UserBenchmark: Intel 530 Series vs Kingston HyperX 3K

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KingstonSH103S3/120G

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IntelSSDSC2BW120A401

BUY • $79

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Real World Speed

Performance profile from 61,081 user samples

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46,066 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 87% 47GB free
Worst Bench: 57% 21GB free (System drive)

Poor: 57% Great: 87%

SPEED RANK: 593^rd / 1072

15,015 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 79% 60GB free (System drive)
Worst Bench: 51% 82GB free

Poor: 51% Great: 79%

SPEED RANK: 709^th / 1072


Effective Speed Effective SSD Speed		74.1 %	Slightly faster effective speed. +10%		67.4 %


Read Avg. Sequential Read Speed	366 MB/s		376 MB/s	+3%
Write Avg. Sequential Write Speed	192 MB/s	Much faster write speed. +48%	130 MB/s
4K Read Avg. 4K Random Read Speed	30.2 MB/s	+2%	29.7 MB/s
4K Write Avg. 4K Random Write Speed	80.4 MB/s	Slightly faster random write. +7%	75.2 MB/s
Mixed Avg. Sequential Mixed IO Speed	229 MB/s	Faster mixed IO speed. +29%	178 MB/s
4K Mixed Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	38.1 MB/s	Faster random mixed IO. +18%	32.4 MB/s
SusWrite Avg. Sustained Write Speed	142 MB/s	Faster sustained write speed. +26%	113 MB/s


Read Peak Sequential Read Speed	438 MB/s	+3%	424 MB/s
Write Peak Sequential Write Speed	225 MB/s	Much faster peak write speed. +55%	145 MB/s
4K Read Peak 4K Random Read Speed	37.4 MB/s	+3%	36.3 MB/s
4K Write Peak 4K Random Write Speed	111 MB/s	Slightly faster peak random write. +7%	104 MB/s
Mixed Peak Sequential Mixed IO Speed	262 MB/s	Much faster peak mixed IO speed. +34%	196 MB/s
4K Mixed Peak 4K Random Mixed IO Speed	48.1 MB/s	Faster peak random mixed IO. +18%	40.6 MB/s
SusWrite Peak Sequential Sustained Write 60s Average	170 MB/s	Much faster peak sustained write speed. +34%	127 MB/s

Market Share

Based on 75,756,417 SSDs tested

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Market Share Market Share (trailing 30 days)	0.02 %	Hugely higher market share. +100%	0.01 %
Value Value For Money	5.52 %		6 %	Slightly better value. +9%
User Rating UBM User Rating	53 %		53 %
Price Price (score)	$100		$79	Cheaper. +21%


Age Newest	144 Months		127 Months	More recent. +12%
DQ Read Peak 4K-64Thread Read Speed	248 MB/s	Faster peak deep queue read. +21%	205 MB/s
DQ Write Peak 4K-64Thread Write Speed	216 MB/s	Much faster peak deep queue write. +51%	143 MB/s
AS-SSD Total AS-SSD Total Score	851 Pts	Stronger server IO. +23%	691 Pts
DQ Mixed Peak 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	202 MB/s	Much faster peak deep queue mixed IO. +58%	128 MB/s
ADQ Read Avg. 4K-64Thread Read Speed	203 MB/s	Slightly faster deep queue read. +9%	187 MB/s
ADQ Write Avg. 4K-64Thread Write Speed	175 MB/s	Much faster deep queue write. +41%	124 MB/s
ADQ Mixed Avg. 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed	161 MB/s	Much faster deep queue mixed IO. +50%	107 MB/s


Capacity Capacity			120GB			120GB

The 120GB Kingston HyperX 3K is nearly two years old, several generations of SSD have passed since its original release. Better 120GB SSDs have more NAND modules than the old HyperX and are able to write faster than the peak 234 Mb/s achieved by the HyperX 3K. The HyperX 3K also has a Sandforce 2281 controller which is unable to write compressed data as well as its more recent competition. All that said the HyperX still has an effective speed of 367 MBps which is respectable and far faster than even the best mechanical drive. With peak 4K read/write speeds of 33/110 MB/s the HyperX 3K also has competent small file performance. To summarize as a current value proposition the HyperX 3K struggles, simply because the likes of Samsung and OCZ have innovated and moved forward in the two years since the HyperX 3K was released. ^{[Feb '14 SSDrivePro]}

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At just 5 months old the Intel 530 Series SSD is the newest SSD in the group test. Unfortunately the 530 uses the same basic formula we have seen going back two and a half years. Sporting a Sandforce 2281 controller coupled with 20nm NAND flash the performance profile struggles with incompressible data and predictably favours reads over writes as with all the other Sandforce 2281 drives we have seen. With peak and average sequential read/write speeds of 498/154 and 454/131 MB/s the 120GB Intel 530 lags the group leaders by 50%. Small file 4K peak and average performance clocked in at 34/101 and 26/76 MB/s which is slightly above average for a leading 120GB SSD. There are faster and cheaper alternatives available in the group test. ^{[Feb '14 SSDrivePro]}

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Solid State Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) April 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 $269	Nvidia RTX 4060 $295	Crucial MX500 250GB $40
Intel Core i5-12400F $133	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $177	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) $37	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $43	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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