Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD Review – The Best PCIe4 SSD Yet?

Review of the Patriot Viper VP4300 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD

The Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD is an example of how technology can evolve once the existing boundaries of what we consider ‘the best’ gets challenged. When PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs arrived on the scene, some of the earliest brand entries into this blisteringly fast tier of storage came from the likes of Seagate, WD and Samsung, with each bringing an early PCIe4 M.2 SSD that challenged different areas of storage user needs. This included High performance, High IOPS and High durability. Shortly after that though, we started to see how some of the fractionally lesser-known brands went about crafting SSD solutions that instead of choosing one or two areas of focus, decided to tackle them all at once. The Patriot Viper VP4300 is a rather unique SSD, with the lesser-used Innogrit Rainer controller, twin heatsink/panel kit, higher than average durability and a different approach to how this is all presented. With the recent announcement of PS5 supporting NVMe SSD upgrades (with the Viper VP4300 highly compatible), the already rather desirable package that this SSD presented (architecturally and aesthetically) from PC gamers is now catching on with console gamers. So, today I want to review the Patriot Viper VP4300 NVMe SSD, Benchmark the drive on PS5 and standalone on a PC system, compare it with it’s competitors and ultimately decide if it deserves your money. Let’s begin.

Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD Review – Quick Conclusion

The Patriot Viper VP4300 is not the lowest priced SSD on the market right now, but then again it is by now means the most expensive either! Sitting neatly in price in the middle of the pack, this is bolstered in value with a great build quality, flexibility in deployment, great presentation (leaving you with confidence in the brand) and overall zero doubt in the abilities of the SSD. In fact, in several areas of testing, the SSD comfortably surpassed a large number of the brand’s own reported maximums (i.e surpassing the 1 Million IOPS mark several times, rather than hitting the 800K wall the brand stated). Add to this that Viper VP4300 has a surprisingly underused Innogrit controller that few companies have shown off and what you have here is a very unique SSD indeed that stated out from the increasingly dense PCIe4 SSD crowd. Even durability at a reported 0.5 DWPD puts it comfortably ahead in lifespan ahead of the majority of its competitors (don’t forget those two heat dissipation options included too) Only arriving in two capacities is a big of a bummer and the price tag is still a degree higher than many might be comfortable parting with, when more budget-friendly drives arrive on the market each week, but if you are willing to shell out the few extra quid, you won’t regret it.

SPEED - 9/10

HARDWARE - 9/10

DURABILITY - 8/10

PRICE - 8/10

VALUE - 8/10

8.4

PROS

👍🏻Inclusive Two Heatsinks are Good Value
👍🏻Genuinely Impressive Performance
👍🏻
👍🏻Excellent Value (Especially With the Reported Performance)
👍🏻
👍🏻PS5 Compatibility Confirmed
👍🏻
👍🏻Innogrit Controller is Unique vs the many Phison E18 SSDs out there
👍🏻
👍🏻Outpaces the majority of other 1TB PCIe4 SSDs out there
👍🏻
👍🏻Excellent on-board Temp Control
👍🏻
👍🏻Very Well Presented

CONS

👎🏻Nether inclusive Heatsink is pre-applied
👎🏻Only two capacities are available
👎🏻
👎🏻More Expensive Than the likes of the WD Black or Samsung 980

Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD Review – Packaging

One of the first things that struck me about the Patriot Viper VP4300 (I am a tad ashamed to say) is the physical presence of the retail box. I am WELL AWARE this is of little-to-no importance, but the box is oozing in gamer design, with a great deal of focus on the performance, heatshield options and colour palette that is a nice gearshift from the overuse of RGB/Shiny design that competitors have been using.

Likewise, opening up the box opens up not dissimilar or action figures, with a nice bio detailed on the inside cover and a clear display panel for the drive. Of course, this matters incredibly little in the grand scheme of things when it comes down to the overall abilities of the Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD, but I could not let this go without comment in the review.

Opening up the box and unboxing the entire contents shows us that the SSD, larger heatsink and graphene heatshield are held in a robust plastic casing (transit protection). The thermal pads/adhesive that needs to be used with these heatsink/plates are already semi-applied to each piece, with the SSD in its own static bag. One early criticism I have is that the heatsink does not arrive pre-applied to the SSD. Although it could be said that the fact that two different heat dissipation panels are included means that applying one would remove the choice by the end-user, I would still prefer a panel applied at the manufacturing level, as this can often result in dust-controlled environments doing a better application, as well as ensuring that the most important components are covered in the mouse efficient way possible (not just one single strip covering all, when really you want the NAND to run a little warm).

That said, the first time instruction manual and guide to applying the heatsink/panel is surprisingly high quality, very detailed and is another nice bit of presentation on the Viper VP4300 that I have not seen from any other brand.

Removing the retail box, plastic and manual leave us with the Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD and heatsink/panel. Choosing between the two heat dissipation options is a fairly clear cut choice, with even the larger heatsink being quite slim compared with most heatsinks in the market. You would need to be installing the SSD inside a particularly petite system to require the graphene shield in particular. Many users choose to apply the 2nd panel to the base of the Patriot Viper VP4300, as the SSD is double-sided (even in the 1TB model), though this is largely unnecessary.

The Graphene shield/panel is a single-use lite heat-dissipating panel that is attached adhesively to the Patriot Viper VP4300 and provides a small degree of heatsink conductivity. If you are going to use the viper VP4300 is small, periodic read activity for the most part, this heatshield serves as an option for your SSD in more confined installation. However, you will certainly see far more effective results when using the large, full and reusable heatsink on the SSD instead.

The larger branded heatsink is quite a sturdy construction, arriving deceptively low against the SSD, it actually uses controlled contortive angles that capture passing airflow over its surface and guide it into the grooves across precisely the point on the heatsink above the Innogrit controller (another advantage of first-party heatsinks, they KNOW where to target the most effective parts of their heat dissipation).

Those grooves across the top of the Viper VP4300 heatsink are also accompanied by slits in the sides of the module that allow greater airflow through the heatsink and further adding dissipation. It is a deceptively simple design that hides most of its great design choices in plain sight.

Of the two heatsinks, clearly, I recommend the larger of the two, both for PC and home console use. Application is very easy and (frankly) it is pretty difficult to get wrong!

For those of you who have been considering the Patriot Viper VP4300 for installation in the PS5 SSD expansion slot to increase storage, I am pleased to confirm that this SSD is 100% supported by the system.

Additionally, both the heatsink and the graphene heat shield fit inside the PS5 M.2 slot, but I would still highlight recommend the larger heatsink option when installing the Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD in your console.

Thanks to the latest update on the PS5 system software, the SSD will appear easily in the storage manager (after the system makes an initial benchmark – below) and then that is about it. The SSD will be able to store PS5 and PS4 games, as well as allow games to be played from the SSD (not jsut archived).

Installing the Patriot Viper VP4300 in the PS5 M.2 SSD bay at startup allows you to run a benchmark on the drive. Oddly, despite the high performance of this SSD, the PS5 rated the drive at 6,101MB/s in its initial benchmark. Later testing brought this figure much higher to 6,361MB/s, however in the spirit of fairness against other SSD, I am recording the first attempt.

The fact that Patriot includes two heatsinks with your purchase of the Viper VP4300 will always be attractive to buyers who want hassle from installation, as well as doing so at no additional cost and STILL arriving at a lower price point than many competitors is inarguably appealing. Below is preliminary testing for the Patriot Viper VP4300 on the PS5 (video #1 of #3) that shows how this SSD performed compared with the PS5 inbuilt SSD.

So that is the physical design and PS5 testing of the Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD. But what about the hardware components themselves? Does the VP4300 cut the mustard in terms of current generation hardware and protocols? Let’s find out.

Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD Review – Hardware Specifications

As you might expect from an M.2 NVMe SSD that boldly promises performance of over 7,000MB/s sequential read (ie BIG data), the hardware specifications and architecture of the Patriot Viper VP4300 are quite modern. Indeed, for all the big talk of the Seagate Firecuda 530 hardware (still currently the ‘score to beat’ PCIE Gen4 m.2 NVMe right now) being top tier, the Patriot Viper VP4300 is pretty darn similar on the spec sheet! Below is how it looks:

I know a lot of the above will seem needlessly technical, so below we can bring the most important considerations into sharper focus. The first big, BIG thing to factor in is that Innogrit Rainer IG5236 controller.

Hardware Focus of the Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD Series

The first big, BIG thing to remember here is the controller, that Innogrit RainIer IG5236. An SSD is much like a microcosm version of a whole computer. The Controller is equivalent to the CPU, and although Innogrit has produced several high profile SSD controllers in the last few years, this is their first PCIe 4.0 controller. This is a particularly big deal when most reports and measurements seemingly indicate that the Innogrit IG2536 is higher in performance than the Phison E18 controller used by most other recent PCIe 4 M.2 NVMe SSD, as well as because some long-running storage brands like Samsung and WD have most of their development and hardware engineering ‘in-house’ and use their own branded controllers. Indeed, the Patriot Viper VP4300 is one of the very, VERY few SSDs that are using this controller in the home/prosumer gamer sector.

Earlier in 2021, CDRLabs ran performance testing with CrystalDisk on a similarly built SSD with the Innogrit Rainer IG5236, comparing against a Phison E18 SSD of similar architecture (96L 3D TLC NAND, DDR4 RAM, NVMe 1.4, etc) and largely surpassed it by hundreds of Megabytes in Sequential Read and Write performance. So these results tend to back up the increased performance benchmarks that Patriot provide on the Viper VP4300. This is further improved with a recent software/firmware update for this drive released in Summer 2021 that further improved the write performance.

Likewise, below is a performance benchmark from the 1TB ADATA XPG GAMMIX S70 (a similarly priced and built SSD with an inclusive Heatsink and the same Innogrit controller), compared against the Titanium Micro TH7175 SSD with the same NAND quality/type and Phison E18 controller. As you can see, despite them both being 1TB SSDs, the throughput and IOPS was significantly higher in practically all tests of the Adata Gammix S70 with it’s Innogrit Controller:

The NAND on the Patriot Viper VP4300 is where the data lives! SSDs (as you no doubt know) do not use moving parts as found in traditional hard drives and instead uses cells that are charged and data is read/written to them in this process. The quality of the NAND and the layers used will make a big difference to the durability and performance of an SSD and although the Patriot Viper VP4300 does not provide the best SSD in the industry at this tier right now (that, once again, goes to the Seagate Firecuda 530 at 176 layer 3D TLC NAND), it is bigger than most, arriving at 96 Layers of 3D TLC NAND. Although the majority of modern PCIe M.2 SSD use 3D TLC NAND (avoid QLC NAND like the PLAGUE btw!), most are still at 64 layers or so, so this is a big jump up for the Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD. Although detailed information on the NAND used is not readily available online, we observed that the Patriot Viper VP4300 features four blocks of NAND modules, which will definitely increase performance in a number of key ways over similar capacity SSDs that use a single side PCB architecture and fewer blocks of NAND (eg 2x 512GB instead of 4x 256GB).

Much like the Controller on the Patriot Viper VP4300 being the ‘CPU’, it also has an area of memory. The Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD uses DDR4 memory on board and this in conjunction with the SSD controller provides a massive body of data handling resources for getting your data moving through the SSD and out of the m.2 NVMe PCIe 4 interface. The amount of memory scales in conjunction with the 1TB or 2TB SSD you use, with 2GB of DDR4 at the on the 2TB tier, 1GB DDR4 on the 1TB, etc. The VP4300 has two blocks of memory, on either side of the PCB.

As mentioned, all available capacities of the Patriot Viper VP4300 arrive at 2280 in length. This is quite normal for the 1TB and 2TB versions, but the fact that the 1TB arrives on a double-sided SSD board is very impressive. Physical storage NAND is distributed evenly in order to space out the storage and allow even cooling, NAND wear and performance.

Finally, there is the M.2 NVMe connection. Not all m.2 SSDs are created equal and although M.2 SATA and M.2 NVMe look similar, they provide massively different performance and connectivity. However, the Patriot Viper VP4300 takes it one step further, by using a newer generation of PCIe Connectivity. In short, M.2 NVMe SSDs are connected to the host PC/Console system via PCIe protocol (think of those slots that you almost always use for your graphics cards, but a much, MUCH smaller connector). These allow much larger bandwidth (ie maximum speed) for the connected storage media, Much like regular PCIe slots, they have different versions (i.E PCIe Gen 1, 2, 3, 4, etc) and also a multiplying factor (x1, x2, x4, etc). Up until around 18 months ago, the best M.2 NVMes were M.2 PCIe Gen 3×4 (so a maximum 4,000MB/s possible). However, never generation SSD like the Patriot Viper VP4300 use PCIe Gen 4×4 (a potential 8,000MB/s possible) and it is only now that SSD controllers and NAND production has reached a point where it can catch up and fully saturate (i.e fill) this connection.

Overall, you really cannot fault the hardware inside/onboard the Patriot Viper VP4300, as it is still (2-3 months after release) higher performing in sequential Read and Write than many other M.2 NVMe PCIe 4 SSDs released in that time. Before we go into the full testing, however, it is worth taking a moment to look closely at the reported performance benchmarks of the Patriot Viper VP4300, as although the performance seems stellar, there are areas such as IOPS and endurance when compared with its main rivals that are worth taking into consideration.

Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD Review – Official Stats First

Before we conduct our own testing on this SSD, Let’s take a closer look at the reported specifications and benchmarks first. The Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD arrives in multiple capacities (below). The Prices currently are a little inconsistent (with each higher capacity tier actually having a higher price per GB – quite unusual) likely due to the hardware shortages, the Pandemic, Chia has affected SSD availability in the last 12 months and most recently the announcement that PS5 supports this SSD and it has increased the current price of both models around 10-20%!. Below is a breakdown of how each competitor drive and the Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD compare:

There are clear throughput improvements as you rise through the capacity tiers (not unusual), as does the rated 4K IOPS. Though one area worth focusing on a little is that TBW (terabytes Written) and DWPD (Drive writes per day), as this drive is rated a pinch higher than the Samsung 980 Pro and WD Black SN850 in terms of NAND lifespan on daily writes, likely down to that 96 Layer 3D TLC NAND used, rather than that used by those used by competitors. This is an important point because the brand has significantly less ‘end user’ recognition in-home/business SSD media than the likes of Samsung, WD and Seagate and people will want to know they are going to get a product from a brand that they have heard of.

However, despite the use of the Innogrit Rainier IG5236 controller and 96 layer NAND, the reported IOPS on each capacity is actually a noticeable degree lower (for the most part) than those reported by their competitors. Indeed, the Patriot Viper VP4300 is one of the few SSD/Memory focused brands with a PCIe 4.0 SSD that does not cross into the reported 1 Million IOPS mark, maxing out at 740k. This is still very impressive anyway, but it does make me wonder where the disparity stems from. Indeed, when you look at the bulk of PCIe 4×4 M.2 NVMe 1.4 SSD that feature the E18 controller and 96L (or higher) on board, it really only leaves about 4 other SSDs in the market today that this can be compared against. The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, the MSI Spatium M480, the Gigabyte Aorus 7000s and (current leader) the Seagate Firecuda 530. Of those, the only one that seemingly ‘out specs’ the Patriot Viper VP4300 is the Seagate Firecuda 530. However, the Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD has been available in the market a pinch longer and has certainly embedded itself in the minds and budget’s of PC/PS5 gamers who think the Firecuda 530 is too expensive and the others are less impress – it makes a very appealing middle ground. Below is how these drives compare in terms of throughput and IOPS:

Yes, that is a LONG table, but you can immediately see that the Seagate Firecuda 530 raises the stakes on all of the key specifications. Although there are a number of micro reasons for this, the 176L NAND is the biggest factor here. Yes, that is why the Firecuda 530 commands the higher price tag. Additionally, the WD Black arriving at a better price point, higher IOPS in most tiers and the fact it does this whilst still hitting that 7,000MB/s certainly gives pause for thought. However, for many, the additional cost for higher durability they may never need, peak performance their core system will not reach and IOPS rating that their larger file handling will never utilize will mean that holding out for the Firecuda or WD Black SN850 is not in their interest. Both SSDs (on paper at this stage!) are fantastic examples of where consumer and prosumer SSDs are evolving towards. Let’s get the Patriot Viper VP4300 on the test machine!

Testing the Patriot Viper VP4300 m.2 PCIE4 NVMe SSD

The Patriot Viper VP4300 was selected for this test and it was tested using multiple benchmark tools, from a cold boot, in the 2nd storage slot (i.e not the OS drive). Each test was conducted three times (full details of this are shown in the YouTube Review of the Patriot Viper VP4300 over on NASCompares):

Test Machine:

• Windows 10 Pro Desktop System
• Intel i5 11400 Rocket Lake – 6-Core 2.6/4.4Ghz
• 16GB DDR4 2666MHz Memory
• Intel B560M mATX Motherboard
• OS Storage, Seagate Firecuda 120 SSD
• Test SSD connected to Secondary PCIe Gen 4 M.2 Slot

Using CrystalDisk, we got a good measure of the drive and verified that this PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSD was indeed using the 4×4 lane. Additionally, the temp averaged out a little higher in idle than most previously tested SSD, HOWEVER, the larger Patriot Viper VP4300 heatsink kept the drive at a consistent temp of late 40’s for most of the tests and did an incredible job of maintaining a working temp without spiralling too high between each one being conducted.

The first tests were conducted using the ATTO disk benchmark software. The first was a 256MB test file size and below is a breakdown of the transfer rates and IOPS. The 2nd Test was a 1GB test file and finally, the last test was with a 4GB test file. The system was given 1-minute cool downtime between tests, no screen recording software was used (remove overhead) and a heatsink was used throughout (no reboots)

ATTO Disk Benchmark Test #1

256MB File PEAK Read Throughput  = 6.48GB/s

256MB File PEAK Write Throughput = 5.94GB/s

ATTO Disk Benchmark Test #2

1GB File PEAK Read Throughput  = 6.33GB/s

1GB File PEAK Write Throughput = 5.98GB/s

ATTO Disk Benchmark Test #3

4GB File PEAK Read Throughput  = 6.32GB/s

4GB File PEAK Write Throughput = 5.96GB/s

Next, although the ATTO tests were quite good, but not what I would have hoped from this SSD, so I moved on to the Crystal Disk Mark testing to see how well it would handle our lasts barrage of tests. The first test was the 1GB file testing, which measured both sequential and random, as well as the read and write IOPS. Test were conducted on a 1GB, 4GB and 16GB Test File. I also included a mixed 70/30 read and write task to give a little bit more of a realistic balanced workload. These tests were conducted with 1-minute cooling break in between

CRYSTALDISK MARK 1GB TEST

CRYSTALDISK MARK 4GB TEST

CRYSTALDISK MARK 16GB TEST

Next, I switched to AS SSD benchmark. A much more thorough test through, I used 1GB, 3GB and 5GB test files. Each test includes throughput benchmarks and IOPS that are respective to the larger file sizes (important, if you are reading this and trying to compare against the reported 4K IOPS from the manufacturer).

AS SSD Benchmark Test #1

AS SSD Benchmark Test #2

AS SSD Benchmark Test #3

Ordinarily, I would introduce tests like BlackMagic and AJA into the mix here, but even a short burst of testing on an NVMe like this would over saturate the cache memory on board. Nevertheless, in the short term we still could ascertain the reported performance on 1GB, 4GB and 16GB file testing was:

1GB AJA File Test Results (Peak) = 7064MB/s Read & 6333MB/s Write

4GB AJA File Test Results (Peak) = 7067MB/s Read & 6281MB/s Write

16GB AJA File Test Results (Peak) = 7035MB/s Read & 6364MB/s Write

Throughout the testing, the Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD started at a slightly higher than average temp, but maintained a good operational temperature throughout the whole testing:

Overall, the Patriot Viper VP4300 was certainly able to provide some solid performance, as well as potentially exceed the test figures here on a more powerful machine. Given the reported Read and Write statistics that the brand has stated publically, I think there is enough evidence here to back up those claims. IOPs were even higher than I expected in some cases, with some tests hitting 1,000,000+ Read 4K IOPS (200,000 more than the official reported benchmark). Overall, I came away from the testing highly satisfied.

Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD Review – Conclusion

The Patriot Viper VP4300 is not the lowest priced SSD on the market right now, but then again it is by now means the most expensive either! Sitting neatly in price in the middle of the pack, this is bolstered in value with a great build quality, flexibility in deployment, great presentation (leaving you with confidence in the brand) and overall zero doubt in the abilities of the SSD. In fact, in several areas of testing, the SSD comfortably surpassed a large number of the brand’s own reported maximums (i.e surpassing the 1 Million IOPS mark several times, rather than hitting the 800K wall the brand stated). Add to this that Viper VP4300 has a surprisingly underused Innogrit controller that few companies have shown off and what you have here is a very unique SSD indeed that stated out from the increasingly dense PCIe4 SSD crowd. Even durability at a reported 0.5 DWPD puts it comfortably ahead in lifespan ahead of the majority of its competitors (don’t forget those two heat dissipation options included too) Only arriving in two capacities is a big of a bummer and the price tag is still a degree higher than many might be comfortable parting with, when more budget-friendly drives arrive on the market each week, but if you are willing to shell out the few extra quid, you won’t regret it.

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Summary

Reviewer

Robbie

Review Date

2021-10-18

Reviewed Item

Patriot Viper VP4300 SSD Review

Author Rating

5