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Kingston SSDNow V+ 256GB

Nathan Edwards — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:30:00 -0600

A Samsung SSD by any other name...

You might think GPU and CPU upgrades happen quickly, but they’re practically glacial compared to the SSD market, where a platform can go from Kick Ass Award–winning performance to merely good in a few months.

Witness Kingston’s SSDNow V+ 256GB, essentially a rebadge of Samsung’s 256GB drive, to which we gave a Kick Ass Award back in July. The Samsung and Kingston drives, as well as Corsair’s P256 rebadge, all use 256GB of Samsung NAND chips, with the Samsung S3C29RBB01 controller and 128MB of onboard DDR cache to prevent random-write stuttering.

The SSDNow’s sustained average read speeds clocked in at 193.8MB/s, slightly higher than the OEM Samsung version but not quite up to the 209MB/s established by the 160GB Intel X-25M we reviewed in November. Its average sustained writes of 153MB/s trailed behind Indilinx-controlled devices like the Patriot Torqx, with its 175MB/s sustained writes, while the X-25M’s mere 79MB/s seem positively prehistoric by comparison.

The Kingston SSDNow V+ 256GB is a rebadged version of the Samsung drive we reviewed in July.

Random-access read and write speeds on the SSDNow are similar to those of the OEM Samsung drive and Patriot Torqx at .16ms latency for random reads and .24 for random writes. Here, the Intel drive remains king, with .11ms reads and blistering-fast .08ms writes. Premiere Pro scores were similarly middle-of-the-pack for the SSDNow.

The most unusual aspect of the Kingston drive’s benchmarks involved PCMark Vantage HDD, which tests the drive’s performance running Windows-based applications, such as Windows Defender, Media Player, application launches, etc. The first time we ran PCMark Vantage on the drive, we were confronted with a stunningly low score of 5,303 PCMarks—barely higher than a traditional 2TB drive. The second time, much to our surprise, the score jumped to 13,289. After a few more runs, it settled comfortably into a range around 18,400—a little lower than some of its peers, like the first-gen Intel X-25M and Patriot Torqx, but at least in the same neighborhood. None of the other drives we’ve tested that house this Samsung controller showed similar symptoms, and at press time Kingston’s techs were still trying to duplicate the problem.

The Kingston SSDNow V+ 256GB is a good SSD, built on a solid controller, with excellent performance. But we’re not granting this drive a Kick Ass Award, as we did its predecessors. Why? Well, first, the Indilinx-controlled drives we’ve reviewed since July offer slightly better performance, despite their smaller cache size. And Corsair’s P256 SSD, which is virtually identical to the Kingston drive, is $30 cheaper. And considering the still-high price-per-gigabyte that remains the biggest hurdle in SSD adoption, every penny helps.

Kingston Releases 40GB SSD Boot Drive

Paul Lilly — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:36:06 -0500

Solid state drive technology still has a few hurdles to overcome before it supplants traditional hard drives as the mainstream storage medium of choice -- and according to a recent study, HDDs still have at least a decade left -- but as prices come down, more users are finding that it makes sense to boot off of an SSD for a little extra pep. Targeting those consumers, Kingston today released its SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive.

The 'V' as you might have guessed stands for 'Value' and the 'Boot Drive' nomenclature is pretty self-explanatory. The low capacity is a dead giveaway on that latter part, too.

"The SSDNow V Series 40GB Boot Drive offers instant performance enhancement coupled with reliability and lower power consumption at a fraction of the cost of a new system," said Areil Perez, SSD business manager, Kingston. "The 40GB Boot Drive is the latest offering in our V Series SSD line. It provides a low-cost upgrade solution that complements the installed hard disk drive to extend the life cycle of existing desktop computers and workstations in homes and offices."

From a performance standpoint, the 40GB Boot Drive comes rated at up 170MB/s sequential read, but only 40MB/s sequential write. Even still, Kingston claims its new drive muscled a 13,883 score in PCMark Vantage Advanced HDD Suite, compared to just 3,708 for an un-named 7200RPM hard drive during internal testing.

Kingston's 40GB Boot Drive will carry an MSRP of $115 and will begin shipping on November 9, 2009. The company adds you'll be able to find one for as low as $85 after mail-in-rebate when it launches.

Image Credit: Kingston

Kingston Announces Bulky 256GB Thumb Drive

Andy Salisbury — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:34:45 -0500

For those of you that are looking to carry around every piece of information that you might ever need (and most of your family photos) around with you in your pocket, Kingston has got the thumb drive for you.

With the recent introduction of their 256GB thumb drive, you’ll be able to take a plethora of files around with you everywhere you go. The drive itself packs a transfer speed of up to 20MB/sec and a read speed of 10MB/sec. And, if you’re using Vista, it also supports Windows ReadyBoost.

Though, this beast is only available in Europe and the UK for a whopping £565.67 ($931.60) upon custom order.

Image Credit: Kingston

Kingston HyperX 1600MHz Kit Now Available with T1 High-Profile Heatspreaders

Paul Lilly — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:30:20 -0500

More and more memory kits are starting to ship with high-profile heatspreaders, and the latest modules to receive Kingston's T1 makeover is the tri-channel HyperX 1600MHz 6GB kit.

"The 1600MHz frequency is a sweet spot amongst gamers, and combining it with the popular T1 heatspreaders gives enthusiasts a performance advantage through improved heat diffusion while overclocking and gaming," Kingston wrote in a press release.

Kingston says its revised 6GB kit -- part number KHX12800D3T1K3/6GX -- is available now for $155 MSRP. Other HyperX kits sporting "heavy-duty" aluminum T1 heatspreaders include the triple-channel DDR3-2000MHz and DDR3-1866MHz kits, and dual-channel DDR2-1066MHz and DDR2-800MHz kits.

Image Credit: Kingston

Kingston Releases First 128GB Flash Thumb Drive

Paul Lilly — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:07:46 -0500

Yesterday, the largest USB flash drives on the planet checked in at 64GB. Today, Kingston claims the capacity crown with the release of its DataTraveler 200 (DT200), the world's first 128GB USB flash drive that's twice the capacity of yesterday's biggest thumb drives.

"The new DT200's robust storage capability lets consumers store complete libraries of music, photos, and videos.," said Andrew Ewing, USB business manager at Kingston. "It is also a great tool for business users who carry around large databases or files."

Also available in 32GB and 64GB capacities, the DT200 series boasts read and write speeds of up to 20MB/s and 10MB/s, respectively. Other features include a capless design and password protection.

No word yet on availability, however pricing has been set at $120 (32GB), $213 (64GB), and $546 (128GB). Ouch!

Image Credit: Kingston

Report: Kingston Co-Signs Multi-Million Dollar Loan for ProMOS

Paul Lilly — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 13:30:58 -0600

According to a report by DigiTimes, Kingston Technology is vouching for memory chip maker ProMOS Technologies and has agreed to act as a guarantor for the latter's application for a syndicated loan worth approximately $148 million. Of that $148 million,which is to be paid by nine local banks, Kingston has reportedly agreed to guarantee somewhere between $44 to $60 million.

Memory chip makers have found themselves in dire straights over slumping memory prices and an unforgiving global economy. The situation has gotten so bad that Qimonda, one of the world's top 10 memory chip suppliers, recently filed for bankruptcy. ProMOS has also been struggling, suffering losses adding up to $675 million in the first three quarters of 2008. Earlier this month, ProMOS submitted its application for a government-led bailout package.

Kingston Joins Triple-Channel Memory Party, First Out the Door with 2GHz Modules

Paul Lilly — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:01:02 -0500

With Intel's Core i7 launch now less than a month away, several memory vendors are readying three-packs of RAM in anticipation of the new platform's triple-channel memory support. Companies like Corsair, OCZ, and G.Skill have all jumped on board, but Kingston looks to leapfrog to the front of the pack as the first, and so far only company to release triple-channel memory clocked at 2GHz.

"Kingston is excited to bring the fastest DDR3 triple-channel memory products to market as we are the first to deliver 2000MHz gaming kits of three with Intel's reduced voltage," said Mark Tekunoff, senior technology manager at Kingston. "All of our triple-channel kits can be overclocked manually or by using XMP-ready profiles."

Kingston's triple channel memory kits will run the gamut from the aforementioned 2GHz enthusiast range all the way down to the company's ValueRAM lineup:

3GB ValueRAM kit 1066MHz, CL7-7-7, 1.5V (KVR1066D3N7K3/3G) - $132
6GB ValueRAM kit 1066MHz, CL7-7-7, 1.5V (KVR1066D3N7K3/6G) - $240
3GB ValueRAM kit 1333MHz, CL9-9-9, 1.5V (KVR1333D3N9K3/3G) - $132
6GB ValueRAM kit 1333MHz, CL9-9-9, 1.5V (KVR1333D3N9K3/6G) - $240
3GB kit 1375MHz, CL7-7-7-20, 1.65V (KHX11000D3LLK3/3GX) - $192
3GB kit 1600MHz, CL8-8-8-24, 1.65V (KHX12800D3LLK3/3GX) - $285
3GB kit 1800MHz, CL9-9-9-27, 1.65V (KHX14400D3K3/3GX) - $312
3GB kit 1866MHz, CL9-9-9-27, 1.65V (KHX14900D3K3/3GX) - $317
3GB kit 2000MH, CL9-9-9-27, 1.65V (KHX16000D3K3/3GX) - $334

Kingston Launches 32GB SDHC Card

Chris Moody — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:38:36 -0500

Kingston announced that it is shipping a 32GB Elite Pro SDHC Flash memory card. The new 32GB card is the largest capacity in Kingston’s line of SDHC cards, which currently includes 4-, 8- and 16GB capacities.

“With the growing popularity of digital video and the HD format, consumers continue to look for ways to extend recording times and maintain fast data transfer rates (DTR) to maximize the performance of their recording device,” said Wendy Lecot, Flash business manager, at Kingston. “Our new 32GB Elite Pro SDHC memory card is optimized to meet the demands of high capacity and fast write speeds to help consumers share their lives through the use of video, photography and other creative devices. With the addition of the 32GB capacity card, Kingston is at the forefront of offering a versatile line of SDHC solutions to solve a variety of needs in today’s digital imaging world.”

32GB is a crap load of MP3s, photos or video to go on these little cards, with about 6,000 still images (with a 10MP camera) and over eight hours of video (for 6Mbps HD extended recording)

Kingston puts the MSRP at $308.00, and it is backed by a lifetime warranty.

Features and Specifications:

Compliant: with the SD Card Association specification version 2.00
Secure: built-in write-protect switch prevents accidental data loss
Compatible: with SDHC host devices; not compatible with standard SD-enabled devices/readers
File Format: FAT 32
Dimensions: 0.94″ x 1.25″ x 0.08″ (24mm x 32 mm x 2.1mm)
Speed Class 4: 4MB/sec. guaranteed minimum data transfer rate