Kingston have the brand image to succeed in this market but their product lack the unique selling point. They are just commodities like their ram sticks.
Which is exactly the point I was trying to raise. Kingston has a decent image and their distribution system is broad but their products are not unique. They shouldn't have a problem surviving in the market but they won't be able to grab any major marketshare either.
Which firmware did the drives have? I bought two 120GB ones a week apart. The first has 505 and the second 506. The 506 is way slower...even at booting Windows. I'll post some numbers later...
The 120GB I have is 505. I don't have the 240GB anymore but I'm pretty confident it's 505 too as I received it a couple of months ago so it's not exactly new.
On the second table - Kingston SSDNow V300 Specifications - performance drops as capacity increases, something that being correct is completely new in terms of SSDs. AFAIK in every SSD the higher capacity ones have the same or greater performance than lower capacity ones (of the same model, of course). C&P mistake?
At least for me they are working fine at the moment (tested on my desktop and laptop). Can you try a different browser? We had some issues with our image server earlier today, although it should be fixed now.
Intel RST drivers provide a bit better performance and are hence recommended when using an SSD.
Images not loading in Windows Chrome v26.0.1410.64m or IE9. Hitting "Click for full size" produces the error: "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage... Diagnose connection problems"
Could have summed this up with, "If it's a Sandforce drive and it's by someone other than Intel, look at any other Sandforce drive's review and consider a 5% variance up or down. The end."
See, I can review any Sandforce drive by doing this. Where's my checks, Anandtech? This was hard reviewing I just did here. I reviewed every Sandforce drive based on SF-2281 on the market in the last six months. That's a lot of checks I'm owed there. You feel free to swap out the brands and models on the drives and what not so they all fit.
Also feel free to pay me in Samsung SSD's. You know. Actually interesting SSD's.
Just dont go by the branding. Kingston uses SandForce controllers - SF-2281 which are very proming & thats why Intel is bundling their SSDs with SandForce controllers & believe they are amazingly solid in terms of performance & reliability. Initially most of the SSD makers had issues with the controller maker - SandForce due to firmware compatibities which are now totally resolved.
Kristian, you forgot to throw in the SSDNow KC100 series in the mix :) It uses SandForce controller, too. That aside, I have five Kingston SSDs; some running 24x7 without issue (knock on wood). Kingston SSDNow lines are pretty attractive a year or two ago when they went on sale with $50 mail-in rebate on Buy.com and Newegg. Nowadays though SSD prices are a lot more competitive. I agree that they need to change their marketing/pricing strategy to stand out from the competitions.
How did you TRIM the V300 in Windows 7? There is no "Optimize" option like in Windows 8. And the Kingston Toolbox v1.0 does not have it either (Intel SSD Toolbox does have it, but only works for Intel SSDs).
Secure erase is a different command which cannot even be issued in Windows without specific software. Secure erase basically gets rid of the whole indirection table and erases all LBAs (even the ones inaccessible to the user which are used for e.g. garbage collection and wear leveling).
TRIM, on the other hand, just tells the controller that these LBAs are no longer in use and the drive's garbage collection can get rid of them when the time is right. Formatting is the same as TRIMing all user-accessible LBAs, so the controller should get rid of (nearly) all data in the drive and hence returning it to fresh state (the problem is that garbage collection works differently in every SSD and the TRIM command is also treated a bit differently).
So in Windows 7, there is no way to TRIM a Kingston SSD without losing the data on it? One must format it? How come Intel SSD Toolbox can issue a TRIM command for Intel SSDs (which usually takes only a few seconds) without harming any of the user's data on it? They are based on Sandforce controller as well.
Kingston Value RAM is a great product in my estimation. It's priced reasonably, performs predictably and has a lifetime warranty, although you'll rarely need to exercise it.
Kingston flash products, on the other hand, I'm totally finished with. I bought a dozen or so SSDNow drives about three years back and saw many of them fail in the first and second year. TRIM was never available on these drives, although the competition all had it, and firmware updates were non-existant.
Meanwhile, Kingston USB sticks underperform, and there is little consistency across product lines. From what I've read, Kinsgston-branded flash comes from a whole variety of manufacturers, resulting in poor and inconsistent performance.
I like my Kingston RAM, but for SSDs and USB storage, I'll stick to the proven performers.
I was going to say the same thing. I have a couple 32GB ECC Memory kits from Kingston running, and they are running well. Had more issues with Corsair Memory in my time than with Kingston.
But on the SSD and Flash drive front, Kingston is far behind the competition. My feeling is that they are trying to charge for the logo and not the performance. This is a business strategy that will surely end bad. After a couple bad experiences with Kingston and OCZ, my current two go-to manufacturers for SSD's are Intel and Samsung. I have had zero issues with at least a dozen of them.
The only reason I would consider buying this, is the 60GB version! I find the 60GB to be the perfect size for an OS/Updates/Drivers/Browser drive. No more, no less.
I think kingston is using very low quality nand for the v300 series. The 128gb model only has 64tb tbw before reaches endurance limits and the 256gb only 128tb according to their official pdf datasheet. http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/sv300s3_us.pdf That would mean around 500 p/e. Samsung tlc drives have at least 1000 p/e. Could you please ask kingston about this?
That's most likely with a random write centric workload. E.g. Crucial M500 is rated at 72TB and Samsung SSD 840 Pro at 73TB, but the workloads for the figure mainly consist of small random writes. Let me send Kingston an email and ask about the exact workload so we'll know better.
I got a reply that they'll check and get back to me, but they haven't done that yet. You may want to drop me an email ([email protected]) so I can reach to you directly when I receive an answer.
I've had a Kingston 240GB HyperX 3K since Aug. 2012. And it is fantastic as far as I'm concerned. Even with Vista Home Premium, 64Bit. No trim support in Vista so I have to manually optimize the SSD every week or 2. Optimizing the SSD only takes a minute. Other than that, I am a very happy camper.
I bought V300 120Gb, it's with 506 firmware and it doesn't work as it should. It's properly in SATA3-connecter(ASRock Ext4's Intel SATA3, not Marvel) and it give under 200Mb/s reading speeds, more precisely those speeds are around 180Mb/s.
My other SSD, which is Vertex 4, give almost 500Mb/s in those same tests.
I'd like to add this about the product. I have been volunteering my time and money to help my local catholic elementary school upgrade their technology, Let me tell you they, are on an amazingly small budget so anything goes, I even investigated refurbished Dell 755's just to get them onto Windows 7 because all their machines were windows XP.
I came upon the idea of turning 30 windows XP laptops into Windows 7 laptops by adding a little memory and an SSD drive, I needed a very cheap SSD drive and did all my research via web reviews, I really hesitated on the Kingston 120 GB drive as almost all reviews were very angry about some NAND changes, but I noticed that each review was followed by a polite response from the vendor so I decided I liked the idea of the vendor keeping responsibility, so I gave it a try. So here is my review:
For the price: a fantastic improvement over HDD, totally worth it, maybe some people who are totally into specs will show how bad it is in some ways, but it has saved the day in this poor, elementary school and I thank Kingston for their low price and significant improvement over a mechanical drive.
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blackmagnum - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Kingston have the brand image to succeed in this market but their product lack the unique selling point. They are just commodities like their ram sticks.Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Which is exactly the point I was trying to raise. Kingston has a decent image and their distribution system is broad but their products are not unique. They shouldn't have a problem surviving in the market but they won't be able to grab any major marketshare either.UltraTech79 - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
I don't think their goal is to grab major market share. Its to maintain and secure their current market share.Diagrafeas - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Which firmware did the drives have?I bought two 120GB ones a week apart.
The first has 505 and the second 506.
The 506 is way slower...even at booting Windows.
I'll post some numbers later...
Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
The 120GB I have is 505. I don't have the 240GB anymore but I'm pretty confident it's 505 too as I received it a couple of months ago so it's not exactly new.Diagrafeas - Thursday, May 2, 2013 - link
Both are on SATA 2AS SSD Benchmark Scores 505-506(Read,Write)
Seq256-175 , 158-133
4K 14-11 , 45-26
4K-64
Diagrafeas - Thursday, May 2, 2013 - link
4K-64 123-91 , 109-114Acc. Time 0.138-0.195 , 0.321-0.405
Pyrostemplar - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
On the second table - Kingston SSDNow V300 Specifications - performance drops as capacity increases, something that being correct is completely new in terms of SSDs. AFAIK in every SSD the higher capacity ones have the same or greater performance than lower capacity ones (of the same model, of course). C&P mistake?Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Nope, it's not a mistake (unless Kingston's datasheet is wrong):http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/sv300s3_us.pdf
mike55 - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
The images on page 3 aren't working for me.Is there any significant difference in the msachi drivers compared to intel rst? Is it worth installing the intel ones when using an SSD?
Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
At least for me they are working fine at the moment (tested on my desktop and laptop). Can you try a different browser? We had some issues with our image server earlier today, although it should be fixed now.Intel RST drivers provide a bit better performance and are hence recommended when using an SSD.
mike55 - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Cool, thanks! And the images are working for me now on all browsers.Diagrafeas - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Don't the latest drivers get installed with INTEL Inf Update Utility?Do i have to download something else?
noblemo - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Images not loading in Windows Chrome v26.0.1410.64m or IE9. Hitting "Click for full size" produces the error: "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage... Diagnose connection problems"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXREEVpjloo
Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Yeah, not loading for me either. Anand is on it.GuMeshow - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
I was about to post about that too ... Firefox doesn't load images from images.anandtech.com either.Slash3 - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
I'm enjoying the new Imagination Viewing mode on AT, I get to create all sorts of great article pictures in my head. :)omarccx - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Pictures aren't working for me, either. :(HisDivineOrder - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Sandforce drives are boring.Could have summed this up with, "If it's a Sandforce drive and it's by someone other than Intel, look at any other Sandforce drive's review and consider a 5% variance up or down. The end."
See, I can review any Sandforce drive by doing this. Where's my checks, Anandtech? This was hard reviewing I just did here. I reviewed every Sandforce drive based on SF-2281 on the market in the last six months. That's a lot of checks I'm owed there. You feel free to swap out the brands and models on the drives and what not so they all fit.
Also feel free to pay me in Samsung SSD's. You know. Actually interesting SSD's.
Johny12 - Thursday, May 2, 2013 - link
Just dont go by the branding. Kingston uses SandForce controllers - SF-2281 which are very proming & thats why Intel is bundling their SSDs with SandForce controllers & believe they are amazingly solid in terms of performance & reliability. Initially most of the SSD makers had issues with the controller maker - SandForce due to firmware compatibities which are now totally resolved.gamoniac - Tuesday, April 30, 2013 - link
Kristian, you forgot to throw in the SSDNow KC100 series in the mix :) It uses SandForce controller, too. That aside, I have five Kingston SSDs; some running 24x7 without issue (knock on wood). Kingston SSDNow lines are pretty attractive a year or two ago when they went on sale with $50 mail-in rebate on Buy.com and Newegg. Nowadays though SSD prices are a lot more competitive. I agree that they need to change their marketing/pricing strategy to stand out from the competitions.ericgl21 - Wednesday, May 1, 2013 - link
How did you TRIM the V300 in Windows 7? There is no "Optimize" option like in Windows 8.And the Kingston Toolbox v1.0 does not have it either (Intel SSD Toolbox does have it, but only works for Intel SSDs).
Kristian Vättö - Wednesday, May 1, 2013 - link
Formatting the drive in Disk Management triggers TRIM.Diagrafeas - Friday, May 3, 2013 - link
I don't understand this.Formatting should trigger Secure Erase.
If it only triggers trim then data isn't erased right?
Kristian Vättö - Friday, May 3, 2013 - link
Secure erase is a different command which cannot even be issued in Windows without specific software. Secure erase basically gets rid of the whole indirection table and erases all LBAs (even the ones inaccessible to the user which are used for e.g. garbage collection and wear leveling).TRIM, on the other hand, just tells the controller that these LBAs are no longer in use and the drive's garbage collection can get rid of them when the time is right. Formatting is the same as TRIMing all user-accessible LBAs, so the controller should get rid of (nearly) all data in the drive and hence returning it to fresh state (the problem is that garbage collection works differently in every SSD and the TRIM command is also treated a bit differently).
ericgl21 - Sunday, May 5, 2013 - link
So in Windows 7, there is no way to TRIM a Kingston SSD without losing the data on it?One must format it?
How come Intel SSD Toolbox can issue a TRIM command for Intel SSDs (which usually takes only a few seconds) without harming any of the user's data on it? They are based on Sandforce controller as well.
leexgx - Tuesday, January 13, 2015 - link
No its done as files are deleted (once a file is deleted the drive is told that it's gone and trim happens when the drive is idle)clarkn0va - Wednesday, May 1, 2013 - link
Kingston Value RAM is a great product in my estimation. It's priced reasonably, performs predictably and has a lifetime warranty, although you'll rarely need to exercise it.Kingston flash products, on the other hand, I'm totally finished with. I bought a dozen or so SSDNow drives about three years back and saw many of them fail in the first and second year. TRIM was never available on these drives, although the competition all had it, and firmware updates were non-existant.
Meanwhile, Kingston USB sticks underperform, and there is little consistency across product lines. From what I've read, Kinsgston-branded flash comes from a whole variety of manufacturers, resulting in poor and inconsistent performance.
I like my Kingston RAM, but for SSDs and USB storage, I'll stick to the proven performers.
SharpieTM - Wednesday, May 1, 2013 - link
I was going to say the same thing. I have a couple 32GB ECC Memory kits from Kingston running, and they are running well. Had more issues with Corsair Memory in my time than with Kingston.But on the SSD and Flash drive front, Kingston is far behind the competition. My feeling is that they are trying to charge for the logo and not the performance. This is a business strategy that will surely end bad. After a couple bad experiences with Kingston and OCZ, my current two go-to manufacturers for SSD's are Intel and Samsung. I have had zero issues with at least a dozen of them.
Deo Domuique - Friday, May 3, 2013 - link
The only reason I would consider buying this, is the 60GB version! I find the 60GB to be the perfect size for an OS/Updates/Drivers/Browser drive. No more, no less.eddieobscurant - Saturday, May 4, 2013 - link
I think kingston is using very low quality nand for the v300 series. The 128gb model only has 64tb tbw before reaches endurance limits and the 256gb only 128tb according to their official pdf datasheet. http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/sv300s3_us.pdf That would mean around 500 p/e. Samsung tlc drives have at least 1000 p/e. Could you please ask kingston about this?Kristian Vättö - Saturday, May 4, 2013 - link
That's most likely with a random write centric workload. E.g. Crucial M500 is rated at 72TB and Samsung SSD 840 Pro at 73TB, but the workloads for the figure mainly consist of small random writes. Let me send Kingston an email and ask about the exact workload so we'll know better.eddieobscurant - Saturday, May 4, 2013 - link
thanks, could you also ask if the warranty is voided if someone exceeds this limit?Diagrafeas - Monday, May 6, 2013 - link
Could you ask the about the firware updates, because 506 isn't working as it should.Could give the option to flash 505 or a fixed 507...
Kristian Vättö - Monday, May 6, 2013 - link
I'll ask about that too. Already sent an email about the endurance so I'll ask about the firmwares when Kingston replies.eddieobscurant - Tuesday, May 14, 2013 - link
Did you get any reply from kingston?Kristian Vättö - Friday, May 17, 2013 - link
I got a reply that they'll check and get back to me, but they haven't done that yet. You may want to drop me an email ([email protected]) so I can reach to you directly when I receive an answer.Davidjan - Saturday, May 4, 2013 - link
Really cool! Storage will not be a problem on Android phones and tablets. Use this to add storage http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andyfei/mini-m...Just check it out, last 15 hours to go to get it.
Davidjan - Saturday, May 4, 2013 - link
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andyfei/mini-m...spooky2th - Sunday, May 5, 2013 - link
I've had a Kingston 240GB HyperX 3K since Aug. 2012. And it is fantastic as far as I'm concerned. Even with Vista Home Premium, 64Bit. No trim support in Vista so I have to manually optimize the SSD every week or 2. Optimizing the SSD only takes a minute. Other than that, I am a very happy camper.ericgl21 - Monday, May 6, 2013 - link
How do you manually optimize it in Vista?Raikku - Tuesday, June 11, 2013 - link
I bought V300 120Gb, it's with 506 firmware and it doesn't work as it should. It's properly in SATA3-connecter(ASRock Ext4's Intel SATA3, not Marvel) and it give under 200Mb/s reading speeds, more precisely those speeds are around 180Mb/s.My other SSD, which is Vertex 4, give almost 500Mb/s in those same tests.
KevinWinters - Monday, August 4, 2014 - link
I'd like to add this about the product. I have been volunteering my time and money to help my local catholic elementary school upgrade their technology, Let me tell you they, are on an amazingly small budget so anything goes, I even investigated refurbished Dell 755's just to get them onto Windows 7 because all their machines were windows XP.I came upon the idea of turning 30 windows XP laptops into Windows 7 laptops by adding a little memory and an SSD drive, I needed a very cheap SSD drive and did all my research via web reviews, I really hesitated on the Kingston 120 GB drive as almost all reviews were very angry about some NAND changes, but I noticed that each review was followed by a polite response from the vendor so I decided I liked the idea of the vendor keeping responsibility, so I gave it a try. So here is my review:
For the price: a fantastic improvement over HDD, totally worth it, maybe some people who are totally into specs will show how bad it is in some ways, but it has saved the day in this poor, elementary school and I thank Kingston for their low price and significant improvement over a mechanical drive.