Kingston SSD prices are low on Amazon! 2/17/2014

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DPI

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How did I know that link would go to a V300.

Sorry, but no they're not "low" prices for what you're getting - which is ASYNC NAND that runs at 1/3 the speed of synchronous (the kind of NAND found in pretty much all other SSD's). For anyone that's been living in a cave, you really need to read up on the problems with these drives ever since Kingston silently pulled a switcheroo to ASYNC nand.

For starters: http://www.overclock.net/t/1457629/psa-about-the-kingston-v300-ssd-probable-foul-play-by-kingston

1715201


Amazon:
*update 1/12/14* Firmware is not the issue, Kingston switched to asynchronous NAND
"Seems I found the real culprit after speaking with several SSD experts on various tech forums, get ready for a class action lawsuit Kingston. Here's the scam, Kingston switched to cheap asynchronous memory chips that don't run in parallel after the first few months of production. That means single channel bandwidth instead of multiple channels like earlier v300 SSD's. Instead of running at 200mhz, its running at 66mhz. This effects read and write speeds enormously. Kingston hid this fact by using solvent on the original labeling of the memory chips, then printed their own logo on top. Kingston does not manufacture any memory themselves. When SSD was shipped out for review it used quality Toshiba 19nm NAND but Kingston used solvent on chips labels and printed their own. This was odd, but the reason for it soon became obvious. After only a few months they switched to inferior quality chips with the same Kingston label.

NO OTHER SSD MANUFACTURER ERASES ORIGINAL NAND LABEL AND PRINTS THEIR OWN ON TOP!

This is FRAUD in my opinion and Kingston could very well be seeing a class action lawsuit coming there way for this stunt. Other SSD makers have tried this crap in the past and got busted. They were forced to RMA all the drives back to synchronous memory chips which cost much more. Kingston switched to cheaper quality NAND without saying a word. Firmware for Sandforce SSD's cannot cause you to lose 70 percent of read and write speeds. Lesson learned, never buy anything from Kingston again, they are criminals."
Click to expand...
 
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T

Twingo

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Kingston has been doing that for a lot of their SSD products, the first batch for PR release is always wonderful than the retail will be secon tier, than further cost cut will make unbearable to use.
 
D

DPI

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Twingo said:
Kingston has been doing that for a lot of their SSD products, the first batch for PR release is always wonderful than the retail will be secon tier, than further cost cut will make unbearable to use.
Click to expand...

Bingo. Early batches were reportedly quality Toshiba 19nm NAND, then Kingston silently switched to async which has abysmal performance.
 
Ocellaris

Ocellaris

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DPI said:
How did I know that link would go to a V300.

Sorry, but no they're not "low" prices for what you're getting - which is ASYNC NAND that runs at 1/3 the speed of synchronous (the kind of NAND found in pretty much all other SSD's). For anyone that's been living in a cave, you really need to read up on the problems with these drives ever since Kingston silently pulled a switcheroo to ASYNC nand.

For starters: http://www.overclock.net/t/1457629/psa-about-the-kingston-v300-ssd-probable-foul-play-by-kingston

1715201


Amazon:
Click to expand...

That doesn't even look decent for being async memory though. That is just a hot mess masquerading around as a SSD.
 
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Hulk

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Thanks, in for two. You can't beat those prices for the 120GB model.
 
Rattle

Rattle

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for $90 a samsung evo 120gb is the way to go if you want to cheap out.
 
r00k

r00k

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thanks, OP. I buy a lot of these over time, and they are very reliable. prices are usually 79.99 before i buy, but occasionally down to 69.99.

performance-wise, for what i need them to do, they are perfect: fast boot times, fast program launches, very responsive, no hesitations. most people who use them could never tell the difference in real world use between these and "higher end" ones.

edit: also, given the choice between these and their bigger brother, the HyperX 3K, these are FAR more reliable.
 
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drescherjm

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These prices are not that diffrent from the Samsung 840 EVO or Crucial M500 when either go on sale. No reason at all to have to deal with this what 2008 level SSD performance.
 
C

Citizen _insane

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Dammit, I just realized I bought one of these a month ago and haven't installed it. I better speed test it. Anyone have luck RMAing for a unit that actually performs in spec?
 
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bobby45512

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Citizen _insane said:
Dammit, I just realized I bought one of these a month ago and haven't installed it. I better speed test it. Anyone have luck RMAing for a unit that actually performs in spec?
Click to expand...

check firmware, 5.05 and 5.20 are the good ones from what I have read. Was about to buy a v300 at Microcenter with 5.20 FW but decided against it, I'm gonna splurge on a corsair nuetron.
 
Ocellaris

Ocellaris

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Citizen _insane said:
Dammit, I just realized I bought one of these a month ago and haven't installed it. I better speed test it. Anyone have luck RMAing for a unit that actually performs in spec?
Click to expand...

Looks like they are pretty careful not to directly list specs for the drives on the Amazon page now. Plus the drive "works", Kingston won't want to RMA a drive with no problems.

Some of the complaints are from people with AMD boards as well.
 
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[L]imey

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So let me ask this question:

I just ran the AS SSD benchmark from that screenshot above.

I got the following numbers:
Read Write
Seq: 484MB/s 250MB/s
4k: 10MB/s 40MB/s
4k64: 203MB/s 203MB/s
AT: .384ms .449ms

These look like respectable numbers to me on a 120 dollar 240gb ssd.

Did I just get lucky and get in before the swap?
 
Ocellaris

Ocellaris

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[L]imey;1040634959 said:
So let me ask this question:

I just ran the AS SSD benchmark from that screenshot above.

I got the following numbers:
Read Write
Seq: 484MB/s 250MB/s
4k: 10MB/s 40MB/s
4k64: 203MB/s 203MB/s
AT: .384ms .449ms

These look like respectable numbers to me on a 120 dollar 240gb ssd.

Did I just get lucky and get in before the swap?
Click to expand...

Do you have a 5.06 firmware drive?
 
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[L]imey

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How do I know? It's in my laptop and I can't take it out at the moment, is there a tool that will tell me the revision?
 
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[L]imey

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Well, I ran the same benchmarks on my 240 crucial m500 and the results on the kingston are lower, but not "omg this is horrible" lower.

So, I'm not overly concerned. Must have gotten lucky with my kingston.
 
H

Hulk

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I doubt that in everyday tasks you'll notice a huge difference between all these SSD hard drives.
 
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Darksword

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I wouldn't trust anything KIngston for the time being. Low price doesn't make their business practices o.k.
 
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buschman31

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do anybody usually have any msata ssd's on sale? I was looking for one to use on my 1155 board.
 
r00k

r00k

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For what it's worth, here is the AS SSD for the exact 120GB drive this thread refers to, which arrived yesterday. Benchmarked on a Lenovo H530S 5 minutes ago on my bench.



 
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Sanitarium

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It's a lottery with these drives as I recently found out. Seems the ones from China have the slower NAND and the ones from Taiwan have the faster version. I ended up with a Taiwan drive and the speeds are perfectly fine for a low cost SSD. Just a warning for anyone buying these if you get a China made drive, take advantage of Amazon's free returns and send it right back.
 
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mnitetrain

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I wonder if differences are actual mfg China or taiwan or difference from SATA 2 to SATA3.

I have Mushkin Chronos 250 on SATA 2 board is ASUS P5N32-E SLI PLUS. Would love to try it on something more modern.
AS SSD Benchmark 1.7.4739.38088
------------------------------
Name: MKNSSDCR240GB-DX7 ATA Device
Firmware: 506ABBF0
Controller: msahci
Offset: 103424 K - OK
Size: 223.57 GB
Date: 2/20/2014 9:30:47 PM
------------------------------
Sequential:
------------------------------
Read: 252.80 MB/s
Write: 167.53 MB/s
------------------------------
4K:
------------------------------
Read: 17.51 MB/s
Write: 41.32 MB/s
------------------------------
4K-64Threads:
------------------------------
Read: 162.53 MB/s
Write: 167.71 MB/s
------------------------------
Access Times:
------------------------------
Read: 0.227 ms
Write: 0.237 ms
------------------------------
Score:
------------------------------
Read: 205
Write: 226
Total: 538
------------------------------
 
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munkle

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I have some older kingston drives (3 years old now) and they weren't the fastest when I bought them but they have been rock solid in stability. One has been in 24/7 use for those 3 years and no failures/reallocated sectors.
 
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BurntToast

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munkle said:
I have some older kingston drives (3 years old now) and they weren't the fastest when I bought them but they have been rock solid in stability. One has been in 24/7 use for those 3 years and no failures/reallocated sectors.
Click to expand...
i've had my Kingston for 4 years! V-Series V+ SNVP325-S2/128GB that uses MLC. this thing hasn't flinched! I have Windows 7 64 Pro and all my apps installed on it. I also have a couple of my core games on it too. Have about 30% available on the drive. My 2TB WD RE4 Enterprise drive holds the majority of my games.

I would buy another Kingston in a FLASH. But likely avoid this particular model.
 
primetime

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for those wondering how the Samsung evo compares to these drives....Sometimes you Get what you pay for

oo4p.png
 
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MetalX

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primetime said:
for those wondering how the Samsung evo compares to these drives....Sometimes you Get what you pay for

oo4p.png
Click to expand...

Came to post my EVO scores

oKZy28Q.png


Only ~$150, I think. Why blow your money on these Kingston SSDs?

EDIT: I think something went wrong with your tests....
 
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