Patriot Memory (1 GB) - PDP PC3200+XBLK

Product: Patriot PDC1G3200+XBLK
Type: Memory DDR400 (2:2:2:5)
Manufacturer: Patriot Memory
Info:  www.patriotmem.com

It's memory time today as we recently got contacted by a company called Patriot memory, a subdivision of PDP Systems about their Patriot memory product line. Now after the first dialog I decided to check out their website and have a look at some of their product as quite honestly, being European I had never heard of them.

Patriot is all about memory though. They build their slices of fun on 6 and 8 layer PCB's to reduce noise and improve signal integrity. PDP Systems' offers 3 different Patriot memory lines to choose from. Whether you need Overclocking, simply Dual Channel, or Premium Memory Modules they can offer it to you.

Anyway, after visiting that website I was like, okay we might have a company here that likes to build the same reputation as OCZ technology has these days. High quality products that catch the eye and can deliver amazing performance. In other words, Guru3D stuff!

So I agreed to receive a sample of their offerings to see what they have got in store for us. Then the package is delivered. I have a look at it, hmm same packaging as OCZ, same heat spreaders as OCZ. Are they making some sort of a statement here? There is a bit of a shootout going on in the memory market as Corsair, Mushkin, OCZ, Crucial and now PDP are all fighting hard to reach that 1% of geeks that want the memory with the fastest timings. Hey reputation is everything you know ;)

Compared to OCZ, luckily the memory is different, nicely red colored aluminum heatspreaders (which I still wonder is for the eye or really for cooling?), red PCB and some timings on that memory that just makes these two slices of awesome.

Patriot memory recently launched the XBL (eXtreme Bandwidth and Latency) product line, offering one of their best overclocking memory lines so far. The flexibility of that XBL line can be seen and is offered in both the original DDR and new DDR 2 line-up of products. XBL DDR can operate from PC3200 400Mhz at eXtreme Low latency of 2-2-2-5 to the eXtreme Bandwidth of PC4200 at 533 Mhz (above ~420 MHz with slower timings though) on the same memory module. And that offers nice overclocking potential. Rated PC3200 this is not the fastest memory available in terms of clock frequency, yet it might offer you some good value between performance and price when you look at the really fast timings it offers.

The same goes for their XBL DDR 2, which begins from PC2 4200 533Mhz at eXtreme Low Latency of 3-2-2-4 up to the eXtreme Bandwidth of PC2 5600 at 700Mhz.

Today's product comes from that XBL product line, PDC1G3200+XBLK, a 2x 512 MB memory kit that allows 400 MHz operations at very brisk 2-2-2-5 RAM timings and goes up to 533 MHz at 3-4-4-8 timings if you can boost the memory with enough voltage that is. That info is even printed on the label. It's quite cool to notice the overclocking potential on the label isn't it?

Patriot PDC1G3200+XBLK