Kingston HyperX 3K (240GB) SSD Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 10, 2012 3:00 AM ESTTRIM Performance
In practice, SandForce based drives running a mainstream client workload do very well and typically boast low average write amplification. However if subjected to a workload composed entirely of incompressible writes (e.g. tons of compressed images, videos and music) you can back the controller into a corner.
To simulate this I filled the drive with incompressible data, ran a 4KB (100% LBA space, QD32) random write test with incompressible data for an hour and a half, and then ran AS-SSD (another incompressible data test) to see how low performance could get:
| Kingston HyperX 3K - Resiliency - AS SSD Sequential Write Speed - 6Gbps | |||||
| Clean | After 1.5hr Torture | After TRIM | |||
| Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB | 312.4 MB/s | 103.9 MB/s | 245.8 MB/s | ||
I usually run this test for only 20 minutes but after seeing an unusually resilient performance by the 240GB drives I decided to extend the test period to a full 90 minutes. Performance does drop pretty far at that point, down to 103MB/s. TRIMing the drive does restore some performance but not all. If you have a workload that uses a lot of incompressible data (e.g. JPGs, H.264 videos, software encrypted data, highly random datasets etc...) then SandForce just isn't for you.
Power Consumption
SandForce boasts fairly low power consumption, particularly at idle. Even with incompressible data the HyperX 3K's power draw is competitive:
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vandalizmo - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
As far as I remember in US dot "." is decimal separator, not thousands separator, which makesTotal Estimated Lifespan 8.219 years 13.698 years 27.397 years 82.191 years
look pretty small. Or is it actually ~8, ~13, ~27, ~82 years?
Ryan Smith - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
8 years, 13 years, etc is correct. A 1 write cycle a day, you'll go through 3000 cycles in a little over 8 years.Conficio - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
You state there are software tools that come with the drive. What OS platforms do they support? Windows? Mac OS X? Linux? BDS?I'm tired of hardware that is only supported on Windows. And I grow tired of tests that do not even bother to mention where the software is actually available. I don't expect you to test all versions, although that would be much appreciated, but please give us the basic information.
On that page, I'd love to hear a comparison of the tool support for SSD drives on Linux as well as on Mac OS X. I think that would be worth an extra article with unique content. Fellow readers, am I alone in this desire?
Senti - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
No you aren't alone. It's very frustrating that the ONLY platform supported for my OCZ Revodrive 3 is Win7. At least it also work in 2008R2. Tried 2003 - got blue screen.Coup27 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
I did read on the comments of the Plextor review that they are going to start paying more article attention to the toolboxes which are offered with the drives.Suprising to see that the next article after that comment also skips over the toolbox program with no further information or screenshots.
Kristian Vättö - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
I can only talk on behalf of my reviews, remember that.Coup27 - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
"i agree wholeheartedly - Samsung's toolbox is definitely the new gold standard here. I've been pushing folks behind the scenes to ramp up the quality of their options as well. I want to start paying more attention to it as it's a huge part of the user experience.Take care,
Anand"
Wasn't aimed at you Kristian, this was the comment I remember seeing. Would have been a perfect opportunity to see another toolbox beyond Intels and Samsungs.
MrSpadge - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
Stating the manufacturers information on OS support is something the reviewer can and probably should do. However, with Linux and other exotic OSes this information may be short lived and as a interested customer one would probably have to dig for current information anyway.And support will always depend on the specific distribution.. then there will work-arounds / hacks to make it work elsewhere, which won't work for everyone. I hope you're not hoping to get this information from reviews ;)
Otherwise I pledge it should be on a separate page in the appendix called "linux support issues", which the rest of us can ignore.
Jaraxal - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
I also do not see links for or entries in the drop down box for the last part of the review (conclusion, etc).MrSpadge - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - link
Take a look at the 1st page, there's nothing more to say.