Now that we have benchmarked this memory's 6200 MT/s XMP profile and preformed a bit of overclocking, it's time to wrap this review up and talk about what Patriot offers you, the consumer, with its Viper Venom RGB DDR5-6200 kit. Being that DDR5 is fairly new, it is important to cover the different hurdles one may face when purchasing this kit or DDR5 memory in general. We will start with what Patriot could improve on and finish the review on a positive note.

Those who are looking at DDR5 will find a pricing discrepancies between DDR4 and DDR5. A common complaint among early adopters is that the price is outrageous in some regions, which is merited. With global supply shortages in 2021, DDR5 had a rough start, but things are turning around slowly. As more companies are entering this ultra-competitive DRAM market, pricing will continue to fall as adoption rates increase. With AMD announcing the company's next Ryzen CPU (Zen4) to be exclusively DDR5 compliant, production will rapidly increase to meet the demand throughout 2022 and beyond.

For now though, Intel's 12th Gen Core processors still offer consumers an alternative with support for DDR4 as well. Chances are you have heard the counter arguments that DDR4 offers better performance for a fraction of the cost. This is certainly true when contextualized. At this stage in the DDR5 life-cycle, everything is stacked against it. Until the adoption rate grows, DDR5 will remain an expensive premium item as well, which does not help the situation. Currently, besides higher-density kits, DDR5 only brings with it a few immediate benefits in some applications, as this review's benchmarks show.

The goal here is not to deter anyone from buying DDR5, but to pass on realistic expectations. Remember that without context, these general statements have little factual weight. Given AMD is moving exclusively to DDR5 and Intel most likely will drop legacy support after the 13th Generation Core Processors, DDR4 production is winding down throughout 2022.

Whether you are sticking with DDR4 for now or looking at this review in a year, DDR5 is here to stay. It's also hard to predict what memory configuration is ideal in the future for AMD CPUs. Therefore, at the time of writing, Intel memory support is the main focus. This is where Patriot comes into the conversation. The Patriot Viper Venom RGB DDR5-6200 CL40 kit teeters on the edge between being strictly for the enthusiast PC market desiring high frequency memory paired with the lowest retail timings and those willing to compromise for something less extreme. That being said, to run this memory's XMP 6200 MT/s profile, it is still important to update the BIOS for best support and system stability. For more reassurance, it is of course always good to check the QVL list of the motherboard manufacturer for official support, or TechPowerUp motherboard reviews.

If it turns out that the motherboard you bought does not support such memory speeds, Patriot does offer 5600 MT/s kits as well, which brings up something of interest. The Patriot Viper Venom DDR5-6200 kit has three XMP profiles: 6200 MT/s, 6000 MT/s, and 5600 MT/s. Interestingly enough, those who may have trouble with higher XMP profiles will find that 5600 MT/s CL36 is a decent compromise. I only wish Patriot would embrace this three profile setup officially. It's not mentioned on the website or marketing material, which is a missed opportunity to get a competitive edge.

In terms of overclocking, this kit used SK Hynix M-Die ICs, which is the best currently available, partially due to limited choices on the market today. In the future, we may see Micron or Samsung becoming the industry leaders for high frequency memory. For this generation of DDR5 ICs, SK Hynix reigns supreme. However, take note that no set overclock is guaranteed. In this instance, the Patriot Viper Venom RGB kit preformed less than ideal for overclocking with voltage dropouts above 1.45 V and straight up refusal to operate at 1.5 V or above for long periods of time. Duds exist independent of the brand, and Patriot is no exception. When you are buying CL40 binned memory operating at 1.35 V, it is sold as such. These kits could be using ICs from the center of the wafer, or the outer ring; both will be binned to the desired XMP profile with little guarantee of better performance. Such is the nature of overclocking.

For casual users, at this time, the Patriot Viper Venom RGB DDR5-6200 kit is hard to recommend at this memory frequency and these timings. With the mediocre RGB lighting implementation and limited overclocking flexibility, the biggest purchasing factor for most will be the actual cost. Because prices change on a monthly basis and differ per region, I can only suggest looking around and seeing if it makes sense for you, the consumer. Understand that I am not saying 6200 MT/s DDR5 memory is not a good choice in general. It has its place, though it depends on the application, and in this instance, the incentives to buy such a memory kit from Patriot are severely lacking. If the extra XMP profiles became official, my recommendation would change due to the ability to choose lower operating frequencies if your system (Intel or AMD) is having unexpected stability issues. This would give those who do not feel comfortable adjusting voltage, frequencies, and DRAM timings on their own easy access to an alternative without buying a new memory kit.

If this kit is not for the casual user, who is left is the PC enthusiasts looking for a minor performance bump in competitive gaming or applications that utilize more bandwidth. It could also serve those who favor a system optimized in the big three—CPU, GPU, and memory—without reaching for a kit at the extreme of cost vs. performance. While higher frequency kits with lower timings do exist, they fall under the premium tier category and, as such, cost a bit more. The Patriot Viper Venom RGB DDR5-6200 memory kit has its share of features that are sure to attract those who enjoy the design, brand, XMP of 6200 MT/s, SK Hynix M-Die overclocking or all of the above. Just understand that it may simply come down to competitive pricing at the end of the day as nothing in particular sets this Patriot Viper Venom RGB memory kit apart from the norm outside of being binned and sold as a 6200 MT/s memory kit.