Kingston HyperX SSD 240GB Solid State Drive Review
Standing proud at the top of Kingston’s range is the formidable HyperX SSD. This slab of storage promises performance that’ll blow off any enthusiast’s socks.
Standout specs include sequential reads of 555MBps and writes of 510MBps. If these figures look similar to those of the Patriot Wildfire reviewed above, it’s because they share the same processor, the SandForce SF2281.
As such, HyperX carries our standard caveat concerning manufacturers’ numbers versus actual speeds: the SandForce controller uses file compression/ decompression to accelerate transfers. MP3, Mpeg and Jpeg files don’t compress further, so they write much more slowly.
The Kingston has a stylish chassis made of blue plastic and brushed metal. At 110g, it’s a little heavier than most SSDs. It’s available as a bare drive for £360, or as part of an upgrade kit for £400. The kit includes an external enclosure for your old drive and a smart plastic USB 2.0 case with a finger-lockable cover. Acronis True Image HD for Windows completes the bundle.
In our ATTO tests, the HyperX revealed similar results to the Wildfire. The Kingston had the edge, with reads peaking at 558MBps and writes reaching 525MBps.
CrystalDiskMark reported 507MBps for reads and 491MBps writes. Smaller-sized 512kB data wasn’t far behind, at 444MBps and 462MBps respectively.
Using randomised data to better match real-world data, the Kingston HyperX reached 492MBps reads but just 302MBps for writes.
At the small-file level using CrystalDiskMark’s 4K OD32 test, the Kingston held up well. Even with random data, the benchmark reported 265MBps writes and 228MBps reads. These are terrific speeds that bode well for a fast-feeling computer interface.
File-juggling agility under pressure is measured by the IOPS figure. While it wasn’t as fast in random writes as the Crucial m4, the Kingston could reach 60.4k IOPS writing and 52.6k reading in AS SSD’s 4K-64Thrd test.
The Crucial m4 came in with 84.2k and 40.3k IOPS in the same test, suggesting a swings-and-roundabouts trade in performance between read and write capabilities.
Verdict
The Kingston HyperX SSD 240GB is a fast SSD. Like the Patriot it showed read speeds nudging 500MBps, yet faster writes of 308MBps. In IOPS tests its read and write performances were more closely aligned, peaking at a worthy 60.3k IOPS.
Standing proud at the top of Kingston’s range is the formidable HyperX SSD. This slab of storage promises performance that’ll blow off any enthusiast’s socks.
Standout specs include sequential reads of 555MBps and writes of 510MBps. If these figures look similar to those of the Patriot Wildfire reviewed above, it’s because they share the same processor, the SandForce SF2281.
As such, HyperX carries our standard caveat concerning manufacturers’ numbers versus actual speeds: the SandForce controller uses file compression/ decompression to accelerate transfers. MP3, Mpeg and Jpeg files don’t compress further, so they write much more slowly.
The Kingston has a stylish chassis made of blue plastic and brushed metal. At 110g, it’s a little heavier than most SSDs. It’s available as a bare drive for £360, or as part of an upgrade kit for £400. The kit includes an external enclosure for your old drive and a smart plastic USB 2.0 case with a finger-lockable cover. Acronis True Image HD for Windows completes the bundle.
In our ATTO tests, the HyperX revealed similar results to the Wildfire. The Kingston had the edge, with reads peaking at 558MBps and writes reaching 525MBps.
CrystalDiskMark reported 507MBps for reads and 491MBps writes. Smaller-sized 512kB data wasn’t far behind, at 444MBps and 462MBps respectively.
Using randomised data to better match real-world data, the Kingston HyperX reached 492MBps reads but just 302MBps for writes.
At the small-file level using CrystalDiskMark’s 4K OD32 test, the Kingston held up well. Even with random data, the benchmark reported 265MBps writes and 228MBps reads. These are terrific speeds that bode well for a fast-feeling computer interface.
File-juggling agility under pressure is measured by the IOPS figure. While it wasn’t as fast in random writes as the Crucial m4, the Kingston could reach 60.4k IOPS writing and 52.6k reading in AS SSD’s 4K-64Thrd test.
The Crucial m4 came in with 84.2k and 40.3k IOPS in the same test, suggesting a swings-and-roundabouts trade in performance between read and write capabilities.
Verdict
The Kingston HyperX SSD 240GB is a fast SSD. Like the Patriot it showed read speeds nudging 500MBps, yet faster writes of 308MBps. In IOPS tests its read and write performances were more closely aligned, peaking at a worthy 60.3k IOPS.
