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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.

Average Bench: 74% (545th of 1026)

Based on 37,039 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: 56%Average: 74% Great: 87%

Popular builds with this SSD

Good average bench

The Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB averaged 26.0% 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 161MB/s
Avg. 4K Random Mixed IO Speed 37.8MB/s

Above average consistency

The range of scores (95th - 5th percentile) for the Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB is 31%. 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 141MB/s
Avg. Sequential Write Speed 188MB/s
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Average Bench

(Based on 37,039 samples)
Rank 54574%
Min Avg Max
301 Read 366 425
135 Write 188 225
184 Mixed 225 257
99.2 SusWrite 141 168
51% 230 MB/s
Min Avg Max
20.9 4K Read 30.4 37.3
38.8 4K Write 80.9 110
24.9 4K Mixed 37.8 46.9
137% 49.7 MB/s
Min Avg Max
133 DQ Read 203 247
120 DQ Write 175 218
110 DQ Mixed 161 203
128% 180 MB/s
User Benchmarks Bench Sequential Random 4k Deep queue 4k
The fastest SSD (mainstream) averages a speed of 100%
24GB free
Firmware: 526ABBF0
SusWrite @10s intervals: 182 174 154 122 87 80 MB/s
80.6% Excellent
Read 316
Write 223
Mixed 265
SusWrite 133
52% 234 MB/s
4K Read 35.7
4K Write 105
4K Mixed 44.5
167% 61.7 MB/s
DQ Read 189
DQ Write 195
DQ Mixed 178
138% 188 MB/s
67GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 521ABBF0
SusWrite @10s intervals: 165 157 159 167 166 162 MB/s
75.1% Very good
Read 349
Write 210
Mixed 240
SusWrite 163
54% 240 MB/s
4K Read 31.8
4K Write 73.7
4K Mixed 38.7
137% 48.1 MB/s
DQ Read 216
DQ Write 184
DQ Mixed 193
146% 198 MB/s
19GB free (System drive)
Firmware: 526ABBF0
SusWrite @10s intervals: 162 149 150 133 151 136 MB/s
70% Very good
Read 362
Write 205
Mixed 217
SusWrite 147
52% 233 MB/s
4K Read 25
4K Write 78.1
4K Mixed 36.8
126% 46.6 MB/s
DQ Read 145
DQ Write 180
DQ Mixed 189
135% 172 MB/s
37,039 MORE »

 Market Share (See Leaders)

The number of benchmark samples for this model as a percentage of all 28,475,286 SSDs tested.

 Prices

Approx. $101 @ launch in Apr '12
EbayUS $13013 mins
AmazonUS $16014 days
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Custom PC Builder (Start a new build) Build your perfect PC: compare component prices, popularity, speed and value for money.

CHOOSE A COMPONENT:

CPU GPU SSD HDD RAM MBD
Typical HyperX 3K 120GB Builds (Compare 31,266 builds) See popular component choices, score breakdowns and rankings.
Gaming
Gaming 53%
Yacht
Desktop
Desktop 59%
Gunboat
Workstation
Workstation 43%
Speed boat

Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 - $89

CPU
FX-8350AMD  $130Bench 67%, 276,726 samples9,651x
FX-6300AMD  $90Bench 62%, 203,254 samples7,361x
FX-8320AMD  $163Bench 64%, 93,392 samples4,798x
GPU
GTX 1060-6GBNvidia  $267Bench 57%, 875,496 samples2,010x
RX 480AMD  $188Bench 52%, 174,749 samples1,925x
GTX 1050-TiNvidia  $155Bench 32%, 530,954 samples1,857x
SSD
HyperX 3K 120GBKingston  $130Bench 74%, 37,039 samples1x
RAM
Savage DDR3 1600 C9 2x4GBHyperXBench 51%, 59,485 samples1,081x
Fury DDR3 1866 C10 2x8GBHyperXBench 58%, 68,769 samples973x
Fury DDR3 1866 C10 2x4GBHyperX  $35Bench 51%, 33,281 samples744x
EDIT WITH CUSTOM PC BUILDER Value: 47% - Average Total price: $616

Popular HyperX 3K 120GB compatible motherboards:

How Fast Is Your SSD? (Bench your build) Size up your PC in less than a minute.

Welcome to our freeware PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best upgrades.

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How it works

  • - Download and run UserBenchMark.
  • - CPU tests include: integer, floating and string.
  • - GPU tests include: six 3D game simulations.
  • - Drive tests include: read, write, sustained write and mixed IO.
  • - RAM tests include: single/multi core bandwidth and latency.
  • - Reports are generated and presented on userbenchmark.com.
  • - Identify the strongest components in your PC.
  • - See speed test results from other users.
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  • - Share your opinion by voting.
Solid State Drive Rankings (Price vs Performance) July 2020 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
1,854

Official site www.kingston.com/...

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

3K loads games and applications faster...

Added 6 years ago.
USA-User
Avatar level
6,672

Excellent (edit your comment) Add link

2 years ago.

TUR-User
Avatar level
4,006

Excellent

17 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.

SSDrivePro
Avatar level
1,854

Poor

6 years ago.

HRV-User
Avatar level
1,786

Good

4 years ago.

After 23k hours on power still OK SSD.

Cantell
Avatar level
6

Poor

5 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 i5-9600K $195Nvidia GTX 1660S (Super) $230Crucial MX500 250GB $49
Intel Core i5-9400F $155Nvidia GTX 1650S (Super) $170Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $78
Intel Core i7-9700K $365Nvidia RTX 2070S (Super) $510Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $50
HDDRAMUSB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $41Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $76SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $37Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $75SanDisk Extreme 32GB $46
Seagate Barracuda 3TB (2016) $85G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $681SanDisk Extreme 16GB $24
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