Kingston UV500 960GB SSD Review

1. Introduction2. Kingston UV500 960GB3. Testing Methodology4. CrystalDiskMark5. ATTO Disk Benchmark6. AS SSD7. IOMETER8. Throughput9. PCMark 8 - Storage Consistency10. PCMark 8 - Individual Test Suites11. PCMark 8 Storage Test - Individual Test Suites12. Performance Stability13. Real Life File Testing14. Closing Thoughts15. View All Pages

Although Kingston's UV500 can be found in both the company's Business and Consumer product line-ups, its major selling point; hardware based 256-bit data encryption and TCG Opal 2.0 support will really only appeal to the business end of the market. Most consumers wouldn't give those features a second glance.

At the heart of the drive is Marvell’s 5th generation 88SS1074 controller which looks after 64-layer 3D TLC NAND. The 88SS1074, which has been around since 2016 is a four channel controller which uses Marvell’s third generation error-correcting, low-density parity check (LDPC) technology. It also provides the 256-bit data encryption and TCG Opal 2.0 support for the drive.

The UV500 range usefully comes in three different formats; 2.5in, M.2 2280 and mSATA. The 2.5in range consists of 120GB, 240GB, 480GB, 960GB and 1.92TB capacities. The M.2 range has the same capacities but loses the flagship 1.92TB drive while the mSATA range ends with the 480GB drive.

The 2.5in models come as bare drives (like our review sample) or as part of a desktop/notebook upgrade kit.  Apart from the drive these kits include; 2.5” USB enclosure, 3.5” bracket and mounting screws, SATA power and data cable, 7mm to 9.5mm adapter and a download coupon for Acronis True Image cloning software.

Performance wise, the UV500 isn't the fastest SATA drive we've seen. Kingston quote Sequential read/write figures for the 960GB drive as up to 520MB/s and 500MB/s respectively. Incidentally, that 520MB/s read figure is the same across all the range as is the write speed with the exception of the 120MB drive where the figure drops to up to 320MB/s. We confirmed those figures with the ATTO benchmark, the review drive producing reads at 528MB/s with writes coming in at 532MB/s.

The official 4K random figures for the 960GB drive are up to 79,000 IOPS reads and up to 45,000 IOPS for writes. We couldn't match the top read figure under testing, the review drive producing a read performance of 62,646 IOPS. When it came to write performance, the tested drive bettered the official maximum figure with writes coming in at 49,302 IOPS.

We found the 960GB UV500 on Scan.co.uk for £218.99 (inc VAT) HERE

Pros.

• Available in three form factors (depending on capacity).
• Price.
• Full disk encryption support.

Cons.

• Not the fastest SATA drive we've seen.

Kitguru says: For the consumer end of the market, Kingston's UV500 is a 960GB drive with a pretty competitive price tag, while for the business end of things, the drive is a low cost end to end data protected drive.

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