Kingston recently launched the V+200 240GB SSD. Given the 240GB capacity price point and 6.0gbps interface one quickly recognizes this as a SandForce SF-2281 drive. Kingston’s V series represents their value line. When looking at the Kingston V+200 240GB it is important to remember that pricing, with retailer specials, can be very attractive. Case and point, I purchased two drives for $130 each after coupon and rebate. As I prepare my Windows 8 workstation, I am again looking for a capacity jump to 480GB to 512GB minimum for the boot volume. I think there is a lot of merit looking at two “value” drives, like the Kingston V+200 240GB in terms of a RAID 0 boot volume.
For those that like pretty YouTube videos, here is Kingston’s marketing video on the V+200:
httpvh://youtu.be/faYuXZgMMCI
Test Configuration
I am using a Sandy Bridge test bed here as the Cougar Point SATA 6.0gbps controller is perhaps the best 6.0gbps SATA controller on the market at the moment.
- CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K
- Motherboard: ASUS P8H67-M EVO
- Memory: 8GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 (4x2GB)
- OS Drive: OCZ Agility 2 120GB
- Additional Drives: SanDisk Extreme 240GB
- Additional NICs: Intel Gigabit CT PCIe x1 network adapter
- Enclosure: Supermicro SC731i-300B
- Power Supply: Supermicro 300w (included in the SC731i-300B)
As with any modern SSD, set the controller to AHCI mode or RAID mode for best performance. Also, installing the Intel RST 10.xx series drivers over the default Windows 7 drivers showed a nice performance gain.
I do think that I will begin using the Intel Z77 chipset in the near future but wanted to provide a baseline using the H67 for the solid state drive reviews.
The Kingston V+200 240GB SSD Tests
It is important, especially with SSDs not to take a single test result at face value. One should look at a few different tests to get an idea of how the drives perform in different scenarios. To this end, AS SSD benchmark, CrystalDiskMark, ATTO, HD Tune Pro and Anvil’s Storage Utilities all show different facets of performance.
AS SSD Benchmark
AS SSD is a solid benchmark that does not write compressible data to drives. The result is perhaps one of the best workstation SSD benchmarks available today.
Here the Kingston V+200 240GB shows fairly decent write performance. Where the Kingston V+200 240GB falls behind is in the sequential read and 64 thread 4K performance. The SanDisk Extreme 240GB and its Toggle NAND was able to hit 506MB/s on the sequential read test here.
CrystalDiskMark
CrystalDiskMark is another benchmark which gives non-compressible read/write numbers. This is in contrast to the ATTO Benchmark used by LSI/ Sandforce and its partners when they market a given solid state drive.
Again, read performance of the Kingston V+200 240GB is below top-end SSD numbers. The 4K numbers are fairly close, as are write figures. The sequential, 512K and queue depth 32 read tests are a bit slower. Again, one other consideration is that this drive was significantly less expensive than my 240GB Toggle NAND drives. For the price, the Kingston V+200 240GB shows nice performance.
ATTO Benchmark
The ATTO Benchmark shows some fairly strong performance, I will note that the value of the ATTO benchmark is really to show the best-case scenario. ATTO is known to write highly compressible data to drives, which inflates speeds of controllers that compress data like LSI/ SandForce does prior to writing on a given solid state drive.
The Kingston V+200 240GB is a SandForce SF-2281 based drive. It therefore dominates ATTO benchmarks. The Kingston V+200 240GB has the architecture to dominate this benchmark.
HD Tune Pro
HD Tune and its Pro version have been longstanding disk drive benchmarks. I started including the basic benchmark in reviews since I do test a mix of hard drives and solid state drives.
HD Tune Pro read flat lines with the Kingston V+200. This is very similar to the SanDisk Extreme 240GB drive. This is a good showing.
Anvil’s Storage Utilities
Anvil is quickly becoming one of the new de-facto benchmarks for hard drives and solid state drives as it allows a lot of customization. This benchmark has been added to the ServeTheHome test suite due to user demand.
Anvil’s Storage Utilities are a great overall look at SSD performance. Interestingly enough, in the 240GB to 256GB SSD Anvil roundup done recently, the combined score is almost identical to the Samsung 830 256GB SSD. The Kingston V+200 240GB provides solid performance overall. It certainly is not the fastest drive, but it is not slow.
Conclusion
The Kingston V+200 240GB SSD is a strong performer in the value segment. It is really cool that I was able to purchase two Kingston V+200 240GB drives for $260 total. That brings up an interesting point. There is a lot of buzz right now around the Samsung 840 Pro. It promises to be a moster in terms of performance. At the same time, it may also launch at prices above the $200 Samsung 830 256GB SSD. As a result, this may be an Intel X25-V 40GB situation. One has the opportunity to purchase two lower-cost and lower performance SSDs and get similar performance to a much more expensive drive. The big difference today is that two Kingston V+200 240GB SSDs will provide 480GB worth of capacity. There is a lot of merit for the Kingston V+200 240GB drives in the value segment. At around $0.54/GB pricing is very attractive. The negative is that one does have to watch for deals to hit that price point. Overall, one (or two) of these would make an excellent Windows 8 boot setup.
