Kingston SSDNow UV400 SSD Review (480GB)

Today we are going to look into the performance of yet another entry level SSD. This trend, to offer entry level products, is very strong now and since TLC NAND is readily available, almost every manufacturer out has one of these cost effect drives in their portfolio. While these SSDs aren’t the top performing devices enthusiasts love, they offer significantly better performance than HDDs in most scenarios and are much more reliable and more durable, making them ideal for use in notebooks and other mobile devices.

Because of this, Kingston has always had products to fulfill this market segment under their SSDNow series and now the UV400 is the latest addition to this SSD product line. It is also their second TLC SSD in the market, following the UV300. It currently utilizes Toshiba 15nm TLC NAND and a 4-channel Marvell 88SS1074 controller to deliver speeds of up to 550MB/s read and 500MB/s write and is available in a variety of capacities to suit any individual’s needs. With competitively low prices, an upgrade kit bundle option, and what looks to be some decent specs, let’s see how the Kingston SSDNow UV400 does when we put it to the test in today’s review shall we? 

SPECIFICATIONS, PRICING, AND AVAILABILITY

The Kingston SSDNow UV400 is a SATA 6Gb/s SSD that comes in a 2.5″ 7mm form factor. It is available in capacities of 120GB-960GB with prices ranging from $37.99 for the 120GB model and up to $118.28 for the 480GB model. Currently the 960GB model is not available on Amazon, but should be soon in August. If you purchase the upgrade kit bundle for just a few dollars more (an amazing value), it comes with a 2.5″ USB enclosure, 3.5″ mounting bracket and screws, a 7mm to 9.5mm adapter, a SATA and power cable, and an Arconis True Image HD serial key.

Sequential speeds are rated for up to 550MB/s read and 500MB/s write. It utilizes a caching architecture, so some TLC NAND will operate as SLC to provide for fast burst write performance. Outside the write buffer the write speed will decrease. Random read and write performance is listed for up to 90K/50K IOPS. Endurance figures range from 50TB to 400TB. In addition, the MTBF rating is 1 million hours and it is covered by a 3-year warranty with free technical support. Also, the UV400 supports TRIM and SMART monitoring.

PACKAGING AND COMPONENTS

The SSD ships in a blister packaging that can be hung on a shelf. The drive itself is visible on the front side as well are the main selling points and capacity. The SSD case is all metal and weighs in at 57g and is held together by four screws.

Once disassembled we can see a total of 16 NAND packages, a single DRAM package and controller on a full sized PCB. There is a thermal pad attached to the controller too distribute heat into the case as well.

Kingston is utilizing Toshiba 15nm TLC NAND and each package is 32GB in capacity. Once formatted in Windows there is about 446GB usable capacity. The cache provided by a Nanya 512MB LPDDR3 1600 DRAM package and the controller is a Marvell 88SS1074.