Kingston SSDNow V300 (120GB & 240GB) Review
by Kristian Vättö on April 30, 2013 12:30 PM ESTFinal Words
I have one issue with the V300: There's nothing particular in it that would differentiate it from the other SandForce based SSDs. While Kingston said they did lots of customization and worked closely with SandForce/LSI, at least in our testing there aren't any striking differences. It's possible that the tweaks Kingston applied are at a such low level that they won't really impact the end-user experience but that raises a question if the tweaks are needed at all as you'll get the same performance with the stock firmware. Kingston may of course be using slower or lower endurance NAND that required customization but as it stands, this is all just speculation. I'm still a bit disappointed that Kingston couldn't give us more details about their customizations because it would really be great to know how much SandForce allows customization and what the customization can do.
| Price Comparison (4/30/2013) | |||||
| 60/64GB | 120/128GB | 240/256GB | |||
| Kingston SSDNow V300 | $70 | $110 | $200 | ||
| Kingston HyperX 3K | N/A | $120 | $230 | ||
| Corsair Neutron GTX | N/A | $125 | $220 | ||
| Corsair Neutron | N/A | $120 | $200 | ||
| Corsair Force GS | N/A | $130 | $210 | ||
| Plextor M5 Pro | N/A | $130 | $230 | ||
| Plextor M5S | N/A | $110 | $190 | ||
| Crucial m4 | $80 | $130 | $200 | ||
| Intel SSD 520 | $100 | $145 | $270 | ||
| Intel SSD 330 | $90 | N/A | $220 | ||
| Samsung SSD 840 Pro | N/A | $150 | N/A | ||
| Samsung SSD 840 | N/A | $110 | $190 | ||
| OCZ Vector | N/A | $140 | $270 | ||
| Mushkin Chronos Deluxe | N/A | $130 | $185 | ||
Because the V300 doesn't bring anything special to the market, pricing is more important than ever. The V300 is affordable but not exceptionally cheap. Right now you can find Plextor M5S and Samsung SSD 840 for the same price or even for slightly less, and I would rather pick one of them instead of the V300. However, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the prices quoted in the table because pricing fluctuates and NewEgg is just one reseller. If you're buying an SSD, I suggest that you follow the prices for a few days and try to catch a hot sale.
In general I think Kingston should differentiate their SSDs more because the V300 and HyperX 3K are too similar. For example giving the HyperX 3K a 5-year warranty would help justify its high-end positioning and a higher price too, but currently Kingston is selling two very similar products at nearly identical price points. That's not the ideal way to do business, especially when one of the products is supposed to be a budget mainstream drive while the other is aimed towards enthusiasts.
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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.