Kingston HyperX 240GB 6Gbps SSD+Capacity, Final Thoughts & Conclusions

Kingston Brings It With HyperX

Kingston's HyperX brand is synonymous with high performance which is why they have placed that badge prominently on their newest SSD. This marks Kingston's first SATA III based SSD and is also their first foray into the world of SandForce with the HyperX drive being powered by the SF-2281 controller. They join an ever growing crowd of manufacturers putting out similar drives so Kingston has some work to do to set their drive apart from the rest. After spending some time with the drive, I think they are off to a great start. There are two capacities available - 120 GB and 240 GB. Both are available as a standalone drive or with an upgrade bundle. Pricing is currently at $269.99 for the 120 GB and $499.99 for the 240 GB. Add another $30 to the 120 GB or $50 to the 240 GB drive for the bundled versions. Kingston sent us the 240 GB bundle for our review.

The HyperX drive has one of the most unique exterior designs we've seen. With a brushed aluminum plate in an x-ish shape on the front, fit onto a blue plastic shell, it definitely catches the eye and begs to be displayed prominently in a windowed chassis. Of all the drives I've tested, this is my favorite so far in terms of aesthetics. Kingston didn't stop there.

Kingston HyperX SSD 240GB Features:

• SandForce controller technology
• High-speed SATA Rev 3.0 (6 Gb/s) transfer speeds
• Performance — incredible speeds for advanced gaming, multitasking, and multimedia computing power
• Reliable — much less likely to fail than a standard hard drive
• Shock-Proof — dropping your notebook no longer means losing your data
• Cool & Quiet — runs silent and with no moving mechanical parts to generate heat
• Innovative — uses NAND Flash memory components
• Supports S.M.A.R.T., TRIM, and Garbage Collection
• Guaranteed — three-year Kingston® warranty, 24/7 tech support

It's obvious Kingston spent as much time planning their packaging/marketing as they did on the design of the drive. The artwork on the box make it feel more like a graphics card than an SSD.

Nestled in a foam bed is the drive itself. Removing the foam reveals hints of the bundle contents through the HyperX styled "x" carved into the foam itself. The packaging is superb!

Kingston HyperX SSD Features:

• Form factor — 2.5"
• Controller — 2nd Generation SandForce Controller SF-2281
• Components — Intel 25nm Compute-Quality MLC NAND (5k P/E Cycles)
• Interface: — SATA Rev 3.0 (6Gb/s), SATA Rev 2.0 (3Gb/s)
• Capacities2 — 120 GB, 240 GB
• Sequential reads 6Gb/s — 555MB/s for all capacities
• Sequential writes 6Gb/s — 510MB/s for all capacities
• Sustained Random 4k Read/Write —
• 120GB - 20,000/60,000 IOPS
• 240GB - 40,000/60,000 IOPS
• Max Random 4K R/W4 —
• 120GB - 95,000/70,000 IOPS
• 240GB - 95,000/60,000 IOPS
• PCMARK Vantage HDD Suite Score5 —
• 120GB - 81,196
• 240GB - 81,394
• Warranty/support: — Three-year warranty with free 24/7 support
• Power Consumption —
• 120GB: 0.455 W (TYP) Idle / 1.6 W (TYP) Read / 2.0 W (TYP) Write
• 240GB: 0.455 W (TYP) Idle / 1.5 W (TYP) Read / 2.05 W (TYP) Write
• Dimensions — 69.85 x 100 x 9.5mm
• Weight — 94g
• Operating Temperatures — 0°C ~ 70°C
• Storage Temperatures — -40°C ~ 85°C
• Shock Resistance — 1500G
• Vibration Operating — 2.17G
• Vibration Non-Operating — 20G
• MTBF — 1,000,000 Hrs

Included in the bundle is a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter plate complete with screws. A SATA III data cable is also included along with a USB cable to go with an external USB enclosure. A CD containing installation instructions and drive cloning software is included as well.

To assist in the installation, Kingston includes a pen shaped screwdriver with three bits that are stored under the cap on the top. It displays the Kingston HyperX logo and the same colors as the drive. Nice.

All in all, it's a very nice bundle, especially if you have a laptop. The USB enclosure and cloning software make it much easier to upgrade than trying to move it to another system temporarily. Well, so far we are very impressed and we haven't even run a single benchmark. First, let's have a look inside.

Capacity, Final Thoughts & Conclusions

Predictably, there's 223 GB available to the user on the Kingston HyperX 240 GB drive once the it's formatted. This leaves a sufficient amount for the controller to use for maintenance and wear-leveling to keep things running smoothly. I say predictable because for a time, the amount overprovisioning being used was varying from almost nothing to 20% of the drive capacity depending on the manufacturer. Apparently, some consensus has been reached as they are all mostly equal now.

Where to start? First, I can't say enough about what a great job Kingston did with this drive. Not only does it look killer, the packaging and optional bundle are top notch. People may be asking themselves why such a big deal over the packaging? Simply because presentation and first impressions are everything and a well marketed product conveys a greater sense of value to the buyer. It may cause some to cringe when I say this but I almost felt like I was opening an Apple product and for those that are wondering - that was a compliment. It screams first-rate and I would expect no less from a Kingston HyperX product. That's not to say others haven't done a nice job with their products, I just feel that Kingston went that extra mile.

On the performance side, things were no different. This drive either led or was right behind the leader in nearly every benchmark we threw at it. Kingston rates the maximum read/write specifications as 555MB/s for max reads and 510MB/s for max writes. We actually saw slightly more than that on the ATTO benchmark so their numbers appear to be spot on. The combination of the SF-2281 controller and the ONFI 2.2 NAND is a powerful combination. There really isn't another consumer SATA III drive on the market that can claim superiority over the HyperX. At least not that we've seen. However, there are a few competitors that are effectively even in performance, namely the OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G and the OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS drive. For comparison, the Kingston and OCZ drives carry a three year warranty and the OWC carries a 5 year warranty. Each are priced roughly the same so it's a matter of preference and available options (OWC offers a drive enclosure as well) available.

So all that good stuff I talked about above? Yeah, it costs money to manufacture and assemble. The HyperX drives can't be listed amongst the most affordable but neither can Italian sports cars. You don't buy them because of their value but rather for their performance and magnificence. While these SSDs won't draw a flock of women or impress the valet, they will give a boost to your PC's performance as good or better than any other SATA III drive currently on the market. The 120 GB drive (SH100S3/120G) is$269.99 and the 240 GB (SH100S3/240G) can be found for $499.99. This is the non-bundled drive pricing which puts us in the neighborhood of $2.24 - $2.43 per usable GB. As mentioned, this pricing is in line with other enthusiast drives exhibiting similar performance. Those on a budget may look towards more value oriented drives that tend to be closer to the $2.00 per usable GB mark. Those interested in the bundles can find the 120 GB (SH100S3B/120G) for $299.99 and the 240 GB (SH100S3B/240G) at $549.99. These prices might appear high to some, but they are actually less expensive than the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 240GB SSD and the Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD performed equally to the OWC drive that costs $549.99 for just the bare SSD. 

We feel that Kingston has done a superb job with their new HyperX line of SSD's and are deserving of the Legit Reviews Editor's Choice Award!

Legit Bottom Line: As usual, Kingston has not disappointed with their HyperX brand. Their first such SSD to carry the HyperX name is pure excellence from the performance and design all the way down to the packaging and impressive bundle options.