Patriot is joining a growing list of solid state drive makers that have released speedy new drives leveraging the PCI Express 4.0 spec. As with competing models, Patriot's newly minted Viper VP4100 SSDs are rated to deliver up to 5GB/s (5,000MB/s) of sequential write performance, along with up to 4.4GB/s of sequential writes.
Those numbers are about as good as it gets right now. Whether you need that level of performance is another matter—in our roundup of the best SSDs for gaming, we have yet to highlight a PCIe 4.0 model, simply because there are cheaper options available that are just fine for playing games (even a SATA drive is sufficient).
Nevertheless, PCIe 4.0 models are the fastest around, for those who can take advantage of the speedy read and write performance. Phison's E16 is the go-to controller for these types of SSDs, and it's what the the VP4100 uses.
To take full advantage of a PCIe 4.0 SSD, you'll need a compatible platform. In the consumer space, that means pairing an X570 motherboard with an AMD Ryzen 3000 series CPU, as Intel has not yet adopt PCIe 4.0 support.
Cooling is also important, in terms of not only hitting the maximum rated speeds, but also maintaining them for any length of time.
"Traditional NVMe SSDs have a performance restriction to maintain a workable operating temperature which can limit read and write data transfer speeds. To address this issue, the VP4100 M.2 SSD has been designed with an external thermal sensor to monitor internal temperatures and prevent the risk of overheating. Aiming to decrease performance drops, VP4100 features a built-in military-grade aluminum heatshield for providing exceptional thermal dissipation under the heaviest of workloads," Patriot explains.
In other words, it comes with a heatsink (as do most high-end NVMe SSDs, though not all) and an onboard thermal sensor to keep track of temps.
Patriot is offering the VP4100 in 2TB and 1TB capacities. MSRPs are high on both drives—$599.99 for the 2TB model and $399.99 for the 1TB model. However, street pricing looks to be considerably lower. Newegg has the 2TB model listed at $429.99 and the 1TB model for $229.99.
That's still pricier than some of the competition. Here's a look at some PCIe 4.0 SSD options:
- Sabrent Rocket 2TB SSD—$399.99, Amazon
- Sabrent Rocket 1TB SSD—$206.22, Amazon
- Corsair Force MP600 2TB SSD—$419.99.99, Amazon
- Corsair Force MP600 1TB SSD—$219.99, Amazon
- Inland Performance 2TB SSD—$379.99, Amazon
- Inland Performance 1TB SSD—$179.99, Amazon
Patriot is not the most expensive, though. Gigabyte's Aorus Gen4 models, for example, run $459.99 for 2TB and $259.99 for 1TB on Newegg.
In any event, the Viper VP4100 models should be in stock soon.
