Solid-state drives are continuing to grow more and more in popularity with consumers slowly realizing the benefits of such devices, with also a bit of help from the rise in spindle-based hard disk prices. Today we’ll be checking out another Sandforce-powered offering from Kingston targeting the enterprise and business consumers with the SSDnow V+200 line of SSDs that ‘s offering top performance for a more reasonable price. Let’s get on with the review and see if this SSD is worth making its way to business use as well as mainstream users. Let’s make this showy!
We’re back again with another product from Kingston, another SSD at that with their SSDnow V+200 series of Sandforce-driven solid-state drives with asynchronous NAND. We previously took a look at the performance SSD from Kingston, the HyperX SSD which uses synchronous NAND which has higher performance than their asynchronous counterpart. The difference is that async NAND cost much less and has performance below that of synchronous NAND, still the performance is still way beyond traditional magnetic drives. Today we have the 90GB SSDNow V+200 for testing so let’s get going.
[toggle title=”Specifications:”]- Form factor: 2.5â€
- Interface: SATA Rev 3.0 (6Gb/s) , SATA Rev 2.0 (3Gb/s)
- Capacities: 60GB, 90GB, 120GB, 240GB, 480GB
- Sequential reads:
- Sequential writes:
- Sustained Random 4k Read/Write:
- Max Random 4k Read/Write2:
- Warranty/support: three-year warranty with free 24/7 support
- Power Consumption: 0.565 W (TYP) Idle / 1.795 W (TYP) Read / 3.230 W (TYP) Write
- Storage Temperature: -40°C ~ 85°C
- Operating Temperature: 0°C ~ 70°C
- Dimensions: 69.85 x 100 x 9.5mm
- Weight: 115 grams
- Vibration Operating: 2.17G
- Vibration Non-Operating: 20G
- MTBF: 1,000,000 Hrs
- SATA Rev. 3.0 – 535MB/s
- SATA Rev. 2.0 – 280MB/s
- SATA Rev. 3.0 – 460MB/s, SATA Rev 2.0 – 260MB/s
- 60GB – 12,000/47,000 IOPS
- 90GB – 20,000/47,000 IOPS
- 120GB – 20,000/44,000 IOPS
- 240GB – 36,000/43,000 IOPS
- 480GB – 43,000/30,000 IOPS
- 60GB – 85,000/60,000 IOPS
- 90GB – 85,000/57,000 IOPS
- 120GB – 85,000/55,000 IOPS
- 240GB – 85,000/43,000 IOPS
- 480GB – 75,000/34,000 IOPS
CLOSER LOOK
| [singlepic id=4884 w=280 h=200 float=center]Kingston packages the SSDNow V+ in simple blister packaging with the product clearly visible in the front. Some may be concerned of the protection of this package but Kingston states that the SSD is shockproof. Still, revisions in the protective nature of the packaging could be in order. The Combo Kit comes in a box though. | [singlepic id=4885 w=280 h=200 float=center] The back of the packaging highlights some marketing bullets translated into multiple languages. |
| [singlepic id=4886 w=280 h=200 float=center]Inside the packaging is a simple offering of the SSD itself and a leaflet. | [singlepic id=4887Â w=280 h=200 float=center] The SSDNow V+200 is clad in a metallic grey body that houses the internal components. The design is fairly simple and exudes a business-appeal. |
| [singlepic id=4888 w=280 h=200 float=center] | |
PERFORMANCE
We test out the SSDnow V+200 with a couple of benchmarks and we use the average of 3 runs for our graphs.
In our HD Tach read test, the SSDNow V+200 shows decent numbers easily ousting the incredibly fast hard drive from Seagate. On average, we see the OCZ Agility 3 smacking the SSDNow V+200 but noticing how the burst numbers came, Kingston’s value-SSD shows some potential. This, given the right circumstances, show’s the V+200 can do much more.
[singlepic id=4986 w=480 h=320 float=center]We measured write performance with HD Tune. In this benchmark, the SSDNow V+200 is well within respectable figures.
[singlepic id=4987 w=480 h=320 float=center]Going over to Crystal DiskMark, we see some stiff competition with the OCZ Agility 3 trading blows with the Kingston SSDNow V+200 with the Kingston SSD besting the competition in majority of the tests.
[singlepic id=4989 w=480 h=320 float=center]AS-SSD paints a more aggressively competitive picture for our contending drives but again, the Kingston SSDNow V+200 edges the Agility 3 by just a hair strand.
[singlepic id=4990 w=480 h=320 float=center] [singlepic id=4991 w=480 h=320 float=center]Finally we bench our SSD in ATTO. This is a good test to see how the SSDNow V+200’s performance scales as file size increases. Noticing the trend on both graphs, the SSDNow V+200 shows consistency in its performance leaving the Agility 3 by a noticeable gap behind. Also in this test, we were able to beat Kingston’s rating of 535MB/s read speed with 554MB/s. That is truly impressive and will show when the right circumstances present themselves.
CONCLUSION
Taking into perspective the target-audience of this SSD, we will focus on its features and the consistency of its performance. Those who are looking for high-end drive might want to check out Kingston’s performance line of HyperX SSD to suit their needs but going back to what we have on hand, the SSDNow V+200, Kingston delivers an affordable SSD to businesses and enterprise consumers that packs solid performance.
Kingston lists the SSDNow V+200 90GB at US$170 with the Combo Kit putting an additional US$15 for some very useful extras. With such fierce competition abound from other manufacturers, some at lower prices and similar configurations, the SSDNow V+200 has a hard time trying to separate itself from the pack. Kingston does manage to edge out the competition in some tests and put out respectable figures making them a much viable choice versus the competition.
In closing, we have no problems recommending the SSDNow V+200 from Kingston to people looking to jump on to the SSD bandwagon. The performance increase from a regular HDD will be highly appreciated.
