Kingston SSDNow V Series 40GB SSD Review

Manufacture’s Product Page: Click here
Part Number: SNV125-S2BD/40GB
TechWiki Info: Kingston SSDNow V 40GB SSD - TechWiki
Price:
Click here to check prices (Desktop Upgrade Kit)
Click here to check prices (Standard)
Warranty: 3 years



In the past we have concentrated a lot of our reviewing effort on the various Indilinx (and to a lesser extent Samsung) controller based Solid State Drives. The reason for this is because those types of drives are literally everywhere in the market these days. While we did have the privilege of taking a close look at the original Intel X25-M 80GB drive, that has been the extent of our involvement with Intel and their controllers. As we all know, the X25-M gen 2 has been out for awhile and it has been gaining an impressive track record (albeit one which is fraught with some dodgy firmware). Today’s review is going to help alleviate this imbalance somewhat since we are looking at a new drive from Kingston that incorporates some interesting Intel bits.

While this article isn’t going to be concentrating on the Intel X-25M Gen 2, but we are going to do the next best thing and review it by proxy. Indeed, the Kingston SSDNow V Series 40GB SSD actually does use the newer second generation Intel controller. However past iterations of the SSDNow V series drives used JMicron controllers and actually use the same naming scheme so make sure you pay attention to product numbers before purchasing one of these drives. All we can say is that the easiest way to tell the JMicron from the Intel units is pretty simple: the Intel controlled one is 40GB and ONLY 40GB and everything else in the V line is JMicron- based…for now.

With the exception of custom firmware, this SSD is for all intents and purposed an Intel X-25M generation 2 with only half the storage capacity. It is unfortunate but one of the major flaws with the X-25M g2 controller is that is doesn’t scale down as well with lower capacities as other competitors’ products. For this reason the write specifications of the Kingston SSDNow V 40GB drive are about half of what the X-25M 80GB’s are. On the plus side this drive, while new to the market and hard to find right now, this product has a down right anaemic online price of about $124 (though this is for the desktop upgrade kit, the standard version goes for even less at about $112!). In “Desktop Upgrade” mode, the Kingston SSD acts as a boot drive which can and will significantly increase the performance of older system.

All in all, this looks like the perfect drive for people looking to get their feet wet in the SSD pond. It should offer solid performance and a clear upgrade path for potential customers with lower-end systems.