Successful first attempt? – Acer Predator Talos DDR4-3600 CL18 2x 8 GB Memory Kit | Test with Benchmarks and Teardown

1 - Overview Talos SKUs and Specs 2 - Packaging, Looks and Specs 3 - Teardown and Heatsink-Performance 4 - Test systems and overclocking 5 - AIDA64 Memory and Geekbench 3 6 - Gaming-Performance in Cyberpunk 2077 7 - Final thoughts and conclusion

As promised in the middle of the week, today we have the honor of reviewing the new Talos memory kit from Acer Predator, who now want to establish themselves in the storage and memory segment of the hardware industry. The bar is set just as high as the demands the brand places on itself. Whether the first generation of Predator memory modules can also meet these demands, we will take a look at in this review.

While most of the alleged RAM “manufacturers” only help themselves to finished products from the OEM shelf and only add a sticker with their name, very few take care for the selection of the components, the production of the modules or even the packaging of the installed memory chips themselves. However, Acer also knows that exactly those subtleties are essential to be able to meet the competition on an equal footing. That’s where Acer’s partner BIWIN comes in. As an established player in the chip manufacturing industry, BIWIN has been entrusted with the complete development, management and distribution of Predator Storage.

In concrete terms, this means that all parts of the development come from a single source and are coordinated in the best possible way – from product marketing to the design of the PCB and heatspreader to the chip packaging of the memory ICs. For end customers, this results in more performance and better quality at a lower price, quite simply. Best conditions therefore for today’s test object.

This becomes especially clear when you look at the specs of the SKUs presented, and there really is something for every requirement and price segment. From the JEDEC-near DDR4-2666 CL18 budget-bin, up to the high-end range with DDR4-4800 CL19 and from 8 GB up to 64 GB kits the list of kits of the presented Talos series extends. BIWIN and Acer are thus entering the market directly on a full scale and want to offer the right product for every customer and use case directly at launch, ambitious!

The kit from today’s review falls into the mid-range category with 3600 MHz CL18 with plenty of performance as a perfect pairing for current mainstream CPUs, but without immediately leaving a deep crater in the virtual wallet. Specifically, the model number of the kit is “TALOS-16GB-3600-1R8-2X”, from which both total capacity, clock speed, rank and module count can be read. As a more cryptic part number, the kit is also called “BL.9BWWR.215”.

I’ve put the complete specsheet with all SKUs here for you to scroll through, as it can currently also be found on predatorstorage.com. In addition to the more conservative models, like the one in today’s test, there are also some high-performance variants hiding there. So the SKUs 3200 14-14-14-34, 3600 16-16-16-36, 4000 17-17-17-37 and 4400 19-19-19-39 should almost certainly use Samsung 8 Gbit B-Die ICs and thus be at the top of the proverbial food chain performance-wise.

Also, there are SKUs with even higher clock speeds and relatively loose tRCD, tRP timings like the 4800 19-26-26-46, which is reminiscent of the recently tested Adata kit and looks suspiciously like SK Hynix DJR ICs. Since the new Intel Rocket Lake platform can currently achieve the highest clock rates with these memory chips, it would be obvious if Acer Predator also had a SKU in store for this. We will see if there will be a test or two on this soon, so keep your eyes open.