Kingston SSDNow V300 (120GB & 240GB) Review
by Kristian Vättö on April 30, 2013 12:30 PM ESTTRIM Performance
SandForce has always had trouble with TRIM. SandForce's approach of compressing data on the fly definitely complicates things and I believe it's at least partially the reason why TRIM behaves the way it does in SandForce based SSDs. Even though TRIM doesn't work perfectly in any SandForce SSD, there are differences between drives and some do better than others.
As usual, I took a 240GB V300, secure erased it, filled it with incompressible sequential data and then tortured the drive with incompressible 4KB random writes (QD=32, LBA space 100%) for 60 minutes. I then ran AS-SSD after the torture to get dirty-state performance. Finally I TRIM'ed the drive and reran AS-SSD.
| Kingston SSDNow V300 Resiliency - AS-SSD | |||
| Clean | After Torture | After TRIM | |
| Kingston SSDNow V300 240GB | 278.2MB/s | 204.7MB/s | 257.6MB/s |
And the issue still persists. For the most part, this isn't a big issue because the majority of users won't store just incompressible data in their SSD (e.g. Windows is very compressible) but if you know you'll be storing lots of incompressible data (H.264 videos, MP3s or encrypted data), then going with something non-SandForce is a better option.
Power Consumption
In terms of power consumption, the V300 does pretty well. It doesn't break any records but for example Corsair's Force GS draws more power in all of our tests. The utilization of smaller process node NAND (19nm versus 24nm) does have some impact but I wouldn't be surprised if Kingston's customization also has something to do with the lower power draw.
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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.