At first we would like to thank Patriot Memory for offering a sample of their Viper VPR100 RGB PCIe 1TB M.2 SSD for testing and reviewing.

 

 

About Viper Gaming:

 

“Viper Gaming is a brand of Patriot Memory, a global leader in performance memory, Solid State Drives (SSD's), and flash storage solutions. Viper Gaming was established in 2007 with the unveiling of the well-known, top-tier line of computer memory. Since then,

the Viper Gaming brand has become synonymous with elite

performance and reliability among gamers worldwide.

 

In 2015, Viper Gaming decided to expand its product categories

to include gaming keyboards, headsets, and mice. Offering entry, mid-level and high-end solutions with rich feature sets. Viper Gaming's award-winning peripherals provide gamers everywhere the best price-for-performance and reliability that enables every Viper Gamer to dominate in their sport.”

 

Product Highlights:

 

Transform your speed of light! Patriot Viper Gaming is delighted to introduce the world’s first RGB APP sync, high-performance M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 SSD, VPR100. Designed with a sharp heatshield external and Phison’s solid E12 controller gives the VPR100 the cutting-edge technology to reach lightning speeds. 5x faster than SATA SSDs, VPR100 is the next RGB edition SSD for gamers, tech enthusiasts, content creators, 3D modelers, and video rendering professionals looking into blazingly fast start up times and instantaneous access to their data for better productivity.

 

Boost your gameplay and rank up your competitive matches in striking style with VPR100’s impressively reliable, low-profile, easy-to-install PCIe SSD. Showcase the sleek black heatshield with stunning RGB through your personalized case and simply customize the lighting through the user-friendly APP sync up. The built-in external thermal sensor provides accurate temperature reports for reliable and quality performance throughout fierce gaming sessions and workloads.

 

Rest assured, as VPR100 is backed by Patriot’s 5-year warranty and is compatible with the latest Windows® operating systems, 7*/8.0*/8.1/10. The solid upgrade you can depend on for speed, design, and performance, now pick your game!

 

Product Features:

 

Phison E12 Series Controller

2280 M.2 PCIe Gen3 x 4, NVMe 1.3

DRAM Cache: 1GB

External Thermal sensor

Heatshield design

RGB APP sync up

Operating Temperature: 0 ~ 70°C

TBW: 1600 TB

4K Aligned Random Read: up to 700K IOPs(RGB unsync)

4K Aligned Random Write: up to 650K IOPs(RGB unsync)

Sequential Read (ATTO): up to 3,300MB/s (RGB unsync)

Sequential Write (ATTO): up to 2,900MB/s (RGB unsync)

Sequential Read (CDM): up to 3,300MB/s (RGB unsync)

Sequential Write (CDM): up to 2,900MB/s (RGB unsync)

O/S Supported: Windows® 7*/8.0*/8.1/10

 

*RGB sync may decrease up to 20-30% Read/Write speed

(depending on RGB mode selected)

 

 

 

After trying out the 1TB VPN100 SSD from Viper Gaming, a division of Patriot Memory, it’s time to take it to the next level with a RGB enabled drive, which also sports the ability to sync with other RGB software from ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI. Of course, the drive RGB effects can be also customized by its own dedicated RGB Sync App, which we will cover later in the review. The drive is named VPR100, runs on the same M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 bus as the non-RGB drive and packs the same Phison PS5012-E12 controller from the VPN100 model.

 

The Viper Gaming drives do come in a very nice compact enclosure which open up like a book thanks to the included magnet; right on the top cover, the manufacturer is highlighting the RGB features of the product, but also the rated read/write speeds and the total storage capacity:

 

 

 

On the back, we will note some more technical specifications, in multiple languages. Patriot Memory office details are listed further down, together with some online resources:

 

 

 

After opening the top cover, we will have access to a more detailed product description, but also to the main product, by viewing it through a transparent plastic layer:

 

 

 

After unsealing the main cardboard enclosure, we will get to see the drive sitting inside a transparent plastic mold:

 

 

 

On the top area of the PCB, we will spot a large aluminum heatsink with RGB elements; a Viper RGB-enabled logo is also present in the middle, a nice touch! Underneath, the manufacturer has placed the Phison PS5012-E12 controller, together with two 256GB of Toshiba 3D TLC NAND and a 512MB SK Hynix IC for caching purposes:

 

 

 

The back area does reveal a large sticker with the product internal code name, the total storage capacity but also some other markings:

 

 

 

Its removal will reveal the rest of the NAND packages and RAM:

 

 

 

The SK Hynix cache IC does sport the H5AN4G6NBJR code name:

 

 

 

The TABBG55AIV code name on the NAND flash does reveal 15nm lithography:

 

 

 

The integrated heatsink does protect the PCB well but adds a bit to the overall size:

 

 

 

Because the heatsink does increase the width of the drive, there can be situations where the drive will be more difficult to install due to nearby PCI-E x1 slots or CPU cooler mounting mechanisms:

 

 

 

 

After turning on the test computer, the VPR100 can deliver quite a bit of RGB show!

 

 

 

The Viper VPR100 drive is compatible fully with the Patriot PCIe ToolBox software; here we will be able to monitor drive parameters but also perform some other actions; the Summary screen will display the serial number of the product, the currently running firmware, the power on time but also the endurance rating:

 

 

 

The internal drive parameters are available from the Identify tab:

 

 

 

The SMART status can be also checked further below:

 

 

 

A Secure Erase procedure can be performed right from this utility:

 

 

 

Firmware updates can be also updated from the same software:

 

 

 

Besides the customization and sync software from different motherboard manufacturers, Viper Gaming does also have a dedicated utility of its own; on the top right area we will note the detected Viper products from the test system, while on the left we have the lighting presets to our disposal:

 

 

 

Here is the list of effects we can work with:

 

 

 

After applying a certain effect, it will be immediately visible on the drive:

 

 

 

 

Video Exemplification

 

Test Bench:

 

CPU: Intel I5 9700K Retail

CPU Cooler: Deepcool Captain 240 EX RGB AIO

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z370 AORUS Ultra Gaming

RAM: Patriot Memory Viper RGB Series DDR4

Video: KFA2 GeForce GTX 1060 OC 6GB

Power Supply: Cooler Master 850W

SSD: OCZ Vector 150

Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840

 

 

The drive has arrived unformatted:

 

 

For testing purposes, we have formatted it NTFS; here is the total remaining free space afterwards:

 

 

With the help of AIDA64, we could extract more information regarding the drive:

 

 

 

The Tests

 

HDTach Short Test

Blank SSD

 

HDTach Long Test

 

Blank SSD

 

CrystalMark HDD Test Suite

 

AIDA64 Disk Test Suite

 

PCMark05 HDD Test Suite

 

 

CrystalDisk Test Suite (Random)

 

HDTune Test Suite

Blank SSD

 

PCMark Vantage HDD Test Suite

 

PCMark 7

 

Anvil [Read]

Anvil [Write]

 

Extra Tests:

 

AS SSD Benchmark

Blank SSD

AS SSD Benchmark (IOPS)

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ATTO Disk Benchmark

Blank SSD

PCMark 8

Blank SSD

 

 

 

The Tests

 

HDTach Short Test

Filled SSD

 

HDTach Long Test

 

Filled SSD

 

CrystalMark HDD Test Suite

 

AIDA64 Disk Test Suite

 

PCMark05 HDD Test Suite

 

 

CrystalDisk Test Suite (Random)

 

HDTune Test Suite

Filled SSD

 

PCMark Vantage HDD Test Suite

 

PCMark 7

 

Anvil [Read]

 

Anvil [Write]

 

Extra Tests:

 

AS SSD Benchmark

Filled SSD

AS SSD Benchmark (IOPS)

Filled SSD

ATTO Disk Benchmark

Filled SSD

PCMark 8

Filled SSD

 

 

 

If you do own a motherboard without integrated M.2 heatsinks and have a computer case with a glass/plexiglass window, the VPR100 SSD from Viper Gaming can deliver quite a show via its integrated RGB lighting system, which can be also synced with other compatible devices via the included Viper software or the tools from motherboard manufacturers. Since we are dealing with the same controller, the Phison PS5012-E12 controller and Toshiba 3D TLC NAND from the VPN100, the performance is around the same figures, which is in-line with mainstream drives.

 

The drive can get quite warm at times and if pushed too hard it will throttle a bit, so we do recommend using it inside a case with good ventilation. To check the write to drive behavior in a continuous manner, we have used the HD Tune write test:

 

 

For the VPR100 drive, the manufacturer mentions a 5-year warranty and a TBW endurance of about 1600TB.

 

RGB-enabled drives are quite unique even to this day but can create compatibility issues due to the integrated heatspreader, which can be either too tall or wider than the PCB area so it would hit the nearby components. On our setup, the heatsink was hitting the CPU cooler mounting area, but after inserting it in a bit of an angled position in the M.2 socket, the installation was completed successfully without any issues.

 

The VPR100 1TB drive could be found online at the time of the review for about 148 Euros.

Patriot Memory Viper VPR100 RGB PCIe 1TB M.2 SSD is Recommended for:

 

 

 

We would like to thank again to Patriot Memory for making this review possible!