Kingston Technology is back with a new and improved version of their value series of SSDNow solid state drives called the V+ Series. While the original entry level SSDNow Value Series was a competent drive based on it’s price point, it did suffer against faster foes based on its use of the infamous JMicron controller. Having said that, Kingston did a great job tweaking the controller and made it a great value for those who just had to have an SSD at a more entry level price.
Regardless of whether an SSD uses MLC or SLC, the memory controller is essentially the one component that can make or break an SSD. Now that the slower JMicron controllers are rumored to be thinning out, vendors are left with better bargain choices like controllers manufacturered by Samsung. Performance is said to be noticeably faster than the JMicrons, but just short of the more expensive and highly sought after Indilinx controllers. Does the SSDNow V+ take it’s new Samsung controller and run with it? Let’s find out!
Features and Specifications
Before getting into the thick of things, let’s reiterate a few important points about this new addition to Kingston’s value arsenal of SSD drives. First off, this drive uses a Samsung series controller. If you recall, small block performance came up quite short in the JMicron controller based original Kingston 128GB SSDNow Value Series drive that we reviewed earlier in the year. The Samsung controllers are better tuned which should equate to overall better small block performance and peak transfer rates.
The SSDNow V+ series drives are available in 64, 128, and 256 GB sizes. Kingston states that there is a slight Write performance difference between the models. In the case of our 64GB test model here, the Write throughput specs out at 140 MB/s, the 128GB enjoys a 170 MB/s while the 256GB produces 180MB/s. Read throughput is still 220MB/s across the series so there’s no lack of read speed in this respect.
As with any Kingston SSD drive, there’s a nice 3 Year warranty to back it up. Since “wear leveling” has been estimated to occur somewhere around the 12 year mark, this should offer some peace of mind that you can beat it down as much as you can in the 3 years. Chance is enormously in your favor that this, or any SSD, will far outlive your platter drives.
You Don’t Get A Lot In The Box
Our SSDNow V+ 64GB SSD arrived in an OEM box. OEM more than likely means yours won’t arrive with mounting adapters software or any of the other niceties that a retail package will offer. This is a handy little bit of info that can save you some hassle down the road. Just don’t forget to pick up the bits you need before your upgrade project.
The SSD design is pretty simple. You get a little Kingston wrapped SSD in a thin, light weight aluminum case. If it weren’t for the Kingston sticker, you wouldn’t know who made it. Thus far, no one has come up with any fancy housings to show off their insides or expose them in any way. Could this be a hint? If it is, I’m holding the patent!
Installation and Test Setup
The test system is configured exactly to match the test system we used in the original 128GB SSDNow Value series review. I even installed the V+ SSD in to the same mounting bracket that’s already holding the 128GB V Series. This way we can show you a more perfect apples to apples comparison. The only difference is the omission of any regular SATA hard drive benchmarks since we know there is no comparision in speeds.
Just in case you forgot what we had in the test system, here’s how it’s set up:
- Intel Core i7 975 Extreme Edition [D0 Stepping] Processor
- ASUS ROG Rampage II Gene X58 Micro ATX Motherboard
- Kingston HyperX 6GB 2000 MHz Triple Channel DDR3 Memory
- Zotac Geforce GTX 295 Graphics Card
- Kingwin Mach 1 1000Watt Power Supply
In order to make things interesting, the Indilinx equipped Patriot Memory TorqX 128GB SSD was thrown in there just to mix thing sup when it comes to controllers. In effect, this becomes a three way competition between Samsung, Indilinx and JMicron.
Following standard operating procedures (at least around here), the test system was confirmed up to date with the latest drivers and BIOS. Both SSDs were formatted so the performance results would be fresh. Tests were conducted with any Caching disabled. The test software suite includes SANDRA, ATTO, QuickBench, and CrystalDiskMark.
Performance Testing
Brand new SSDs always do great when you first get them. But as they get used, they start to show their limitations. If it truly can do the job for which it was intended, it’ll maintain some semblance of its out of the box performance.
After the SISOFT SANDRA tests were completed, the SSDs were loaded down to at least 75% and then some. These benchmarks should offer you a glimpse at each drive’s realistic performance and any limitations as each manages itself in regards to “drive cleaning” duties.
SANDRA
This test taxes the SSD’s overall performance using random and overlapped I/O requests. Think of it as one of the best all around benchmarks that summarizes all of its performance providing realistic and interpretable results.
As you can see, there’s quite a bit of difference in both Read and Write transfer rates depending on each SSD’s memory controller. The TorqX (Indilinx) leads the pack, with the Value+ (Samsung) and Value (JMicron) SSDs following in order. Keep in mind that the larger 128GB Value+ SSD will afford another 10 MB/s in performance if it were here on the test bench.
ATTO
Naturally, this test is all about the IOPs performance moving data in all different sizes of data blocks. The only thing that could be better about this benchmark is if we had two of each SSD. But, we won’t hold that against anyone.
First, the 128GB Value SSD was tested. You’ve probably seen these results before, except the 4KB performance is probably a bit better. The updated firmware benefits the JMicron controller quite a bit.
Here, you can see the 64GB Value+ SSD pretty much doubles 4 to 16KB data block performance. You sure notice the peformance when you start hosting or moving some small files around like document, website files and what not. These are respectable numbers all around.
How does the SSDNow V+ and Value compare to an Indilinx controlled SSD? Well, they are not quite as fast, but they also don’t command the same price as the Indilinx equipped Patriot Memory TorqX. Again, you’ll really notice the benefits of these speeds as you start to move lots of data around.
QuickBench
This benchmakr is probably one of the more thorough utilities for measuring transfer rates using 20 to 100 MB files using different sized 4 to 1024 KB data blocks. It also measures Sequential and Random performance.
Again, the Value SSD gives us an idea of its odd nature thanks to the JMicron controller onboard. The Write speeds are particular all over the spectrum slowing down to 15.7 MB/s and then topping out around 87 MB/s.
The Samsung controller equipped SSDNow V+ corrects the weird performance associated with its gibbled cousin. It provides double the Read Speeds and triple the Write Speeds! I know it’s Samsung, but this is a nice surprise.
It’s interesting to see the TorqX’s performance as it gets loaded down with data. The Read Speeds aren’t enough here to matter compared to the V+ SSD. Its in the Write Speeds where the Indilinx tend to shine, topping out at a quick 238.79 MB/s.
Crystal Disk Mark
This benchmark is really simple and anyone can use it to benchmark their storage drives. There’s nothing complicated about it. It measures a couple major 4K and 512K data blocks as well as Sequential performance.
Alas, we see that performance is almost night and day between the Value and Value+ SSDs. The Samsung controlled V+ is quite noticeably faster. While 4 KB Write performance doesn’t appear to be any faster, there is a big difference between 1.83 MB/s and 8.09 MB/s. This would easily be noticed for end users that shuffle RAW photo files or MP3s.
Final Thoughts
So with all the benchmarks out of the way, the question is, where does this SSD Place on the Food Chain?
The Kingston 64GB SSDNow V+ is obviously much faster than the original Value series in every respect. The V+ cost roughly $30 more than its Value sibling which makes it easily the better choice and, as far as I’m concerned, worth the extra cash. The same applies as you move up to the 128GB versions which, again, would be a bit faster. The V+ gives the Indilinx controlled SSDs no fear of losing their edge as they are consistently faster with some supporting advanced functions like TRIM.
The V+ is somewhat of an enigma when it comes to design. Currently, Samsung controllers don’t support TRIM nor do they provide any software to allow us to make any firmware updates. In their current state, the V+ Series rely on their own internal firmware to actively keep the drive clean which only works on the NTFS files system. This means that unless Samsung gets moving on providing a flashable solution (this drive cannot be flashed) they could miss out on potential Linux and Mac OSX business. In other words, if you don’t run a Windows PC, then stay away.
Kingston uses HDD Erase 3.3 to “clean” the SSDs which you can readily get off the web. It’s a DOS operated utility that has worked on their particular SSDs. There are mixed reports of the latest 4.0 being quite as successful. Unfortunately, there’s still no easy way yet to wipe it clean. I suspect something is coming for all Samsung controlled SSD owners just about the time Windows 7 piles on to the shelves.
If it weren’t for the lack of both TRIM and upgradeable software support, we could give this drive a far better mark than it is getting. It simply misses the boat on anything but Windows and NTFS. Otherwise, the Kingston SSDNow V+ Series Solid State Drive is the perfect value upgrade for Windows (NTFS) users.
Pros
- Good performance for the price
- Latest controller/firmware cleans itself
- Works well with Windows environments
Cons
- Self cleaning doesn’t work for Linux/OSX environments
- No update software from Samsung
- Currently, no TRIM support (Yet?)
Overall Rating: 8.0 / 10.0
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Kingston Technology 64GB SSDNow V+ SATA Solid State Drive Photo Gallery
