It can’t be denied that the SSD market is growing at a very fast pace which can only be attributed to the ever increasing performance benefits we see from them. That said, we see companies left and right join the party trying to vie for consumers’ attention ranging from the budget power user all the way to the high-end, no-compromise enthusiasts. Today we have the enthusiast-targeted HyperX SSD, Kingston’s top of the line offering in the SSD space. Let’s get revving and see if the HyperX delivers and as usual, let’s make this showy!
Kingston’s HyperX line represents the company’s high-end segment that targets power users, gamers and enthusiasts that want high-performance products. This line includes desktop and laptop memories for a wide variety of applications, and more recently SSDs and USB 3.0 flash drives. As part of this prestigious line, the HyperX SSD has some mean specs. We have the 120GB Upgrade Kit in our test bench today which aside from the SSD itself, includes items that makes installation of your new SSD easier. More on that later, let’s get busy with the HyperX.
PACKAGING
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Our sample for today is the HyperX Upgrade Kit so we’re looking at a heftier package than the stand-alone SSD one. The kit includes the SSD itself, a 3.5″ retention bracket, a USB enclosure, a USB and SATA cable and a screwdriver and a utility CD.
CLOSER LOOK
| [singlepic id=4322 w=280 h=200 float=center]I’m liking the overall styling and finish on the SSD right. Nothing really special but looking at other SSDs, this is really one stylish drive. | [singlepic id=4323 w=280 h=200 float=center] |
| [singlepic id=4324 w=280 h=200 float=center]Another sweet addition in this package is this variable screwdriver with a hollow top that keeps the 2 included Phillips bits. | [singlepic id=4325 w=280 h=200 float=center]Included in the upgrade kit is a USB enclosure for 2.5″ SATA drives and of course SSDs. This makes it easy to clone your existing drive using the bundled imaging software. |
| [singlepic id=4326 w=280 h=200 float=center] | [singlepic id=4327 w=280 h=200 float=center] |
| [singlepic id=4328 w=280 h=200 float=center] | [singlepic id=4329 w=280 h=200 float=center]A bracket is included for cases that don’t have SSD brackets already. This fits into your normal 3.5″ drive slot with the SSD nestled on it. |
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PERFORMANCE
Test Setup
| CPU | Intel Core i7 3960X Extreme Edition |
| MOTHERBOARD | Intel DX79SI |
| VIDEO CARD | Sapphire Radeon HD6850 |
| STORAGE | Kingston HyperX SSD 120GB, Seagate XT 3TB, Seagate Barracuda 3TB, OCZ Vertex 3 120GB |
| PSU | Silverstone Strider ST60F-P |
| COOLING | Intel/Asetek ALC |
| OS | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1 |
We would like to thank Kingston, Intel and Seagate for providing the hardware and equipment for this review.
Read Bandwidth
[singlepic id=4360 w=480 h=320 float=center]Using HD Tach’s long test option, we measure the read performance of the HyperX. This gives us a pretty good picture of how the drive will perform on a day to day basis. We don’t really bother much with the burst speed but we’ll include it for stats.
Write Test
[singlepic id=4358 w=480 h=320 float=center]On to write performance, we finally see a good showdown between the HyperX and Vertex on this one with only a few MB/s separating the two.
Crystal DiskMark
Crystal DiskMark is a disk benchmark suite designed to quickly evaluate drive performance. For this test we leave the number of test runs to the default settings (5).
[singlepic id=4359 w=480 h=320 float=center]If there’s one test that spindle-based drives hate it’s that 4K test but as our graph shows, the SSDs ace this one with our HyperX trumping the Vertex in the majority of the tests though the latter still showing its strongpoint in the small file operations.
AS SSD
[singlepic id=4361 w=480 h=320 float=center]Similar to Crystal DiskMark, we again see impressive figures. This round, we see the HyperX and Vertex separated by only a small margin so it’s interesting to see that we get a view of how SSDs in this range should perform. And if you’re not familiar with how SSDs perform compared to HDDs, just check out how miniscule the 4K-results on the Barracuda 3TB compared to the HyperX. The Barracuda is a flagship monster but the HyperX SSD makes it cry in terms of sheer performance.
ATTO Disk Benchmark
Now we do a shootout with the HyperX and Vertex to see how each scale. Kingston advertises prominently on their packaging that their SSD can do 525/495MB per second and is rated to do maximum 555/510MB per second. We were not able to achieve these numbers in the latter tests but a few benchmark option changes and we managed to replicate them but to be more realistic we retained the original benchmarks we achieved on stock options. ATTO performs read and write operations starting from .5KB up to 8MB and then presents the user with a graph of the results.
[singlepic id=4362 w=480 h=320 float=center] [singlepic id=4363 w=480 h=320 float=center]Looking at our chart, we see that the HyperX overtakes the Vertex as file size increase and finally closes the deal at about 3/4 of the way.
CONCLUSION
Kingston’s HyperX SSD has proven itself a worthy choice in selecting an SSD. It’s got great build quality, a very stylish look and a nice package in the Upgrade Kit bundle. For performance, you’re getting a real hotrod in this drive with excellent read bandwidth and write performance which is backed by Kingston’s 3-year warranty and free 24/7 support. Coming in at US$250, it’s a hefty investment but you won’t regret having this as your main drive.
