While most SSDs currently cost more than netbooks and iPhones, there are a few low-cost options starting to become available. Just last week OCZ announced a sub-$100 40GB option and now even Intel has a cheap 40GB option that’s just now available.

The 2.5″ X25-V will no doubt be popular with those looking to join the SSD party without much of a cover charge. It offers a basic set of options including Trim support across the 40GB of 34nm NAND flash memory drive. But just remember that even SSDs follow the old mantra of you pay for what you get. Expect slower speeds with this drive although it’s probably quite a bit faster than you current spinning disc type.

By Chris Scott Barr

We’re no strangers to SSD’s here at OhGizmo, as we’ve already had the pleasure of reviewing a couple. Today Kingston announced their second generation of SSDNow V+ drives. These are their higher-end enthusiast drives, very similar to the OCZ Summit drive that we reviewed a few months ago. Kingston sent over one of these new SSD’s so that we could put it to the test.

Just like the V Series drive that we reviewed back in August, the V+ is available in a bundle or as just a standalone drive. The bundle includes mounting brackets, a 4-pin power cable converter, SATA cable and USB enclosure (for your old drive) and drive cloning software. The bundle will only set you back around $15, which is more than enough to justify the cost. Heck, the Acronis drive cloning software alone is worth it.

Features

• Sequential Speed: 230MB/sec. read 180MB/sec. write
• Innovative: 2.5″ form factor; uses MLC NAND Flash memory components
• Silent: runs silent and cool with no moving parts
• Shock Resistant: no moving mechanical parts means the SSD handles rougher conditions
• Supports S.M.A.R.T.: Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology
• Guaranteed: three-year Kingston warranty, 24/7 tech support
• Interface: SATA 1.5Gb/sec. and 3.0Gb/sec.
• Capacity1: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
• Storage temperatures: -40° C to 85° C
• Operating temperatures: 0° C to 70° C
• Dimensions: 69.85mm x 100mm x 9.5mm
• Weight: 84 grams
• Vibration operating: 2.17G
• Vibration non-operating: 20G
• Operating Shock: 1500G
• Power specs: 2.6W active; 0.15W idle
• Life expectancy: 1,000,000 hours MTBF

Those sequential read/write speeds are some of the more impressive that I’ve seen in this class of SSD. Of course we’ll have to see how it holds up in real-world testing. The new V+ drives also feature TRIM support, which should help it maintain these high speeds throughout its lifespan.

Test System

We’re using the same test system as our previous SSD reviews. This keeps all of our old scores relevant.

Motherboard: Asus P6T
RAM: 6GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800 Blade Series (CAS 6-6-6-24)
GPU: MSI Radeon 4890 OC Edition (1GB DDR5)
HDD: Western Digital 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache
HDD: OCZ Summit Series 64GB SSD
HDD: Kingston SSDNow V-Series
OS: Windows 7

CrystalDiskMark

I was a little disappointed to see that the drive didn’t quite live up to the promised write speed that Kingston advertized, though it was spot-on with the read speeds. That said, it still knocked the pants off of the similarly-classed OCZ Summit in a few of the tests.

ATTO

Here we see scores a little closer to what Kingston has specified. We also see it deliver a dominating lead in write speeds over the OCZ Summit. Of course synthetic tests only tell us so much. On to the good stuff!

Crysis Load Times

I honestly didn’t expect to shave another 6 seconds off of the load time here. While an SSD isn’t going to improve your frame rate, it will make sure that you get into the action as quick as possible.

Copying 5GB Of Mixed Data

This is the test that is going to make any SSD shine, and shine the V+ Gen. 2 did. Those high write speeds got the transfer time down to just over a minute. That’s less that 1/3 of the time it took with a standard 7200RPM SATA hard drive.

Windows Boot Time

Unfortunately I think that we’ve hit the wall with Windows boot times. Most of the time here is actually spent waiting on the motherboard to do its thing. The amount of time spent loading Windows is relatively short, so I don’t expect to shave much more off of this, even with future drives.

Verdict

When compared apples-to-apples against the OCZ Summit, this drive clearly stands above. Not only do you get more value (thanks to the offered bundle) but you’re getting significantly higher speeds. The 128GB drive that we tested retails for $512, ($528 if you opt for the bundle) which definitely puts this into the enthusiast class. If you’re looking to spend that kind of money on a new SSD, I wouldn’t have to think twice about recommending the Kingston SSDNow V+ Gen. 2. You can also find it in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB flavors.

[ Kingston ]

For high performance drives, SSD seems to be where it’s at these days. Corsair is at the forefront of the market, and just announced three new drives that definitely bring speed to the party. Now if they could only increase the capacity without being Extreme!ly expensive.

So three new drives, in 32 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB. But the real news in the speed. The real news though is the speed. They all have a 230 mb/sec read and 170 mb/sec write rate. That’s the kind of speed that used to be limited to arrays — these should be perfect for HD video editing tasks. Of course, no word on pricing yet, but you can pretty much bet it won’t be cheap.

From the press release:

Fremont, CA. July 16th, 2009.- Corsair®, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer memory, power supplies and flash memory products, including solid-state drives, today announced the Extreme Series X32, X64 and X128 high-performance SSDs, in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB densities respectively.

Built using the renowned Indilinx Barefoot controller and Samsung MLC NAND flash memory, the Extreme Series has been designed to offer the highest performance currently available on the market, with read speeds of up to 240MB/s and write speeds of up to 170MB/s.

“The combination of the Indilinx Barefoot controller, Samsung flash memory, and 64MB of on-board cache delivers blistering, stutter-free performance, eliminating the bottleneck imposed by traditional mechanical hard disks,” said Jim Carlton, VP of Marketing at Corsair. “The new Extreme Series SSDs are ideal for use as primary drives in desktop and notebooks systems, and also for RAID 0 configurations in high-performance desktops for enthusiasts who want extreme performance.”

All Extreme Series SSDs feature end-user upgradable firmware to allow for new features to be added, such as the upcoming TRIM command for Windows 7 and other operating systems, which maintains optimal performance over time. Firmware upgrades and support for the Extreme Series SSDs will be available via Corsair’s website, and drives can be updated without the need to wipe data from the SSD, ensuring seamless upgrades.

The Corsair Extreme Series X32, X64 and X128 solid-state drives are available immediately from Corsair’s authorized distributors and resellers worldwide, and are backed by a Two-Year Limited Warranty. Complete customer support via telephone, email, forum and Tech Support Express is also available.

For more information on Corsair solid-state drives, please visit the Corsair SSD product page

By Andrew Liszewski

This morning Corsair launched a new ‘extreme’ series of solid-state drives that use the Indilinx Barefoot controller, Samsung MLC NAND flash memory and 64MB of on-board cache to achieve read speeds of up to 240MB/sec and and write speeds of up to 170MB/sec. The drives will come in 3 capacities including 32GB, 64GB and 128GB and should be available worldwide immediately. While they’re obviously not the biggest SSDs on the market, if speed is your priority I’m sure these will work quite nicely.

[ Corsair SSDs ]