Our second Kingston SSD product is the SSDNow V+, which rests a notch above the “value” group, while still not climbing to enthusiast levels. It isn’t based on the regular V model’s Toshiba controller. Instead, Kingston utilizes Toshiba’s Daikoku 2 T6UG1 controller, which isn’t as strong on 512 KB random writes, but is fast at most other types of sequential reads and writes. Unfortunately, the V+ performs poorly in our I/O performance test patterns, yet it sustains much better sequential write throughput than the SSDNow V.
Just like the regular V, the V+ arrives with 2.5”-to-3.5” mounting brackets. Kingston also bundles a 2.5” hard drive enclosure with a USB 2.0 interface. This isn’t state of the art anymore, but it allows upgrade users to remove their 2.5” hard drive from an existing notebook or laptop, install the SSDNow V+ into the mobile computer, and keep using the hard drive as a portable storage product in Kingston’s enclosure.
Toshiba’s architecture is much lower on power than the Toshiba/JMicron solution on the SSDNow V. The SSDNow V+ reaches an extremely low active idle power of only 0.06 W, which goes head-to-head with the generic Toshiba drive and Intel’s X25-M. The only other drives similar in idle power are the Crucial RealSSD C300 and Samsung’s new 470-series. The drive is also very low on power in our HD video playback (0.13 W) test and streaming reads (0.46 W).
As a result, the Kingston SSDNow V+’s power efficiency is excellent for streaming reads, delivering high throughout at minimum power requirements. We found this product to be a great option for upgrade users that don’t require maximum performance as well as notebook owners. Once again, performance users should read on.
Update: Just prior to this story going live, Kingston announced the V+-series' successor called the V+100. It employs a new controller in the same family as Toshiba's Daikoku. Again, we're looking at 32 nm NAND flash here. The updated drive will be covered in an upcoming comparison story.
- Can Samsung’s 470-Series Shake Up the SSD Market?
- Benchmarking Issues And Trends
- A-Data Nobility N002 (Indilinx, 128 GB)
- Corsair Force F160 (160 GB, SandForce)
- Kingston SSDNow V (128 GB, Toshiba)
- Kingston SSDNow V+ (128 GB, Toshiba)
- Patriot Inferno (120 GB, SandForce)
- Samsung 470-Series (Also Known As PM810 [256 GB])
- Comparison Table And Test Setup
- Benchmark Results: Access Time And I/O Performance
- Benchmark Results: h2benchw Throughput And Iometer Streaming
- Benchmark Results: CrystalDiskMark Sequential Reads/Writes
- Benchmark Results: 4 KB Random Reads/Writes
- Benchmark Results: 512 KB Random Reads/Writes
- Benchmark Results: PCMark Vantage Storage
- Benchmark Results: Power Consumption
- Benchmark Results: Power Efficiency
- Conclusion And Recommendations




