This must be a frustrating time for any manufacturer producing SSDs with the SandForce controller. You're sat waiting for the next generation of controller while Marvell, OCZ and Samsung gleefully launch their own to entice the market. If you're a smaller company you just have to suck it up, but if you're Intel or Kingston, you must act now to try to stem the interest in the new toys.
Just as Intel has done with the 335 series, Kingston has come up with a new range of drives matching the old LSI SandForce SF-2281 controllers with the latest ideas in NAND technology. Where the 335 uses the latest Intel's own 20nm MLC NAND, Kingston has turned to Toshiba for the NAND in the SSDNow 300V.
Aimed at consumers and business users, the SSDNow V300 is built around Toshiba's latest 19nm Toggle NAND, making it the first SandForce equipped drive to do so. Plextor is already using it in the M5 Pro series, but its drives use Marvell controllers.
The officially quoted sustained read/write figures for the drive are 450MB/s for both, which actually turned out to be a very conservative estimate compared to the figures we got when testing the drives with the ATTO benchmark. We recorded a read figure of 556MB/s and 527MB/s for writes, which is significantly better than advertised, but not something you're going to know unless you sit there staring at benchmarks all day.
Like us. When it comes to being tested with incompressible data, the old Achilles' heel of the SandForce controller shows itself. The performance of the drive dips dramatically, as expected in the AS SSD benchmark, producing sequential reads of 458MB/s and writes of just 164MB/s.
It was a similar story with the CrystalDiskMark benchmark. The default incompressible data test produced sequential read/write scores of 424MB/s and 173MB/s respectively.
Benchmarks
Sequential read performance AS SSD: Megabytes per second: Bigger is better KINGSTON SSDNOW 300V 120GB: 458 OCZ VERTEX 4 256GB [V1.5FW]: 435 INTEL SSD 335 240GB: 484
Sequential write performance AS SSD: Megabytes per second: Bigger is better KINGSTON SSDNOW 300V 120GB: 164 OCZ VERTEX 4 256GB [V1.5FW]: 477 INTEL SSD 335 240GB: 313
4K random write performance AS SSD: Megabytes per second: Bigger is better KINGSTON SSDNOW 300V 120GB: 57 OCZ VERTEX 4 256GB [V1.5FW]: 57 INTEL SSD 335 240GB: 56
Branded
Currently the drive is available in just three capacities - 60GB, 120GB and 240GB - with each capacity available in four different options: bare drive, notebook upgrade, desktop upgrade and a combo notebook/desktop upgrade kit. The latter was how Kingston supplied our 120GB review sample.
The notebook/desktop combo comes with an impressive box full of goodies: a pair of 3.5-inch mounting brackets for a PC, plus data and power cables, a 2.5-inch external USB 2.0 drive enclosure, a 7mm to 9.5mm adaptor so you can fit the drive into chunkier notebooks without it rattling around, an installation DVD and finally some hard drive cloning software. That's a whole lot of goodies, and thankfully makes upgrading a real cinch.
We've certainly seen some faster drives out there in the wild, and the SandForce controller is starting to really show its age now. Kingston though is being very aggressive in terms of pricing, and in such a crowded market that could give it an undeniable edge. With all that said though, prices of the quicker drives are dropping, so you could bide your time.
Having looked at several of the last couple of iterations of the SSD Now series including the V200 128GB and V Series 128GB, its clear that Kingston is targeting the consumer looking to move from a mechanical drive to a solid state drive that does not want to break the bank on cost. With that target in mind the SSD Now V300 is available as a bare drive or as part of a desktop or notebook installation kit for a small upcharge. Even with the upcharge the cost per gigabyte of capacity is going to come in at less than a dollar per gigabyte - an impressive feat.
Kingston's SSD Now V300 series drives are available in 60GB, 120GB, and 240GB capacities to fit consumers needs. Kingston worked with LSI to deliver a Sandforce controller customized for use with the latest 19nm NAND used in this V300 drive. Drive specifications include sequential read/write results of up to 450MB/s, maximum random read/write IOPs of 85,000/60,000 respectively, with a 1,000,000 MTBF lifespan. Kingston quotes a ten times improvement over traditional mechanical drives in Futuremark's PCMark Vantage HDD test; a boast that is entirely plausible. Add in a three-year warranty and it looks like Kingston has a great entry level SSD.
Kingston SSD Now 300V 120GB Closer Look:
Kingston's SSD Now 300V is offered in several different packages for the consumer. It is available as the drive by itself, as a desktop upgrade kit that I am looking at today, as a notebook upgrade kit, and as a combination notebook/desktop upgrade kit. Priced accordingly you can choose which path to take. The front panel shows an image of the drive, points out that the V300 is a solid state drive that runs up to ten times faster than a mechanical drive, and has a read/write rating of up to 450MB/s. The back side of the package shows the three step process for upgrading to a solid state drive along with the contents of the kit.
As a kit the packaging is quite a bit larger than you traditionally see with an SSD. A large [relatively] formed cardboard shell holds the SSD Now V300 drive and the installation components that allow the end user to install the drive into a desktop computer.
The kit includes the 120GB SSD Now V300 drive, a SATA data cable, Molex to SATA power adapter, drive rails to increase the footprint of the drive, and the screws to hold the drive into the drive rails. A pair of disks are included that include an installation guide and drive cloning software. By choosing the correct drive kit you can be sure that Kingston will provide all that is needed to drop the SSD Now V300 120GB drive into place and operating. In this case I did not need the drive rails due to the Corsair 650D I am using having drive cages that are equipped to handle a 2.5 inch form factor drive.
Kingston's SSD Now V300 120GB drive is built in the 2.5 inch form factor. The top of the drive has the Kingston logo, the capacity of the drive listed [120GB], model number, consecutive serial number, and the voltage requirements of the V300 drive. The back side is blank with the exception of a 'Do Not Tamper' sticker. The screws holding the drive together are security-style Torx screws making this drive difficult to get open without the proper tools. Mounting holes on the side and bottom of the drive follow the mounting points for the form factor allowing it to be installed in several different orientations. Connectivity includes SATA power and DATA connections. The SSD Now V300 120GB drive is a SATA 6Gb/s drive that is backwards compatible with SATA 3Gb/s standards. Internally Kingston uses an LSI/Sandforce SF-2281 controller that manages the 19nm Toshiba NAND package.
Traditional 2.5 inch FF solid state drives usually are in the 9mm thick range yet this V300 drive comes in at a mere 7mm thick allowing added compatibility into slimmer notebook/Ultrabook applications. As you can see the difference in thickness is substantial when compared to a standard thickness solid state drive.
With a rating of 450MB/s sequential read/write, the SSD Now V300 120GB drive is not the fastest in the pack yet will offer a significant performance upgrade path for less than $1 per gigabyte of capacity.
How fast is the Kingston SSDNOW V300?
With burst sequential read/write speeds of 497/166 MBps and 4k burst read/write speeds of 30/97 MBps the 120GB V300 is amongst the slower SSDs I have seen.
Are Kingston SSDs reliable?
In addition to performance, Kingston SSDs are known for their reliability. These devices are designed to withstand vibration, shock, and temperature variations, making them a safe choice for demanding environments or those looking for a durable storage solution. Installing a Kingston SSD is also simple and convenient.
Is the Kingston a400 120GB SSD any good?
SUMMARY: This drive is a great deal for improved performance if you don't need a whole lot of space. It's top-notch for an entry-level SSD, but because of how bare-bones it is, you might need to be prepared for a very slightly more difficult process to set this up than with some other popular SSD choices.
Is A Kingston SSD good for gaming?
Kingston's fast and reliable SATA and NVMe SSDs are designed to provide a range of storage solutions that are the preferred choice for PC builders, content creators, and console gamers. Upgrade the performance storage and reliability of your system.