KLEVV C920 1TB Performance Testing
We test using both the default smaller test size as well as larger test sets on our benchmarks. This allows us to see the difference between lighter and heavier workloads.
CrystalDiskMark x64
CrystalDiskMark is used as a basic starting point for benchmarks as it is something commonly run by end-users as a sanity check.
In CrystalDiskMark the KLEVV CRAS C920 lands essentially on-target for performance. Read performance slightly exceeds the rated 7000 MB/s, while read performance narrowly misses the rated 5500 MB/s. Overall this is a good result for the C920.
There is only a tiny performance drop observed when using the larger CrystalDiskMark test, which is nothing to worry about.
ATTO Disk Benchmark
The ATTO Disk Benchmark has been a staple of drive sequential performance testing for years. ATTO was tested at both 256MB and 8GB file sizes.
ATTO test results tell a vastly different story than CrystalDiskMark. Read performance remains very strong and is essentially tied for the top result, but it exhibits inconsistency over the run of the test. Write performance, on the other hand, is significantly inconsistent and off the mark in terms of overall performance.
Performance inconsistency remains on the larger ATTO test. The biggest takeaway here is the inconsistency, rather than the actual results.
Anvil’s Storage Utilities
Anvil’s Storage Utilities is a comprehensive benchmark that gives us a very in-depth look at the performance of drives tested. This benchmark was run with both a 1GB and 8GB test size.
Anvil is a bit of a return to form for the KLEVV CRAS C920; while it had problems with ATTO it seems to be just fine in Anvil and turns in a result very similar to the Gigabyte AORUS 7000s.
Thankfully the good performance holds strong in the larger Anvil test, and the KLEVV drive once again finds itself narrowly edging out the Gigabyte AORUS 7000s.
AS SSD Benchmark
AS SSD Benchmark is another good benchmark for testing SSDs. We run all three tests for our series. Like other utilities, it was run with both the default 1GB as well as a larger 10GB test set.
In AS SSD, the KLEVV CRAS C920 finds itself slightly losing to the Gigabyte AORUS 7000s. While it is not in contention for the top of our charts on read performance, the result is still respectable and the write performance is excellent.
The larger AS SSD test shows the same performance drop experienced by the Gigabyte AORUS 7000s. Read performance is not particularly great, dropping down into PCIe 3.0 drive territory. Write performance remains good, though not quite top-end.
SPECworkstation, thermals, and our conclusion are up next.
For the record, KLEVV was initially SK Hynix brand to enter the consumer market. I have RAM module from them when they were part of SK Hynix. Then in 2016, I don’t know what happened, but SK Hynix decided to sell KLEVV and use their proper brand instead. Obviously, when KLEVV was owned by SK Hynix, their stuff was top quality and competing with Samsung and Micron, still at a lower price.
Nowadays, under Essencore umbrella, it may be a different story…