Not that long ago we caught wind of a news blast that Apacer was releasing a whole new name and design in their DDR4 lineup, and we rushed to our email box to send off a request. Apacer graciously said yes to the request and had since delivered two packages, each containing a single stick of their new Panther DDR4 memory. While this may not be the speediest of kits that money can buy, as you will soon see, we had tons of fun with these sticks, and performance for those willing to overclock this kit also takes a tremendous boost.
As of right now, the Panther DDR4 is shipped as 8GB single sticks, of which we received two of the Panther DDR4 RAM modules at a speed of 2666MHz. This kit supports both Intel Z170 and B150 chipsets via the XMP 2.0 profile programmed to them, sporting timings of 16-16-16-36 2T with the use of only 1.2 volts. These sticks can also be purchased in 4GB density, and speeds range from 2133MHz, 2400MHz, and the 2666MHz sticks we received, the slower speeds, however, do come with slightly lower 15-15-15-36 2T timings.
It does seem that we are getting to review these sticks before they have made it to market. From what we have found on the internet is that they have released an MSRP for each stick, as you have to buy single channel sticks and make the density you wish to end up with. For the 2133MHz stick, expect to pay $49.99 per stick, $53.99 for each 2400MHz stick, and for the sticks we were sent today, they cost $59.99, for a total of $119.98 for the two sticks we are about to show you. In the grand scheme of DDR4 at this speed, you can find some more affordable deals, but we assure you, you have never seen a kit like this, and in our experience testing DDR4, not too many kits are as fun to tinker with as these have proven to be.
The packaging screams of power and dominance with the automatic rifle image behind the Panther name displayed in gold at the top. The lower section offers a window to get a view of the unique embossments to the side of the heat spreaders, as well as their "claw" tips on the top of them.
Apacer utilizes a sophisticated technique of shaping and coloring the black spreaders feature a mirror-like finish to the gold of the cat on the left and the Panther naming. Opting to use a multi-layer black PCB sandwiched between the spreaders also makes sure that these sticks will look terrific in any system, but definitely will look better on gold accented Intel Skylake-based motherboards.
Each stick carries the 78.CAGNF.AF30B part number with an individual serial number found below it. There is also the notation that this is an 8GB stick of DDR4, and the XMP 2.0 profile allows them to run at 2666MHz with 16-16-16-36 2T timings. Although the sticker does not show it, these sticks sip power with only 1.20 volts requires once enabling the XMP profile in BIOS.
While Apacer could have left the tips of the "claw" heat spreaders black, or even just gold, they decided to dress things up a bit more and went with both silver and gold. This design is reminiscent of other RAM we have seen, but the pattern and coloration give users a unique look once these sticks are installed on a motherboard.
Apacer uses thermal tape to adhere the spreaders to each side of the sticks, which happen to be dual sided with memory ICs on both sides of the stick in this instance. Once removed, we find that not only do the ICs go through an intensive binning process as stated on the Apacer site, we found this kit to be based on SK Hynix ICs.
While the kit boots at the JEDEC specification of 2133MHz with straight 15 timings, once we enabled the XMP 2.0 profile, we found the Panther DDR4 to now be running at 2666MHz with 16-16-16-36 2T timings without a hiccup.
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