By: Jonathan Kwan
July 31, 2020
It is alarming how often I have to tell younger guys nowadays there is a large gap between what they are doing that they think are impressing girls and what actually impresses girls. In a recent conversation I have with one of my close friends, she told me about the time a guy tried to impress her by claiming he can disprove the first law of thermodynamics. I find it laughable how some 21 year old kid studying mechanical engineering could think he could somehow throw out one of the most well-established principles in the field of physics, and of course, my friend was not at all impressed by his outrageous claims. I would argue people in general are more appreciative of others who are caring, friendly, and relatable rather than those who try way too hard to show off in ways that make them look stupid rather than smart. It may seem too obvious, but tried-and-true approaches -- like being a good person -- will make others like you more. When it comes to computer parts, Kingston is long well-known to be a manufacturer of high quality and reliable computer components like RAM and SSDs. In fact, they are so down to business, they spun off their HyperX brand so the flashy gaming components do not distract others from Kingston's tried-and-true approach of honest quality and reliability. One could be led to believe the business look means it is not cutting edge in performance, which brings us to the Kingston KC2500 1TB we are reviewing today. This NVMe SSD not only promises Kingston's core attributes along with XTS-AES 256-bit encryption, TCG Opal, and eDrive support, but also cutting-edge speed for high performance systems. Will it deliver in all aspects? Read on to find out!
Our review unit of the Kingston KC2500 1TB arrived in a small brown corrugated cardboard shipping box from the company's American headquarters in Fountain Valley, California, USA. It has been a long time since I have reviewed anything from Kingston, so I am happy to get my hands on something from them again. Using FedEx Ground, the package arrived on our doorstep here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in excellent condition for our review today.
If you are unfamiliar with Kingston's marketing efforts, the packaging for the KC2500 will tell you all you need to know. While the HyperX brand is aimed at enthusiasts, any products sold with the Kingston name is all about business as aforementioned. As you can see in our photo above, the KC2500 1TB's retail packaging is quite serious, and should I say, professional and business-like. The background are streams of gray, while the model name, performance highlight, and storage capacity are shown in the foreground under the black strip containing Kingston's logo and the words "Solid State Drive". The KC2500 itself is placed behind a beveled plastic shell doubling as a window showing off the SSD. At the bottom, you will find a block of text telling you it comes with free technical support. This is the same kind of packaging where you can hang it on a store shelf rail, but chances are that it will be locked up in the glass cabinet behind a counter, since they are quite easy to steal, haha.
Before we move on, let us take a look at the specifications of the Kingston KC2500 1TB, as obtained from the manufacturer's website:
Form Factor: M.2 2280
Interface: NVMe PCIe Gen 3.0 x 4 Lanes
Capacities: 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB
Controller: SMI 2262EN
NAND: 96-layer 3D TLC
Encrypted: XTS-AES 256 bit
Sequential Read/Write:
- 250GB – up to 3,500/1,200MB/s
- 500GB – up to 3,500/2,500MB/s
- 1TB – up to 3,500/2,900MB/s
- 2TB – up to 3,500/2,900MB/s
Random 4K Read/Write:
- 250GB – up to 375,000/300,000 IOPS
- 500GB – up to 375,000/300,000 IOPS
- 1TB – up to 375,000/300,000 IOPS
- 2TB – up to 375,000/300,000 IOPS
Total Bytes Written (TBW):
- 250GB – 150TBW
- 500GB – 300TBW
- 1TB – 600TBW
- 2TB – 1.2PBW
Power Consumption: .003W Idle / .2W Avg / 2.1W (MAX) Read / 7W (MAX) Write
Storage Temperature: -40°C~85°C
Operating Temperature: 0°C~70°C
Dimensions: 80mm x 22mm x 3.5mm
Weight:
- 250GB – 8g
- 500GB – 10g
- 1TB – 10g
- 2TB – 11g
Vibration Operating: 2.17G Peak (7-800Hz)
Vibration Non-operating: 20G Peak (20-1000Hz)
MTBF: 2,000,000
Warranty/Support: Limited 5-year warranty with free technical support
Peeling apart the thin cardboard, you will find almost nothing included from the factory. Clipped between two clear plastic tray pieces is the Kingston KC2500 1TB and an Acronis True Image HD key. This is it -- there is quite literally nothing else from the manufacturer. Even though this is a performance product, SSDs are a mainstream commodity in 2020, and let us be honest here, what else do you need?
Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
4. Benchmark: ATTO Disk Benchmark
5. Benchmark: Crystal Disk Mark 6.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tach 3.0.1.0
7. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 5.70
8. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 10
9. Benchmark: PCMark 7
10. Benchmark: PCMark 8
11. Conclusion
