Kingston ssdnow m.2 review

Technical characteristics SM2280S3

Kingston SSDNow M.2 240GB

The presentation is simple and it is protected by a transparent plastic blister together with a seal. In the same sticker we have the most important characteristics.

The Kingston SSDNow uses the M.2 interface. in 2280 format (80 mm x 22 mm x 3.5 mm) and weighing less than 8 grams. It has a Pishon PS3108-S8 controller. It has four tablets encapsulated by Toshiba A19 and a single DRAM D2516EC4BXGGB chip with a capacity of 512 MB. It features TRIM technology and SMART Reponse support from Intel (SSD Caching).

About the memories, we can say that they are the micro NAND F064B08UCT1-B4 with a read rate of 550 MB / s and a write of 520 MB / s in the 256 GB model. Once we format the size of the drive, it is reduced to 220 GB. Kingston's warranty is 2 years, enough to test if it really works.

For the installation there is not much complexity, we insert the tablet and fix with the hooking screw of the base plate.

Test and performance equipment

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i6-6600K
Base plate:	Gigabyte Z170X UD5 TH
Memory:	16GB DDR4 Kingston Savage
Heatsink	Corsair H100i GTX
HDD	Kingston SSDNow M.2
Graphic card	Asus GTX 780 Direct CU II.
Power supply	EVGA 750W G2

For testing we will use the native controller of the Z170 chipset on a high performance motherboard: Gigabyte Z170X UD5 TH. Our tests will be performed with the following performance software.

Crystal Disk Mark. AS SSD Benchmark 1.7.4 ATTO Disk Benchmark

Final words and conclusion

Normally we saw SSD with SATA 3 format but for a year we have the M.2 format that is smaller and they are directly anchored to the board. They come ideal to avoid cable mess and are ideal for ultra compact equipment.

The mounting of small equipment is increasing and the Kingston SSDNow M.2 will cover all the needs of 95% of users. It is available in two versions: 128GB and 256GB with readings of 550 MB / s and writing of up to 520 MB / s (330 in our tests) through the M.2 SATA connection. So it is compatible with Z97, Z170 and X99 motherboards.

In our tests we have verified that the performance is within the values promised by the manufacturer. Although its performance is very similar to that of the best SATA 3, its best asset is the price. Currently we can find it for about 65 euros the 128 GB pill while for 130 euros we see the analyzed 256GB module.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ COMPACT FOR M.2 INTERFACE	- NONE
+ GOOD PERFORMANCE.
+ GOOD PISHON CONTROLLER.
+ AVAILABLE CAPACITIES: 128 AND 256 GB
+ ADJUSTED PRICE.