Patriot DDR3-1866 C8

Set Patriots for RAMming speed.

Patriot is a well known and respected force within the North American market. The last pair of Patriot sticks we had in the labs was its top level DDR2 kit -- a low latency DDR2-1200 5-5-5-12 model. Now, further enforcing its push into the Australian market, Patriot has provided a kit of low latency DDR3-1866 modules rated for 8-8-8-20 memory timings.

These kits are based on Micron D9GTR ICs and are rated to operate on 1.9v, 0.4v above that of the DDR3 JEDEC-approved standard of 1.5v. Again, this carries the hallmark of Micron D9 based memory, as seen in the DDR2 kits rated for anything from 0.4v to 0.65v above the JEDEC-approved DDR2 standard of 1.8v. This extra voltage is a strong contributor to the Micron D9 IC’s ability to reach the phenomenal frequencies and latencies that it does.

These particular sticks are the highest frequency modules we’ve put through the labs. Rated for DDR3-1866, 66MHz higher frequency at stock speeds than the ol' faithful Corsair Dominators. This extra 66MHz appears to come at a cost, however. The modules are running at a higher CAS latency in comparison to the Dominators – CAS8 opposed to CAS7 respectively.

Being the hardware mongrels we are and knowing that both kits had Micron D9 ICs in them, we saw no reason as to why the Patriot sticks couldn’t join the Corsair kit at DDR3-1800 7-7-7-20 and what’d ya know, they did it. Not only that, they pulled right through to DDR3-1960 7-7-7-20. Unsatisfied we then pushed the lengths of the stock rated CAS8 and lower CAS6 and CAS5 timings. Doing so, we obtained DDR3-1980 8-8-8-20, DDR3-1700 6-6-6-18 and DDR3-1333 5-5-5-15.

These modules offer great performance and come quite close to the Corsair Dominators; but for the price the Corsair kit offers better overall value.