Patriot Viper VP4300 review: a long-lasting SSD workhorse for PC and PS5
Patriot Viper VP4300: Two-minute review
With Sony’s PlayStation 5 offering support for a handful of SSD drive types, PC and console gamers alike have more choices when it comes to expandable storage and the Patriot Viper VP4300 comes with a lot to recommend it.
The Viper VP4300 SSD utilizes PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe technology and includes a DDR4 DRAM cache. It offers two heat shield design options: an aluminum heat shield & graphene heatshield, both available on the 1TB and 2TB variants. Patriot promises sequential read speeds up to 7,400MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 6,800MB/s, and this is born out in my testing.
The 2TB SKU we got in for review has a US MSRP of $189.99 (about £155/AU$270), which isn't cheap, but few, if any, of the best SSD models that offer this kind of performance will be any cheaper right now. The 1TB SKU comes in much cheaper at $119.99 (about £100/AU$168), so if you're on something of a budget, you do have some options here.
Plus, there’s so much to appreciate with the Viper VP4300 SSD that it's easily the best M.2 SSD for gamers who might want to use it in their PC or PS5, making it a worthwhile investment.
Whatever gaming machine you're buying it for, it'll work, and the graphene heatshield will help keep things cool inside your PS5 while the aluminum heatshield will do the same in your PC.
When it comes to PC Gaming, the SSD drive’s performance is respectable though there were some weak spots, like its lower PassMark Disk benchmark score. Its CrystalDiskMark 8 scores were excellent and in line with the promised speed and expectations for a drive such as this.
This means that it’s speedy when it comes to tasks like installations or copying, saving, and transferring files, and my lived experience with it indicates that some anomalous scores we got during benchmarking were indeed outliers (but not all).
However, PC gamers should know that there are definitely faster SSD choices out there, especially if you have a PCIe 5.0-capable system.
VR games, for example, are notorious for long load times on PC and so the observed lower read speed on the Viper VP4300 could impact wait times with these kinds of cases. Even playing more visually low-impactful games like SuperHot VR and Cooking Simulator VR took nearly a full minute to get from SteamVR launching to the main menu screen.
More traditional non-VR games were affected by lower reading times as well. Alan Wake 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 took a bit longer than usual to load from start up to main menu but weren’t annoyingly slow. Even the initial load from the main menu to the most recent checkpoint took a little bit more time.
On the other hand, the Viper VP4300 may be great for gamers who are also creatives since export times to the drive in Adobe Premiere Pro were very zippy.
One huge positive in the Viper VP4300's column is its 2000TBW endurance rating, in addition to its standard five-year warranty. This means that theoretically, PC gamers who blow through their 2TB SSD drive storage can get a bigger storage replacement and use the Viper VP4300 on their PS5. Adding to those longer-lasting capabilities are the two heatsink options.
Here's how the Patriot Viper VP4300 performed in our benchmark tests:
CrystalDiskMark Sequential: 7,389 read / 6,799 write
CrystalDiskMark Random Q32: 4,459 read / 3,805 write
Second 25GB file copy: 16 seconds
25GB file transferrate : 1,677 MB/s
PCMark10 SSD Overall: 2,660
PCMark10 SSD Memory Bandwidth: 323.93 MB/s
Our review unit came with the aluminum and graphene heat shields, though these definitely aren't hot-swappable. During testing, the Viper VP4300 got as hot as 57 degrees C when gaming but poked out a bit.
The other graphene headshield does look a bit better and leaves a smaller profile, especially useful for devices like laptops or the PS5. More so than gaming performance, it’s clear that the Patriot Viper VP4300's real niche is in its endurance.
While its read speeds don't top the charts, the Viper VP4300’s respectable performance, especially in write-intensive tasks, and compatibility with PS5 make it a versatile option that any gamer should consider. Additionally, its robust 2000TBW endurance and five-year warranty underscore its longevity, making the Viper VP4300 a valuable investment for gamers and creatives seeking reliable, high-performance storage.
Should you buy the Patriot Viper VP4300?
Buy the Patriot Viper VP4300 if...
You want an SSD compatible with Sony’s PS5
PC gamers and PlayStation 5 owners in need of additional storage may have a viable option
You require an SSD that’ll last a while
Having a 2000TBW endurance and five-year warranty means this SSD is going to last a long time.
Don't buy it if...
You want the absolute best in gaming performance
Again, having lower reading benchmarks means gaming performance for loading may not be up to snuff compared to rival SSDs available around the same price.
You need an SSD that’s affordable
The 2TB version of the Patriot Viper VP4300 is around $150 which many may find expensive compared to others that offer similar or better performance.
Patriot Viper VP4300: Also consider
If my Patriot Viper VP4300 review has you looking for other options, here are two more SSDs to consider...
First reviewed January 2024
We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained - regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.
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