Just months ago Apacer announced its brand new Panther DDR4 memory kit as a gaming memory kit that runs on 1.2v low voltage, memory speed of 2666MHz as well as tight memory timing of 16-16-16-36, at least that's what Apacer stated on the spec sheet.
The pair of Apacer Panther DDR4 memory kit arrived at Tech Critter's lab just 2 weeks ago and we have our thanks to Apacer for sending over the memory kit for today's review. Instead of being just a gaming memory kit that runs on low voltage and 2666MHz memory speed, we'd like to see just how far can we push the Apacer Panther DDR4 kt to its limit with the equipment we have here!
( the retail price of PANTHER DDR4, 8GB single module package: 2133MHz at USD$ 49.99, 2400 MHz : USD$ 53.99 and 2666 MHz : USD$ 59.99 )
Specifications
Unboxing
The Apacer Panther DDR4 memory kit ships in fancy packaging with a cutout window to display the Panther DDR4 kit.
Some highlights of the Panther DDR4 kit can be found at the back of the packaging, i.e: low power consumption, high frequency, tight timings etc.
The Apacer Panther DDR4 8GB memory kit comes with a black-gold themed heat spreader that looks very decent, giving the impression that this is one hell of a performance RAM you'll be getting.
The heat spreader however, is made with a thin metal piece that can be damaged if it is to be taken off by force - we managed to remove it safely with a thin razor blade and no part of the Panther DDR4 kit is damaged during the removal process.
Under the heat spreader we find the Hynix IC H5AN4G8NMFR that is known for its good overclocking potential.
Test Bench Configuration | |
CPU Cooler | Corsair Hydro Series H100i |
CPU | Intel Core i7 5820K |
Motherboard | ASRock OC Formula X99/3.1 |
Memory | Apacer Panther DDR4 |
Primary Hard Drive | Crucial M500 120GB SSD |
Power Supply | be quiet! Straight Power 10 600W |
Chassis | Vector Bench Case |
We have the Apacer Panther DDR4 installed on the system configuration as above to conduct our test as per below - Special thanks to ASRock Malaysia for sending over the OC Formula X99/3.1 motherboard, be quiet! for sending over the Straight Power 10 600W power supply to support the review.
Overclocking
The Apacer Panther DDR4 runs on 2133MHz by default, with timing of 15-15-15-36-2T.
Once the XMP profile is enabled, the Apacer Panther DDR4 runs on a pretty decent speed of 2666MHz with timings of 16-16-16-36-2T.
With few more attempt to push the Apacer Panther DDR4 for more speed, we settled our memory overclocking at the speed of 3000MHz, a bump on DRAM voltage to 1.35v and a pretty neat timing of 14-15-15-35-2T that is able to survive through all the other benchmarks we've conducted.
WinRAR Benchmark
The screenshot above shows the benchmark result of the WinRAR benchmark tool according to the memory speed of 2133MHz, 2666MHz and 3000MHz. For each different speed as per above, we can observe the improvement in terms of the compression performance - higher memory speed does actually affect file compression processes.
SuperPi 32M Benchmark
When it comes to SuperPi 32M benchmark, we want to achieve the lowest possible time when it comes to completing the entire 24 cycles on tthe pi to a specific number of digits. We've ran the test by raising only the memory speed. The result shows that higher memory speed is showing an improvement of over 20 seconds in total.
AIDA64 Memory Benchmark
The Memory Latency benchmark of AIDA64 measures the typical delay when the CPU reads data from system memory. Memory latency time means the penalty measured from the issuing of the read command until the data arrives to the integer registers of the CPU.
The most significant improvement after raising the memory speed will be the memory read speed from 16596MB/s to 23334MB/s and the latency that goes from 79.4ns to 63.1ns. That's a 40% improvement in memory read speed and reduction in latency up to 16.3ns.
Cinebench R11.5
The test scenario in Cinebench R11.5 uses all of your system's processing power to render a photorealistic 3D scene (from the viral "No Keyframes" animation by AixSponza). This scene makes use of various different algorithms to stress all available processor cores.
The overall improvement after raising the memory speed might be difference but few decimal point, but it does somehow improved the overall performance by 11%.
Verdict
Aesthetics aspects wise, the Apacer Panther DDR4 memory kit does looks pretty good in overall, but the only issue which is more subjective here is that it might not suit themed build that is not based on the black-gold theme.
For performance and overclocking test, we didn't manage to hit an ultra high memory speed due to the limitation of our equipment, but we managed to settled with an impressive 3000MHz on the speed with a pretty neat timing of 14-15-15-35-2T - much thanks to the good quality Hynix IC H5AN4G8NMFR used. Imagine what kind of result you can achieve if you have a good motherboard that is paired with a good CPU that comes with a strong IMC?
While its advertised as a gaming memory kit that runs on 2666MHz, the Apacer Panther DDR4 memory kit can actually even better with minimal effort. If you're building at X99 or Z170 system and a 3000MHz memory kit isn't something that fits your budget, why not consider for the Apacer Panther DDR4 memory kit?
Pros
- Good out of the box performance
- Use of good memory IC from Hynix
- Decent overclocking potential
- Backed with lifetime warranty for Apacer
Cons
- Heat spreader is thin and could deform if handled by force
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