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A few weeks back, we published our announcement of Kingstons newest v310 SSD, which features just shy of 1 TB of storage. It was not greeted with open arms. To explain the controversy we were met with from the moment we published this story, the 1TB V310 had a MSRP of $928.00, and random 4K read speeds are stated as (up to) 27,000 IOPS, with random 4K write speeds of (up to) 10,500 IOPS. If you are looking for the slickest and fastest drive on the market today, you can stop reading here. There are other drives available that can achieve higher throughput and at, unfortunately, a lower cost. As we do for every SSD, we requested a review sample nonetheless, and were shocked to find one in the mail just a few days before the Flash memory Summit.
If you are thinking that there just might be more than meets the eye, you would be right. Kingstons approach to the SSDNow V310 is rather unique. Although performance may not be the best, Kingston is targeting a specific demographic with this SSD, that being the beginner who will be migrating from a hard drive. Having said that, the included accessories within this SSD present a completely different outlook, one that we have yet to see from any other. While not judging a book by its cover, today we are going to take an in-depth look at the Kingston SSDNow V310 and it’s treasure chest of goodies. Oh and don’t worry, we will address those controversies too! Let’s dig in!
WHAT IS A SOLID STATE DRIVE?
If you have never heard of a solid state drive before, or an SSD, then you may be in for shock as to how much time you have wasted waiting on your computer’s hard drive. To briefly explain, a solid state drive is a storage device that is found within your computer and will hold all of your data, including your operating system, pictures, videos and documents. The largest difference between your hard drive and a SSD is the fact that SSD’s increase your system’s speed immensely, never mind that they also come with a bunch of other features that make them far superior to that of a hard drive. If you are interested in learning more, then we encourage you to take a look at our ‘Learning To Run With Flash‘ series.
KINGSTON SSDNOW V310 SSD SPECS
The Kingston V310 ssd is listed on Kingston’s website to feature read and write speeds of up to 450 MB/s, and is only available in the 960GB capacity. The V310 can be purchased in a variety of different ways:
- SV310S37A/960G – Stand-alone drive
- SV310S3D7/960G – Desktop upgrade kit, which includes a 3.5? mounting bracket & screws, SATA data and power cables, an HDD cloning software CD, and an installation video DVD.
- SV310S3N7A/960G – Notebook Upgrade Kit, which includes a 2.5? USB enclosure, a 7mm to 9.5mm adapter, an HDD cloning software CD, and an installation video DVD.
- SV310S3B7A/960G – Desktop/Notebook upgrade kit, which includes all components of both the desktop and notebook upgrade kits.
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
The version we received normally retails for $928, however as with most drives, once the drive is exposed to retail the price drops. In this case our version dropped down to $592.76. The price range for the different versions varies per retailer, but you find the difference between models to be roughly $10.
I took the time and read the review. Wasted 5 minutes. And wasted 5 minutes more cause I’m even writing this. Again, lame review, basically apologizing for poor performance and mediocre price, while you can get everything in the bunde of a dime.
So no, not a good option for a new SSD user (at 600 bucks), everyone even thinking of buying this drive must be either nuts or living in an underground hole, since crucial and samsung are the obvious choice here.
Kingston has no market share for a reason. And that reason is stated in this review.
Pass
Aside from crazy pricing i really can’t wrap my head around the fact, that they managed to extract soo little performance outta that drive. Micron 20nm is better than this, so is the Phison S8 (just look at the Corsair Force LS). Either they are using some really crappy NAND bins or they just went ahead and detuned the firmware to a point, that it can barely be called an SSD (im guessing the latter).
Either way, unless this is a lot cheaper than competition, i really really don’t see the point in buying this. I mean, m500 retails on newegg for 435 bucks. Thats like 200$ (yes, 2 benjamins ) cheaper for a much much better drive.
This could sell pretty decently at lets say 399$.
But, but, but it’s already selling for 46% off at Amazon. It MUST be a bargain.
This site continues to be my source for incompetent reviews of ssds. With review articles such as this, I will always have a good laugh. Thank you for your incompetence.
“This is what all migration kits should have included a long time ago…”
What is with the almost emotional numerous mentions to the migration package? I have the same cheap plastic case and Acronis True Image that came with their V300 that came with the upgrade kit from years ago. Typical Kingston, repackaging features instead of reinventing.
Even their pricing scheme is dubious. Kingston are too slick for their own good.
“This is what all migration kits should have included a long time ago”
Actually somebody did do this years ago. Kingston packaged the same cheap plastic case and migration items with the V300. As with the Fury SSD this typical Kingston, just repackaging the same old stuff.