For a long time, I thought Kingston No particularly fast SSDs

You see, is it exciting to watch such a beginning?

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Previously, I still stayed at the A1000 stage of Kingston's NVMe hard disk drive - this is really not good, brother, there is nothing outstanding (missed the later A2000 and KC2000).

However, in Kingston's size, there is no reason not to launch NVMe SSDs with higher performance.

Finally, Kingston has a NVMe SSD with performance comparable to SN750 in the second half of 2020: KC2500。

▼ The solid state performance of this KC2500 is really top, but it is a little late. I didn't even know that this hard disk drive would have come out soon if I hadn't installed it for my friend (he brought it with him).

The following is my measured speed:

▼ The continuous reading speed is 3500MB/s, which is almost the same as that of Gen3 × 4 NVMe SSD limit Speed.

Like other hard disks with full speed and slow contents, this situation is called "I take the 100 exam" because the total score on the test paper is only 100.

Until then, it was found that before the KC2500, there was another KC2000:

Linked read: 3200MB/s

Continuous writing 2200MB/s

With 1GB DRAM cache

It is not invincible, but it is indeed a very mainstream performance, but the KC2000 is obviously better than the SN550 in the mid end.

▼ Then there is the KC2500 in my hand. Take the 1000GB specification as an example, KC2500 vs. A2000 and SATA solid state:

Accessories: Nice TT customized heat sink

▼ This KC2500 NVMe SSD supports PCI-e3.0 × 4, which is used to cooperate with Z490 Motherboards such as B460 are really good, and their performance belongs to the first echelon:

▼ From the packaging of the KC2500, we can see that this hard disk supports a five-year warranty, and the specification is naturally our common 2280, which can be applied to mainstream motherboards:

▼ Kingston KC2500 accessories list: in fact, except for TT radiator, other physical accessories can be ignored.

as for Software Supported by TCG Opal2.0 AED 256 bit EDrive and other data encryption support.

▼ The main accessories shall be the metal fins of TT, TT is also a manufacturer of chassis and radiators. It is expected to cooperate with Kingston to launch cooling fins.

It is well known that NVMe SSDs in the early days had serious heating problems, which were not solved until the Samsung PM951 period, and overheating and speed loss often occurred.

At present, NVMe SSDs have made significant progress in heat control, but overheating and speed loss are still normal. At the end of this year, a new mid-range product of a first-line SSD brand was tested, and overheating and speed loss still occurred.

▼ At the same time, because the surface area of NVMe SSD is too small (also known as the size of chewing gum), plus some NVMe SSDs have many and dense particles, in addition to being close to the main control chip, it is also normal to overheat and slow down due to long-term high-speed operation (and the SSD is often covered by the graphics card)

At this time, the appearance of additional heat sinks significantly increases the cooling surface area of NVMe SSDs, and at the same time, the chassis air duct can be used for efficient heat dissipation:

▼ Kingston KC2500 is a double-sided particle. Theoretically, the addition of TT radiator is undoubtedly positive for KC2500:

▼ TT customized heat sink is divided into upper and lower fins, and KC2500 is firmly fixed by snap. At the same time, it can be seen that both the upper and lower radiating fins are provided with thermal conductive adhesive:

KC2500 with TT heat sink installed

How can you look at the picture? Compared with the single piece vest, the upper and lower wrap design is obviously more compelling:

▼ You can see the snap design on the side, and the integration is more obvious:

More KC2500 appearances

Composition analysis of Kingston KC2500:

▼ KC2500 uses 96 layers of stacked BiCS 3D TLC flash memory, with a single die capacity of 256Gb

▼ KC2500 adopts 96 layer 3D TLC NAND flash memory chip and supports AES256 bit hardware encryption.

Of course, whether the latter is enabled depends on you.

▼ The master controller of KC2500 is Huirong SMI2262EN, which was released in 2018, and the official product launch is mainly concentrated in 2019.

▼ In positioning, SM2262EN is the top master of SM2262/2263 series master control, with 8 NAND channels, NVMe1.3 standard.

The maximum write speed is 3.5GB/s, the maximum write speed is 3.0GB/s, and the maximum random read/write speed is 420K IOPS/420IOPS

▼ In addition, KC2500 is equipped with 1GB DRAM,

* KC2500 performance test

Performance test platform

Processor: intel i9 10900K

Mainboard: msi X570 ACE

Graphics card: iGame RTX2080Ti Vulcan X

Memory: ZADAK SPARK 8GB × 2 4133 MHz

Power supply: ATICK HCG X850 Extreme

Radiator: overclocking Sanlingjing GI-CX360 ARGB

Briefly introduce the test platform:

▼ MSI ACE series is a series I like very much. Its high-end positioning is more affordable than GODLIKE, and it belongs to MEG series with GODLIKE.

Generally, there are some requirements for the appearance and performance of the motherboard, but they do not pursue limit , then ACE series is a good choice.

▼ As for this MSI X5740 ACE, its appearance is also very good:

▼ ZADAK SPARK 8GB × 2 4133MH is selected for memory, ZADAK is the high-end line of Yuzhan, previously the first model in the world ASUS In the scheme, a single 32GB DDR4 memory is introduced by ZADAK:

▼ ZADAK SPARK supports aluminum alloy shell+three-dimensional light effect:

▼ The power supply is Atiq HCG X850 Extreme (it's embarrassing that the 850W version is not available everyday)

Antec HCG series is of Haiyun FOCUS+scheme, with 10-year warranty. The upgraded HCG Extreme has better electrical performance.

1. The operating temperature of HCG Extreme can reach 50 ° C, which means that electronic parts can only reach the standard of materials of a higher level

2. +12V noise drops below 30mV, which is more excellent than Focus+35mV

3. HCG Extreme uses 135mm FDB fan, with heat dissipation effect Benefit high More mute at 120mm FDB

▼ The radiator is an overclocking Sanlingjing GI-CX360 ARGB

If you want to use the i9 10900K stably, it is recommended to start with the radiator 240, and 360 is the best (of course, it is better if you have thick rows)

I choose Lingjing GI-CX360 to suppress i9 10900K for daily use. I have used it on other platforms before:

▼ I prefer the atomized RGB cold head of Lingjing GI-CX360, which has a large light transmission area and natural color transition. The key is that the price is not expensive:

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Note: In fact, it is like evaluating the performance of a processor, but no test software can fully reflect the performance of the processor, CINEBENCH R20 No, CPU-Z is even worse. For example, whether the AVX512 instruction set is called has a great impact on the results.

The same is true for SSDs. Here we will try to select several test software to help users find the positioning of the KC2500.

The KC2500 is installed at the Z490 PCH position, and the bandwidth occupied is PCI-e 3.0 × 4

CrystalDiskMark7.0

Crystal DiskMark 7.0 is an easy to use hard disk performance testing software.

But its test items are very comprehensive, covering continuous read/write, 512K and 4KB packet random read/write performance, and 4K random performance when the queue depth is 32.

Queue depth describes the maximum IO value that can be activated simultaneously by the hard disk. The greater the queue depth, the higher the actual performance.

The KC2500 reads and writes 3516MB/s and 2901MB/s.

TxBENCH 0.95 Beta

The test result of TxBENCH 0.95 Beta will be closer to that of NVMe SSD limit speed

In the actual test, The KC2500 has indeed reached the nominal speed, and even exceeded it (typical values are marked in the details):

Continuous reading within buffer: 3550MB/s

Continuous write within buffer: 2991MB/s

ATTO Disk Benchmark

ATTO Disk Benchmark is a simple and easy to use disk transmission rate detection software, which can be used to detect hard disks, Read and write rate of USB flash disk, memory card and other removable disks.

Because the software uses data test packages of different sizes, and the data packages are read and written separately from 0.5K, 1.0K, 2.0K to 8192.0KB, it can truly simulate the working mode of storage tools such as solid state disks in daily life, so it can objectively and truly reflect the performance of solid state disks in real life, which has certain reference value and significance for ordinary users.

Another innovation of ATTO Disk Benchmark is that after each data test is completed, the system will express it in the form of a histogram, which concisely shows the impact of files with different size ratios on disk read/write speed.

Most of the previous official speed of disk is based on the performance of ATTO Disk Benchmark.

AS SSD Benchmark 4K random performance test

For the 4K random performance of the KC2500 AS SSD Benchmark Test.

AS SSD Benchmark is a standard testing program specially designed for SSD testing. It covers the testing of key data such as continuous read and write, single thread 4KB random read and write, 64 thread 4KB random read and write, and disk seek time. Finally, it will standardize the results according to the formula, which can more scientifically reflect the true performance of SSDs.

▼ Remove this

outside, The AS SSD Benchmark has two types of performance description units: MB/s and IOPS. IOPS is tested separately here.

read

In terms of writing speed, the KC2500 controlled by Huirong SM2262EN is equipped, with a reading speed of 2995MB/s and a writing speed of 2512MB/s,

Random reads are 347710 IOPS, and random writes are 337382IOPS.

HD Tune PRO Test SLC Cache

Finally, let's test its SLC Cache through HD Tune.

It is preliminarily concluded that the KC2500 uses the method of simulating the overall SLC cache. After writing 1000GB, there is still no speed loss.

After the capacity is more than half, the KC2500 will switch to the fixed SLC Cache mode, achieving speed consistency under new disks and mass use.

Experience summary

1. The KC2500 supports TCG Opal and IEEE1667 features. It can use BitLocker encryption (eDrive) based on the main control hardware to reduce the performance loss caused by encryption. It is an enterprise level encryption technology. If encrypted operation is required, this SSD is indeed the first choice.

2. The KC2500 finally gives Kingston's PCI-e 3.0 NVMe SSD a first-line speed.

SMI2262EN master supports R: 3500MB/s at most, W: 3000MB/s. The KC2500 got full marks for the volume in the continuous reading, and the remaining W: 2900MB/s is enough to make it rank first.

3. TT's heat dissipation vest is more compact than that of the single chip covering type. It is made of aluminum alloy, which is thick and heavy, and can effectively assist the hard disk cooling after increasing the heat dissipation area. No speed reduction due to temperature occurred in all tests, which is related to the main control chip and the heat dissipation vest.

Insufficient

TT's waistcoat is troublesome to disassemble, and the upper and lower covers are made of metal, but the buckle is plastic, so it is easy to make marks when using tools to break the buckle to take out the hard disk. If you use a new disk directly, you can ignore it without repeatedly disassembling it.