Add Kingston to the list of SSD vendors offering drives with next-generation NAND. The firm’s new SSDNow V300 features flash memory chips built on a 19-nm process. The NAND is paired with SandForce’s SF-2281 controller, a chip that’s been making the rounds for a while now. Interestingly, the press release claims the controller has been “customized for Kingston.” We’ve asked Kingston about what that customization entails and are waiting to hear back.
Based on its performance specifications, the V300 doesn’t look like the fastest drive on the block. It’s rated for sequential read and write speeds of 450MB/s, which is a little bit slower than the best SandForce-based drives out there right now. The drive is purportedly capable of pushing 85,000 IOps with random reads, while random writes range from 43,000 to 60,000 IOps depending on the capacity. The higher performance ratings apply to the lower-capacity models, which is the opposite of what we see with most SSDs. I suspect that’s an error.
The SSDNow V300 is available in 60, 120, and 240GB flavors. Kingston says those models will endure at least 32, 64, and 128TB of total writes, respectively. All the drives are covered by the same three-year warranty.
Amazon already has a number of V300 models listed, and they all seem to be part of upgrade kits that include mounting brackets and other accessories. The 240GB variant costs $215, the 120GB model can be had for $121, and the 60GB is priced at $80. Kingston is also making the V300 available as a standalone drive, and I’d expect it to cost a little bit less in that form.