GB/s more memory bandwidth compared to many of the other modules on the market that utilize high quality Micron or Samsung chips. While the Viper III is XMP Ready, the Intel Extreme Masters is XMP Certified. In other words, it’s certified to work on any Intel Z77 chipset confirmed by Intel. Let’s have a look at the IEM memory and see what more it can offer consumers.
Features and Specifications
The IEM XMP certified memory comes in flavors up to 2133 MHz in 8, 16, and 32GB kits. Intel XMP ready means it should work after selecting the profile in the BIOS. XMP Certified says it will work on all Z77 platforms using the 10-11-10-30 timings and 1866 frequencies without issue. I’ll be checking that out on the Z77 boards in the lab to confirm when we get to testing shortly.
If you weren’t aware, Intel Extreme Masters is a competition of select pro gamers competing for cash, prizes, and of course virtual glory at games such as League of Legends and Starcraft 2. This is all part of ESL World or eSports Leagues, which come from mainly out of Europe. While that seems to have little to do with us here in the States, the same Intel Extreme Masters DDR3 memory is used in all the elite gaming systems running at the competitions. This means that you can purchase these same exact modules from many a retailer while supplies last.
While not exactly scientific, real world testing did show that the memory was solid in the tournaments and Patriot assured us that their memory would not be the cause of any gaming related failures.
If you want to see the rest of the colorful, deadly Viper III memory kits, head over to our initial review. Keep in mind that if the blue memory kit doesn’t say Intel Extreme Masters on it, then it’s not the IEM Certified kit.
Today we’re testing the 1866MHz kit in a 2x4GB configuration. MSRP is around the $51.99 US price point. Users looking for more memory can pick up the same kit in a 2x8GB configuration as well for only $89.99 US.
Installation and Test Configuration
Patriot claims that these modules are completely INTEL certified for Z77 chipesets. So after a few hours of repetitive installations, we found that the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) memory worked solidly with various Z77 boards like the ASUS Maximus V pictured above.
Voltage remains a cool 1.5 volts even under full load. All I had to do was find the XMP memory setting, select and apply the profile, then save and restart each system. The frequencies and timings hopped quickly into place on on our ASUS Sabertooth Z77 which is the perfect work horse for such nice memory.
Here’s the test system we used:
- Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge
- Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth Z77
- Memory 1: Patriot Memory Viper III 1866MHz 8GB (as tested)
- Memory 2: Patriot Memory Viper III 2133MHz 8GB
- Memory 3: G.Skill TridentX 2400MHz 8GB
- Memory 4: Kingston HyperX Genesis 1600MHz 8GB
- Storage: Kingston HyperX 128GB SSD
- Graphics: MSI GTX 560 Ti SLI
- OS: Windows 7 Pro 64bit
SISOFT SANDRA memory bandwidth, Unigine and Aliens vs Predator, Graysky 4.0 x264 Benchmark, and PCMark7 Performance Settings round off the testing. We expect flawless performance results from such highly certified memory. We’ll draw our conclusions after the final test. Let’s get to work!
SANDRA Memory Bandwidth
As expected, the IEM 1866 MHz memory offers about 24.7 GB/s memory bandwidth readily useable by the processor. Also, similar to the ViperIII story, the IEM memory does a better job running Intel’s stock 1600 MHz memory frequency at CAS 8 versus the TridentX at CAS7. Patriot’s choice to use Hynix modules underneath pays off in this respect.
Gaming
Gaming gains nothing from high frequency memory alone. The reason we show you this is to help you understand that if you can’t afford the elite overclocking memory, although they always tend to have the best looking spreaders. This means you can always opt for a slower frequency kit to save money when building your system and spend that extra cash saved on a better video card.
Cinebench R11.5
Even though the CPU is doing the bulk of the work in this benchmark, Cinebench often reveals how memory timings benefit CPU performance rather than each kits’ extreme frequency. You’ll find that using any XMP profiles have very little effect compared to the memory timings.
As you can see, It looked pretty uneventful here until I realized that the slower IEM memory scaled similarly to the faster kits. One benefit worth noting is that the IEM kit ran a lower CAS Latency 9 timing without extra voltage which helped rendering performance. You’ll find this to be the case with many overclocking kits.
GraySky 4.0 x264
The default frequency of the IEM kit reveals it to be about 4 frames slower than the faster ViperIII 2133 MHz kit. And, it only falls just 2 frames short of the elite 2400 MHz TridentX. Overclocking the CPU reveals the performance quality of the Hynix underneath scoring within one frame of the TridentX. In this respect, the ViperIII/IEM are using the most efficient modules we’ve seen.
PCMark7
The different speed memory modules do have some affect on scores here. The computation score is the tell-tale sign that the memory is used a bit more in that particular test. While the overall performance isn’t much different with stock settings, the overclocked CPU does reveal the benefits as more bandwidth is readily available from each kit.
Final Thoughts
High frequency memory best serve benchmarking and overclocking enthusiasts who like high scores, or want to squeeze every possible ounce of performance from their systems. It’s nice to see Patriot Memory focusing on building their memory kits with high quality and affordable modules rather than the high cost extreme frequency modules. It’s just smart business as there are far more regular power users who like maximum bandwidth to boost their system’s responsiveness. These new Hynix modules really help improve the Intel Extreme Masters and Viper III DDR3 memory in that respect.
While the the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) XMP Certified memory worked very well on our Z77 platforms, it’s still possible users may run in to a quirky motherboard BIOS. Probably more impressive than the certification is the extra bandwidth and attractive Intel blue presentation. The IEM paired with Hynix DDR3 doesn’t seem to have an equal challenger out there. Our hope is that more manufacturers make even better modules or find some unique ways to differentiate further.
Currently, the limited edition Intel Extreme Masters 1866MHz 16GB (2x8GB) kit will cost you about $89.99 which is right around the cost of the 4 x 4GB quad channel kits. However, the 2 x 4GB 1866 kits only cost $51.99 followed by the Viper III for a few bucks less. These modules are actually priced well for both being XMP certified memory and having some sort of great looking heatsink design. Until something equal or better comes along, the Intel Extreme Masters and Viper III are the optimum memory of choice for Z77 systems.
Pros
- Hynix ICs underneath
- Performs better than comparable kits despite latencies
- Able to run one CAS timing lower for more performance
- Attractive Intel theme heat spreaders
- Viper III with XMP Certification
- Priced well for the performance
Cons
- Limited Edition – but you can still get the regular Blue kits
Overall Rating: 9.0 / 10.0
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