Kingston 96GB SSDNow V+100 performance evaluation
Synthetic Tests
CrystalDiskMark
Crystal DiskMark version 3.0 is an excellent way to test your motherboard/HD’s performance. CrystalDiskMark is primarily a HDD benchmark utility for your hard drive that enables you to measure sequential data and random read/write speeds in 4k blocks and 512k blocks.
Here are two key features of “CrystalDiskMark”:
· Sequential reads/writes
· Random 4KB/512KB reads/writes
First we test with our 500GB Seagate 7200.12 mechanical hard drive and we see very decent performance.
Now we move on to the 128GB SSD for some amazingly fast performance! We don’t see any improvement whatsoever over MrK’s Read speeds in the older V series (ours is tested on a used/filled drive), but there is substantial improvement in the Write speeds – the place where the older SSD was weak.
And now we test with our 96GB SSD:
Both SSDs leaves the HDD far behind in this benchmark. The 96GB SSD is slightly slower in this test in the write speeds but are generally faster than the 128GB version in the read speeds. And all of the important performance figures are solidly up over the older series and generally over MrK’s tests.
HD TACH
HD Tach v3.0.4.0 is a hard drive benchmark utility which will measure the average read speed, the random access time, and the CPU utilization.
First we look the HDD’s sequential read speed test is graphed along with the random access time and CPU utilization – average read is 110.5 MB/s, which we shall see is less than half that of the SSD: at the sequential read speed of the 128 GB SSD is graphed along with the random access time and CPU utilization – average read is 223.5 MB/s.
Even in a used state, the 128 GB SSD scores impressive numbers over the HDD in every synthetic test so far.
And now we test the 96GB SSD:
The 96GB SSD is again a little slower in the read speeds than the 128GB version but it also scores a bit higher in the average read than the older series and with less CPU utilization than what MrK measured.
HD Tune 2.55
HD Tune is a hard disk utility. We are using the default setting of 64KB blocks for testing. First we run the standard benchmark with the 500GB Seagate HDD .
Now we run the benchmark for the 128GB SSD; the minimum speeds are down from the 128GB version.
Again the newer “+” series SSD is generally faster; access time is spectacular compared to the mechanical drive and CPU usage is at a minimum – even compared to the 128GB version at 1.6%.
There is absolutely no comparison in these synthetic tests. Both SSDs are much faster than the mechanical HDD and the new Kingston SSDNow V100 and “+” series is faster than the older series that MrK evaluated last year.
ASSD
ASSD is designed primarily for Solid-State Drives. There are four synthetic and three practice tests. The synthetic tests determine the sequential and random read and write performance of the SSD and are carried out without use of the operating system caches. In Seq-test the program measures how long it takes to read and write a 1 GB file respectively. In the 4K test the read and write performance for random 4K blocks is determined. The 4K-64-thrd test corresponds to the 4K procedure except that the read and write operations on 64 threads are distributed as with the usual start of a program.
In the copying test following folders are created: ISO (two large files), programs (typical program folder with many small files) and games (folder of a game with small and large files). These three folders are copied with a simple copy command of the operating system. The cache is turned on for this test. The practice tests show the performance of the SSD with simultaneous read and write operations.
And now it is the 128GB SSD’s turn.
And now it is our 96GB’s turn:
As in most of our test, the SSD leaves the HDD far behind in the benchmarks. However, in the sequential test, the 128GB version is faster – although we see that in the other tests significant improvement has been made where it was weak before – sacrificing strengths that make little practical difference to the average user.
Performance Degradation
Many reviewers will test a SSD only when it is brand new – and that means erasing the SSD before every single test! Well, we wanted to show you what the performance degradation was like with a nearly-new SSD (above) – when we began testing – compared with that of a more “used” SSD (below) that was tested at the end of the benchmarking run a few days later Needless to say, this editor broke with protocol and tested the SSD in a used state – so the numbers you see are more indicative of “real world” performance.
As we tested in our last 128GB SSD review, the performance decline is subtle and it is something you are not likely to notice even weeks or months later – especially since this Kingston SSD supports TRIM and “garbage collecting”. These important functions keep your SSD running close to like-new performance. You have to realize that the mechanical HDDs that we are using also started out brand-new and they are also subject to performance degradation as the files become fragmented. However, even after months of use, there is little noticeable or even measurable change.
ATTO
The ATTO Disk Benchmark is an aging performance measurement tool which measures storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize the performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Here are the results of the HDD benchmark.
And now we show the ATTO Disk benchmark results for our 128GB SSD:
Finally the same benchmark in the same PC and identical conditions with the 96GB SSD.
It doesn’t really prove anything, but synthetic benchmarks are definitely faster on the SSD vs the HDD. We also note the continuing trend of performance differences between the two SSDs. In some areas, one is faster than the other, but we want to know practically if one is faster. Perhaps PCMark Vantage may provide a clue.
PCMark Vantage
PCMark Vantage is a PC benchmark suite designed for Windows Vista and 7 that offers one-click simplicity for casual users and detailed, professional grade testing for industry, press and enthusiasts. A PCMark Vantage score is a rough measure of your computer’s performance across a variety of common tasks. The measurement for the PCMark Vantage hard drive suite is the total score with the scoring for each test further broken down. There are a total of eight hard drive tests within PCMark Vantage and all eight are run to measure the relative performance of the SSD vs the HDD we tested.
The HDD Test suite in PCMark Vantage consists of the following 8 tests:
- HDD 1- Windows Defender
- HDD 2- Game HDD
- HDD 3- Importing pictures
- HDD 4- Windows Vista start-up
- HDD 5- Video editing
- HDD 6- Media Center
- HDD 7- Adding music to Windows Media Player
- HDD 8- Application loading
First we run the standard PCMark Vantage benchmark suite using our Seagate 500GB 7200.12 hard drive.
Now we run the same benchmark suite with our Kingston SSDNow V100.
Finally we run the same benchmark suite with our 96GB Kingston SSDNow V100.
In all cases, the SSDs are faster with PCMark Vantage than with the mechanical hard disk drives and the 128GB drive is faster for some applications than the 96GB version; there is a performance tradeoff.
SANDRA 2010 SP1
SANDRA, short for the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant is an information and diagnostic utility. It provides a tremendous amount of information about every hardware and software component in your PC. It also provides various benchmarks including for measuring and reporting disk performance. SANDRA 2011 Service Pack 1 is already out and although we used the Lite version which is free for evaluation, the complete version is currently 60% off the regular $49.99 – only $19.99 – for an incredibly useful suite which we also use regularly as a diagnostic utility.
First we run the drive comparison for our Seagate 500GB HDD:
Now we test with the Kingston SSDNow v100 and watch our performance skyrocket.
And now with the 96GB version.
As usual, both SSDs are significantly faster that the HDD for synthetic benchmarking; again in some tests the 96GB version is faster than the 128GB version. Let’s head for real world testing.
