Performance and enterprise class features? Sounds good to us
The recently released Kingston SSDNow for Business range consists of three main drives: the V300, KC380 and the KC400.
The KC400 and, indeed, the SSDNow for Business line is designed for enterprise client workloads, delivering constant performance and a high degree of stability for use in mission critical systems.
It comes in a range of capacities, from 128GB through to 1TB (the model we have for review is 256GB), and it features elements such as end-to-end data path protection, SmartECC, SmartRefresh and a new Phison PS3110-S10 controller.
The controller is quite the talking point here, with a quadcore processor dedicated to the management of the flash memory, a 256-bit AES encryption engine and eight channels to the flash NAND. Its list of features goes on, with a power fail circuit that’ll push data from the memory to the NAND in the event of a loss of power and the ability to recognise when a power failure is imminent so it can safely prepare the SSD. It’s exceedingly clever stuff that Kingston has implemented here.
The review pack we received was the SSD upgrade kit, so it came with a 2.5” USB enclosure, 3.5” mounting plate, SATA power and data cables, and a code for downloading the latest version of Acronis True Image HD. Basically, this is everything you’ll need to get the SSD fitted and running as the main system drive or as part of a collection of drives.
The benchmarks were certainly very good, as expected given the advanced controller and type of flash NAND used. Our ATTO benchmark revealed a write speed of 303MB/s and write speed of 365MB/s on the 4KB test. The higher-end 64MB test was equally impressive, with a write speed of 547MB/s and a read speed of 563MB/s.
The obvious benefits for business and enterprise systems lie with the advanced controller and its features, but running the KC400 on a home built PC will greatly improve your system’s performance – plus you’ll get all the extra business benefits too. It’s probably overkill for a home system, admittedly, but for these read and write speeds it’s something we’re happy to use.
Prices of the KC400 range from £62 for the 128GB model, up to £290 for the 1TB model. The 256GB version we had for testing is priced at a reasonable £92, which isn’t too bad for this level of performance, as well as the extra features. It’s also worth mentioning that the KC400 range comes with a fiveyear warranty too.
The Kingston KC400 is a great SSD and one that’ll put some spring back into the system you install it in. From the business point of view, the KC400 is probably one of the best buying decisions you could make. David Hayward
Extremely quick and an excellent foundation for any system.