INTRODUCTION

   DDR5 RAM might be under the spotlight lately especially due to the release of both the Ryzen 7000 and Intel 13th generation CPUs (and of course the X670E and Z790 motherboards) but DDR4 is not going away, not any time soon. Yes, we may not see anything new in terms of performance gains since that technology has been maxed out already but most manufacturers will probably keep supporting it in order to cover consumers who are not yet ready to make the transition to DDR5, at least until the first signs that DDR5 is about to be replaced with something new (DDR6?). So this means that DDR4 reviews are still not quite over for me and one of the latest models to appear in the market is the Predator Vesta RGB 32GB 3600MHz CL14 Dual-Channel Kit by ACER which is also what today's review is all about.

   Predator branded storage products are designed and manufactured by BIWIN Storage Technology company, a leading maker of quality flash memory, DRAM memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). Delivering premium products for serious gamers and overclocking enthusiasts looking for the ultimate experience, our mission is to provide best-in-class memory modules and solid-state drives that enhance overall system performance and gameplay. Defined by faster speeds and gaming-inspired design, these Predator storage products are built to be the Number One choice for gamers worldwide. Founded in 2010, BIWIN focuses on providing global customers with high-quality storage products and specializes in the research, development, manufacturing and sales of memory chip application products.

   The Predator Vesta RGB DDR4 line by ACER includes just dual (2x8/2x16GB) channel kits at 3200/3600/4000MHz frequencies, timings as low as CL14 (3200/3600MHz CL14, 3200MHz CL16, 3600MHz CL18 and 4000MHz CL15) and voltages ranging from 1.35V (3200/3600MHz), 1.45V (3600MHz) and up to 1.5V (4000MHz). Between the silver winged aluminum heatspreaders of the 32GB 3600MHz CL14 modules ACER has placed dual rank, single B-die 8GB modules by Samsung (XMP 2.0 certified with timings set at 14-15-15-35-50) together with 10-layer PCB and a total of 8 RGB LEDs (compatible with all the leading motherboard ARGB/RGB sync technologies including ASUS Aura Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light and ASRock Polychrome Sync). Last but not least ACER covers the entire Predator Vesta RGB DDR4 with a limited lifetime warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The Predator Vesta RGB kit arrived inside a black box that has a large product picture at the front right under the company logo and the supported RGB technologies and next to the capacity and speed.

A few words about the kit along with its features list are both printed at the rear.

Removing the cover reveals a black box with the Predator logo on it.

Along with the Predator Vesta RGB modules inside the box you'll also find the instruction manual and warranty paper.

THE PREDATOR VESTA RGB 32GB DDR4 3600MHZ CL14

The silver winged heatspreaders of the Predator Vesta RGB modules look great.

At the rear typically we find a small sticker with the module’s timings, capacity, frequency, barcode, voltage and serial number.

Aside the LED bar at the top of the modules we also see the Predator name.

The Predator Vesta RGB heatspreaders measure 50mm in height and to see what that means i placed one of the modules right next to the ACER Predator Apollo RGB, HP V10 RGB, ADATA Spectrix D45G, Neo Forza MARS RGB and the Lexar Ares RGB.

Once plugged in the top RGB LED bar of the Predator Vesta RGB looks very nice.

As always you can check most details about this kit from the Thaiphoon Burner software.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Thanks to XMP (2.0/3.0) profiles the only thing one needs to do in order to run this RAM kit at its advertised frequency, timings and voltages is to choose/enable it from within the BIOS and reboot. That being said if you're into overclocking you may not wish to use the main XMP profile but instead to choose your very own frequency, timings and voltages to achieve even higher performance numbers and that's exactly what we'll also be doing during our DDR4 tests. To be more specific aside testing each kit with its XMP profile we will also be upping the voltages (up to 1.4V max – even though most kits can function at higher voltages I don’t recommend doing so / RAM modules that use 1.4V/1.45V/1.5V will be tested up to 1.45V/1.5V/1.55V respectively) and frequencies (200MHZ increments) until i find the maximum achievable stable frequency. I also thought about upping voltages and reducing timings instead of increasing the frequency of the modules as high as it can go (always stable and without using 0.5-1V over stock) but the end results are pretty much identical.

   As for the how I'll be testing each DDR4/DDR5 Quad/Dual-Kit to arrive in the lab well there aren't that many benchmark programs that only test RAM (or at least RAM and CPU without anything else coming into play) but I’ve got most of them and so you will be seeing results from following benchmarking programs****, AIDA64 Engineer Edition, Cinebench Release 20, MaxMemm2, Passmark Performance Test (v9 for DDR4 and v10 for DDR5 tests), Sisoftware Sandra Titanium and WPrime v1.55. All tests are performed on a fresh Windows 10 Pro installation (complete with all updates until the day of this review) and are repeated a total of 6 times after which the average numbers get recorded into the charts.

* In addition to Quad-Channel tests since March 2020 I’ll also be using the brand new I9-9900K+Z390 DARK test rig (check above) for Dual-Channel RAM tests.
** Since May 2020 three game benchmarks (Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, GEARS 5 and Metro Exodus tested on the X299 system at 1080p resolution and with the ASUS ROG RTX2060 OC set at Gaming Mode) have also been added in the charts.
*** In September 2021 i replaced the Intel I9-9900K+Z390 DARK test rig for a brand new Intel I9-11900K+Z590 DARK one (you can access all the Z390 DARK based tests here).
**** For DDR5 tests I’m using the Intel Core I9-12900K (E-Cores Off / RING 4.9GHz) and in order to showcase potential gains between stock and overclocked clocks/frequencies I’ll also be using Forza Horizon 5 (1080p/Extreme Graphics).

TEST RESULTS - XMP PROFILE / DUAL CHANNEL

TEST RESULTS - OVERCLOCK / DUAL CHANNEL

Hitting 3800MHz at 1.48V without changing the timings was easy, unfortunately the kit would not climb higher than that (not even with 1.53V)

CONCLUSION

   Even though it’s pretty obvious that BIWIN based the ACER Predator Vesta RGB line on their HP V10 RGB line they actually took things a bit further by adding a low latency 4GHz kit (pretty certain this kit could reach 4GHz too at CL15). Using B-die Samsung chips again was a good choice, not only does this line feature very low latencies but there’s certainly room for overclocking. Unfortunately, i wasn’t able to surpass 3800MHz at stock CAS latency of 14 (i did go up to 4GHz with the HP V10 RGB but that was an 16GB kit and yes that plays a role) but even that is a very good result. The RGB effects also look very nice, yes, nothing new compared to many other similar kits in the market with a LED bar on top but certainly better than not at all. As for the heatspreaders silver may not be for everyone but with performance like this i don’t think anyone will mind.

   The Predator Vesta RGB 32GB DDR4 3600MHz CL14 dual-channel kit by ACER currently retails for USD249.99 inside the USA (Newegg.com) and for 305Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price which isn’t as high as it initially looks, not for a Samsung B-Die kit (most similar models retail at around the same price range). That being said Samsung B-Die is not 100% compatible with every computer out there so if you’re interested in this kit, you should first make sure that it’s compatible with your motherboard. All said and done the ACER Predator Vesta RGB 32GB 3600MHz CL14 dual-channel kit delivers on pretty much everything from performance to capacity and even warranty and for that it gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Very Good Performance (Up to 3800MHz CL14)
- Build Quality (Samsung B Die)
- Overclocking Potential (Samsung B Die)
- Design (Silver Winged Heatspreaders)
- Limited Lifetime Warranty
- RGB Lighting (8 LEDs)

CONS

- 1.45V Base Voltage
- Price (For Some)
- Overall Availability