Klevv Urbane SSD Review

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Conclusion

Phison finally has the performance of its PS3110-S10 up to a level where it competes with the fastest SATA SSDs available. It only took a year after the launch of Corsair's Neutron XT. And we're told to expect at least one more major performance optimization in the coming months. As Phison works on optimizing for servers, we could see the S10 make a run at SanDisk's Extreme Pro.

In many respects, Klevv's Urbane already competes against Samsung 850 Pro. At the same time, though, it still falls short in some areas.

The Urbane only gives you a three-year warranty, which is way less than Samsung's 10-year guarantee on the 850 Pro and five-year 850 EVO coverage. We have yet to receive pricing on the Klevv, though a couple of reports from Europe suggest the drives will sell for somewhere around 30 and 35 cents per gigabyte of capacity. Searching for a parallel, we dug into the Urbane system memory prices on Newegg and found the company's RAM costs quite a bit more than Corsair's comparable Dominator Platinum family. Both fall into the premium category and have little to do with SSDs. Still, the comparison gives us a look at Klevv's approach in other markets.

In this review, we mentioned Zotac's Premium Edition SSD several times. That drive and the Urbane have different flash inside, dissimilar bundles and enclosures that look nothing alike. For the most part, though, their performance is fairly comparable. The Urbane does do its job with a bit more pizzazz (plus a copy of data migration software). Klevv also states in its specifications that the Urbane has an 1860 TBW rating; Zotac doesn't list an endurance rating.

With so many SSDs to choose from and PCIe-based devices topping most enthusiasts' wish lists, the SATA-based market really comes down to pricing. If Klevv can keep the Urbane selling for less than Samsung's 850 EVO, it'll become a serious contender in our recommendations. You get 850 Pro-like workstation performance, which is great for applications where large-block sequential transfers make up most of the workload. Heavy random workloads aren't as impressive, but the Urbane is still fast enough to make your computer feel nice and snappy.


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Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware, covering Storage. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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Chris Ramseyer
Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews consumer storage.
  • MrMilli79
    In 'Sequential Steady State', 'Random Write Steady State' and 'Service Time' the Sandisk Extreme Pro is in its own class. Those are some of the most important metrics for pro users. The Extreme Pro is so overlooked. Costs barely more than the 850 EVO and less than the 850 Pro.
    Reply
  • Quixit
    Are they going to do a "Faker" edition of this too? Because I know that's what I want written on my computer components.
    Reply
  • CRamseyer
    Are they going to do a "Faker" edition of this too? Because I know that's what I want written on my computer components.

    I saw that. Maybe it means something else in Korean,
    Reply
  • gaaah
    Sorry since I done learnt myself about NVMe just can't look at a conventional SSD. Conventional SSD's are hodunk.
    Reply
  • mapesdhs
    How come the TBW endurance numbers are so high? They don't sound right to me...
    Reply
  • How come the TBW endurance numbers are so high? They don't sound right to me...

    Sounds like BS to me also, since this is 15 nm mlc? No way this has such high endurance.
    Reply
  • Lutfij
    To be honest, all these tests may be the end all be all criteria for this SSD once their pricing is revealed. As the article culminated, the price of this unit will show itself off in the order of the pack of competitive/premium SSD's. I for one think they might just bump up their warranty period as was the case with XFX and some other brands that offered only 3~ years and bumped them to second tier warranty whereby the device bought second hand could yet benefit from secondary ownership warranty.
    Reply