Kingston's SSDNow V+200: More Affordable SandForce
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 19, 2012 12:02 PM ESTLast year Kingston introduced its HyperX line of SF-2281 based SSDs. HyperX marked the first time SandForce and Kingston ever worked together but the relationship continued. Kingston quietly introduced the SSDNow KC100, another SF-2281 based solution aimed at the corporate client. SandForce worked with Kingston to deliver a custom firmware that exposed more SMART attributes on the KC100. That drive also comes with a 5-year warranty and uses Intel's 25nm NAND with 5K p/e cycles.
Today Kingston announced its SSDNow V+200. The V-series drives have traditionally occupied the value space (relying on JMicron controllers) while the V+ drives were supposed to be a bit higher performance, but still price competitive. Kingston's V+ drives used Toshiba controllers in the past, however Toshiba is a bit late to the game in delivering a 6Gbps solution forcing Kingston to look elsewhere. The V+200 is SF-2281 based however it uses Intel's 25nm asynchronous NAND with only 3K p/e cycles. As I've mentioned before, even at 3K program/erase cycles no desktop user should be able to wear out their NAND. SandForce's realtime compression does a great job of ensuring NAND longevity as well. The move to asynchronous NAND does impact performance, making the V+200 a lot like OCZ's Agility 3. For an understanding of async vs. sync NAND I'd suggest looking at our Agility 3 review.
The MSRPs of the V+200 line are quite high, although I'm guessing street prices will be a lot lower (based on this table you can get a HyperX 120GB for less than a 120GB V+200). NAND prices vary so much from week to week that the advantage of going with async vs. sync NAND isn't always all that great. I suspect the next major dip in NAND pricing will either come from using TLC or newer 20nm MLC NAND.
| Kingston SSDNow V+200 | |||||||
| 60GB | 90GB | 120GB | 240GB | 480GB | |||
| Part Number | SVP200S3/60G | SVP200S3/90G | SVP200S3/120G | SVP200S3/240G | SVP200S3/480G | ||
| Controller | SF-2281 | SF-2281 | SF-2281 | SF-2281 | SF-2281 | ||
| Sustained Random 4K R/W | 12K/47K IOPS | 20K/47K IOPS | 20K/44K IOPS | 36K/43K IOPS | 43K/30K IOPS | ||
| Max Random 4K R/W | 85K/60K IOPS | 85K/57K IOPS | 85K/55K IOPS | 85K/43K IOPS | 75K/34K IOPS | ||
| Sequential Reads | Up to 535MB/s | Up to 535MB/s | Up to 535MB/s | Up to 535MB/s | Up to 535MB/s | ||
| Sequential Writes | Up to 460MB/s | Up to 480MB/s | Up to 480MB/s | Up to 480MB/s | Up to 480MB/s | ||
| Warranty | 3-years | 3-years | 3-years | 3-years | 3-years | ||
| MSRP | $140 | $196 | $245 | $479 | $970 | ||
| MSRP w/ Upgrade Kit | $156 | $211 | $260 | $494 | $985 | ||
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XZerg - Thursday, January 19, 2012 - link
That's over $2/gb for all models except 240GB which is almost $2/gb... How the hell is that affordable? I am glad I picked up a used OCZ Vertex 2 240GB last year for $275.After so many years of SSD existence, the price still being up there is awful, esp. in IT industry. The SD cards prices have plummeted a lot in comparison, what's going on with SSD, especially with so many companies stepping it up?
Taft12 - Thursday, January 19, 2012 - link
What a shocker - a guy rushes for first post and doesn't read the article."The MSRPs of the V+200 line are quite high, although I'm guessing street prices will be a lot lower"
There's plenty of SSDs at barely more than $1/GB, and I don't know what you're talking about with regard to SD cards, they're around $1/GB as well and the flash is a lot slower.
izmanq - Thursday, January 19, 2012 - link
yeah, they said a lot lower, but how much ?JNo - Thursday, January 19, 2012 - link
Actually I agree with him. Did you even read the *headline*:"More Affordable SandForce"
And yet Anand is only *guessing* that street prices will be lower.
I love the man like any one of us but that doesn't seem right to me to have a misleading headline like that....
Tewt - Thursday, January 19, 2012 - link
I also agree that Anand is just guessing and we really have no way to say these will be much cheaper. Everyone below is providing examples how they have found better deals than Kingston's so-called value line. (Taft12, check the anger at the door).Matias - Thursday, January 19, 2012 - link
So many new players in this market, so much hype and marketing... I bet they are making a huge margin with those. That is why the prices are still high, everyone wants a share of the pie!I contibuted by buying 3 SSDs in the last 2 years (all Vertexes and all without BSODs for the statistics).
BLaber - Thursday, January 19, 2012 - link
In my country just the Kingston ssdnow v 64Gb cost almost same as OCZ agility III 60gb , so much for being an affordable brand.Fujikoma - Thursday, January 19, 2012 - link
I bought an Intel and a Crucial drive and both were cheaper per GB than these are. I also bought mine last year ($90 each for a 60ish GB intel drive and a 60ish GB Crucial drive). I'd also venture to say that Intel and Crucial have better quality control. So why the high prices?Coup27 - Thursday, January 19, 2012 - link
My biggest problem with Kingston drives is their ridiculous method of naming and marketing. Even OCZ's line up looks simple compared to theirs.Wizzdo - Thursday, January 19, 2012 - link
670$ (30% cheaper) - just as fast - more reliable.What a non-deal these sandforce drives are!