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Kingston SH103S3/120G

HyperX 3K 120GB

▲ 602,608 ▼

Controller: LSI SandForce SF2281VB1-SDC. NAND Memory: Intel Synchronous 25nm MLC. Release date: Q2 2012.

VS

Average Bench: 73.7% (504th of 1000)

Based on 24,409 user benchmarks.  Models: KINGSTON SH103S3120G, KINGSTON KINGSTON SH103S3, KINGSTON SH103S3120G, KINGSTON SH103S3

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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Poor: 57%Average: 73.7% Great: 87%

Popular builds with this SSD

Good average bench

The Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB averaged 26.3% lower than the peak scores attained by the group leaders. This isn't a great result which indicates that there are much faster alternatives on the comparison list.

Strengths

Avg. 4K-64Thread Mixed IO Speed 156MB/s
Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed 37.7MB/s

Above average consistency

The range of scores (95th - 5th percentile) for the Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB is 30.5%. This is a relatively narrow range which indicates that the Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB performs reasonably consistently under varying real world conditions.

Weaknesses

Avg. Sustained Write Speed 137MB/s
Avg. Sequential Write Speed 186MB/s
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Average Bench

(Based on 24,409 samples)
Rank 50473.7%
Min Avg Max
302 Read 362 421
132 Write 186 222
176 Mixed 221 257
102 SusWrite 137 166
50.3% 227 MB/s
Min Avg Max
20.6 4K Read 30.4 37.2
41.8 4K Write 83.3 117
25.7 4K Mixed 37.7 48
138% 50.4 MB/s
Min Avg Max
113 DQ Read 196 246
116 DQ Write 171 215
58 DQ Mixed 156 201
125% 175 MB/s
User Benchmarks Bench Sequential Random 4k Deep queue 4k
The fastest SSD (mainstream) averages a speed of 100%
111GB free
Firmware: 521ABBF0
SusWrite @10s intervals: 141 149 151 161 162 158 MB/s
91.9% Outstanding
Read 424
Write 220
Mixed 255
SusWrite 154
58% 263 MB/s
4K Read 36.8
4K Write 115
4K Mixed 51.6
183% 67.7 MB/s
DQ Read 213
DQ Write 186
DQ Mixed 188
144% 196 MB/s
75GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 526ABBF0
SusWrite @10s intervals: 134 130 132 133 129 130 MB/s
70.7% Very good
Read 369
Write 144
Mixed 197
SusWrite 131
46% 210 MB/s
4K Read 26.4
4K Write 90
4K Mixed 34.5
132% 50.3 MB/s
DQ Read 183
DQ Write 151
DQ Mixed 119
102% 151 MB/s
24,409 MORE »

 Market Share (See Leaders)

The number of benchmark samples for this model as a percentage of all 14,373,882 SSDs tested.

 Prices

Approx. $101 @ launch in Apr '12
EbayUS $15924 secs
AmazonUS $18018 mins
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CHOOSE A COMPONENT:

CPU GPU SSD HDD RAM MBD
Typical HyperX 3K 120GB Builds (Compare 20,597 builds) See popular component choices, score breakdowns and rankings.
Gaming
Gaming 58%
Gunboat
Desktop
Desktop 50%
Yacht
Workstation
Workstation 38%
Jet ski

Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 - $88

CPU
FX-8350AMD  $73Bench 55%, 183,591 samples6,230x
FX-6300AMD  $60Bench 46%, 149,211 samples4,937x
FX-8320AMD  $95Bench 50%, 70,993 samples3,196x
GPU
GTX 1060-6GBNvidia  $208Bench 70%, 570,243 samples1,428x
RX 480AMD  $280Bench 65%, 138,570 samples1,320x
GTX 1050-TiNvidia  $145Bench 38%, 354,124 samples1,184x
SSD
HyperX 3K 120GBKingston  $159Bench 74%, 24,409 samples1x
RAM
Savage DDR3 1600 C9 2x4GBHyperXBench 50%, 41,346 samples731x
Fury DDR3 1866 C10 2x8GBHyperXBench 59%, 46,897 samples652x
Vengeance DDR3 1600 C9 2x4GBCorsairBench 49%, 39,848 samples510x
EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER Value: 74% - Very good Total price: $528

Popular HyperX 3K 120GB compatible motherboards:

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Solid State Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) May 2019 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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Group Test Results

  • Best user rated - User sentiment trumps benchmarks for this comparison.
  • Best value for money - Value for money is based on real world performance.
  • Fastest real world speed - Real World Speed measures performance for typical consumers.

 Comments

SSDrivePro
Avatar level
1,352

Official site www.kingston.com/...

Controller: LSI SandForce SF2281VB1-SDC. NAND Memory: Intel Synchronous 25nm MLC

3K loads games and applications faster...

Added 5 years ago.
USA-User
Avatar level
5,178

Excellent (edit your comment) Add link

17 months ago.

TUR-User
Avatar level
3,162

Excellent

3 months ago.

2012 i bought hyperx 120 gb and only 1 gb free space left. it was full with application then looked results and tough 860 pro better then kingston. kingston hyber x 120 gb read speed 555 Mb (2012 model) and 860 pro (2019 model) 560 mb read speed honestly i replaced only ssd drive and kingston definetly faster then samsung even it has 1 gb free space, when i click applications it load faster then samsung.. windows starts, opening firefox, photoshop or intellij vs 7 years old kingston ssd definetly faster then samsung 860 pro ssd disc.

HRV-User
Avatar level
1,484

Good

2 years ago.

After 23k hours on power still OK SSD.

SSDrivePro
Avatar level
1,352

Poor

5 years ago.

Cantell
Avatar level
6

Poor

3 years ago.

18 months in it's still running, and seq read speeds remain decent (mid 400's) but seq write speeds have dropped to around 175 avge. It's got 9K power on hours, so fairly heavy use. It's an underwhelming drive that'll get you a year and a half of OKish speeds, then it's relegated to your girlfriends friends laptop for $20 :)

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 Frequently Asked Questions

Storage Devices FAQ
What is sustained sequential write speed?
What’s the difference between SLC, MLC and TLC?
What is 3D XPoint and how fast is it?
What’s the difference between SATA, PCIe and NVMe?
What’s the difference between NAND and V-NAND?
What is sequential write speed?
What is sequential read speed?
What is incompressible data?
What is queue depth?
Solid State Drives
What is the SSD value for money rating?
What is 4K 64 thread write speed?
Can CPU power saving states (C1,C2,C3) impact SSD speed?
What is the effective SSD speed index?
How is the AS SSD write score calculated?
How is the AS SSD read score calculated?
How is the AS SSD total score calculated?
ALL FAQs »

 Best User Rated
The Best.
CPUGPUSSD
Intel Core i7-8700K $356Nvidia GTX 1070 $314Samsung 850 Evo 250GB $92
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 $145Nvidia GTX 1060-6GB $208Samsung 850 Evo 500GB $99
AMD Ryzen 5 1600 $108Nvidia GTX 1080-Ti $808Samsung 850 Pro 256GB $163
HDDRAMUSB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $44Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $90SanDisk Extreme 64GB $128
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $40G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $651SanDisk Extreme 32GB $48
Seagate Barracuda 3TB (2016) $73Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $85SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $12
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