UserBenchmark: Intel 520 Series vs Kingston SSDNow V300

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IntelSSDSC2CW120A3

BUY • $199

KingstonSV300S37A/240G

BUY • $35

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Real World Speed

Performance profile from 196,061 user samples

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19,348 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 88% 17GB free
Worst Bench: 57% 37GB free (System drive)

Poor: 57% Great: 88%

SPEED RANK: 594^th / 1072

176,713 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 85% 223GB free
Worst Bench: 41% 91GB free (System drive)

Poor: 41% Great: 85%

SPEED RANK: 752^nd / 1072


Effective Speed Effective SSD Speed		74 %	Faster effective speed. +16%		64.1 %


Read Avg. Sequential Read Speed	392 MB/s	Much faster read speed. +37%	286 MB/s
Write Avg. Sequential Write Speed	156 MB/s		209 MB/s	Much faster write speed. +34%
4K Read Avg. 4K Random Read Speed	32.1 MB/s	Much faster random read. +35%	23.7 MB/s
4K Write Avg. 4K Random Write Speed	78.9 MB/s	+1%	78.4 MB/s
Mixed Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed	209 MB/s		221 MB/s	Slightly faster mixed IO speed. +6%
4K Mixed Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	36.4 MB/s	Faster random mixed IO. +11%	32.8 MB/s
SusWrite Avg. Sustained Write Speed	133 MB/s	+1%	132 MB/s


Read Peak Sequential Read Speed	446 MB/s	Slightly faster peak read speed. +7%	416 MB/s
Write Peak Sequential Write Speed	179 MB/s		264 MB/s	Much faster peak write speed. +47%
4K Read Peak 4K Random Read Speed	39.6 MB/s	Faster peak random read. +20%	33.1 MB/s
4K Write Peak 4K Random Write Speed	114 MB/s	+4%	110 MB/s
Mixed Peak Sequential Mixed IO Speed	224 MB/s		281 MB/s	Faster peak mixed IO speed. +25%
4K Mixed Peak 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	45.5 MB/s	+3%	44.2 MB/s
SusWrite Peak Sequential Sustained Write 60s Average	168 MB/s		191 MB/s	Faster peak sustained write speed. +14%

Market Share

Based on 75,797,316 SSDs tested

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Market Share Market Share (trailing 30 days)	0.02 %	0.13 %	Hugely higher market share. +550%
Value Value For Money	3.29 %	17.6 %	Hugely better value. +436%
User Rating UBM User Rating	53 %	53 %
Price Price (score)	$199	$35	Hugely cheaper. +82%


Age Newest	147 Months		138 Months	Slightly more recent. +6%
DQ Read Peak 4K-64Thread Read Speed	239 MB/s		259 MB/s	Slightly faster peak deep queue read. +8%
DQ Write Peak 4K-64Thread Write Speed	169 MB/s		255 MB/s	Much faster peak deep queue write. +51%
AS-SSD Total AS-SSD Total Score	792 Pts		901 Pts	Stronger server IO. +14%
DQ Mixed Peak 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	191 MB/s		213 MB/s	Faster peak deep queue mixed IO. +12%
ADQ Read Avg. 4K-64Thread Read Speed	217 MB/s	Much faster deep queue read. +37%	158 MB/s
ADQ Write Avg. 4K-64Thread Write Speed	150 MB/s		192 MB/s	Faster deep queue write. +28%
ADQ Mixed Avg. 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	164 MB/s	Slightly faster deep queue mixed IO. +7%	153 MB/s


Capacity Capacity			120GB			240GB

The Intel 520 Series was Intel's first SSD to feature a Sandforce 2281 controller. This controller has powered countless SSDs over the last three years but is now dated and is known to be limited in the area of incompressible write speed. The 120GB Intel 520 scored peak and average sequential read/write speeds of 514/157 and 421/133. These read speeds are good but the peak write of 157 MB/s lags the group leaders average of 313 MB/s by nearly 100%. This relative inability to write lowers the 520's overall effective speed to 403 MB/s or 15% lower than the 459 MB/s achieved by the group leaders. At two years of age the Intel 520 can no longer compete with newer drives, there is far better value available amongst the group leaders. ^{[Feb '14 SSDrivePro]}

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This is yet another Sandforce 2881 based SSD from Kingston, this time coupled with newer 19nm Nand flash. In terms of performance the V300 is nothing we haven't seen before with other Sandforce based SSDs. A side-by-side comparison with the HyperX shows that the two drives have a near identical performance profile which is more than a little disappointing given that the V300 is 16 months newer. With a sequential write speed of just 280 MB/s the V300 lags the group leaders by 62%, an expected result for a Sandforce based drive. To conclude, Kingston aren't offering anything new with the V300, consequently there are far faster (and cheaper) drives available elsewhere including the excellent Samsung Evo which is the current group leader. ^{[Jan '14 SSDrivePro]}

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Solid State Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) May 2024 SSD Rankings

Welcome to our 2.5" and M.2 SSD comparison. We calculate effective speed for both SATA and NVMe drives based on real world performance then adjust by current prices per GB to yield a value for money rating. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top SSDs. ^[SSDrivePro]

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CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $254	Nvidia RTX 4060 $300	Crucial MX500 250GB $39
Intel Core i5-12400F $133	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $163	Nvidia RTX 4070 $539	Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $40	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $29	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $37	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16

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