Page 2 - A Closer Look, Test System
I would like to say it has not been a very long time since I have personally reviewed a USB flash drive -- but pulling up the date on my Patriot Supersonic Magnum 64GB article, it turns out it has been a good six months already. As we approach the end of the calendar year, it is particularly interesting to cover yet another SuperSpeed USB 3.0 device in my opinion. A quick glance at the specifications table pits the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 64GB at 74.99mm long, 23.29mm wide, and 15.9mm thick. In other words, it is not as long and not as wide as the Supersonic Magnum; a device obviously designed by someone with a ruler in hand, as shown in our photo above. However, it is quite a bit thicker, and takes the rugged look route rather than a clean, straight edged approach to industrial design. I don't know how heavy it is, since Kingston makes no mention of this, and I don't have any accurate enough scale around. The only thing I would like to say is if you can carry a couple coins around, you don't have anything to worry about. The Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 64GB will still fit nicely on your keychain or pocket without complaints, but it is probably too fat to go in your wallet. In my opinion, this flash drive should really consider going on a diet to fix up its shape. It is very likely to interfere with adjacent ports on your computer.
Flipping the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 64GB around, we are now greeted with a different design printed onto the black rubber grip surface of the drive (The blue part is just good ol' plastic). While the unit itself is physically symmetrical, what's printed on it is not. The opposite side shows Kingston's HyperX branding with its 64GB capacity labeled and the company's logo, as shown on the first photo of this page -- whereas this side has Kingston's text logo engraved into the rubber grip; displayed in our image above. Interestingly, both branding elements are upside-down relative to each other, kind of like Canada and Australia, so you can keep rotating the drive, and the logo will always be the right side up to you. Notably missing are any references to the DataTraveler brand.
The black rubber portion encases the dark blue plastic in an 'X' pattern, alluding to the fact that this is a HyperX product. The cap clips on reasonably tightly with the rest of the unit, and holds nicely at the back as well. Although the DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 has a rugged look, Kingston makes no claims that it is water resistant, so my advice to you is, don't experiment. The USB connector is also blue with gold contact pins to signify its SuperSpeed compatibility. Because it is not located exactly in the middle, the cap will only go in one way. Unlike the Patriot Supersonic Magnum, the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 actually has a drive activity LED. It flashes blue behind the Kingston logo on the front side, and remains off when it is idling.
Kingston highlights an 8-channel USB 3.0 SuperSpeed controller that advertises up to 225MB/s in read and 135MB/s in write performance. This is quite a step up from the Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate G2 USB 3.0 flash drive, which boasts a read/write performance of 'only' 100MB/s and 70MB/s, respectively. With a mind boggling 64GB storage capacity, and availability of even more mind boggling 128GB and 256GB versions, this is pretty much SSD territory -- in pocket form. Therefore, to make the tests a little more interesting, I have included an OCZ Vertex 2 60GB 34nm to see how well it holds its own against a fully fledged Serial ATA SSD. To see how far we have been since the last generation, an OCZ Rally2 Turbo 4GB was thrown in, as it is one of the fastest USB 2.0 flash drives ever made.
Our test configuration as follows:
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K @ 4.50GHz (Overclocked, Turbo Boost disabled)
CPU Cooling: Noctua NH-D14
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws-X DDR3-1866 4x4GB @ 9-10-9-28
Graphics: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 1280MB SOC
Chassis: Fractal Design Define R3 (Noctua NF-S12B FLX)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 240GB; Western Digital Caviar Blue AAKS 500GB
Power: NZXT HALE90 750W
Sound: Auzentech X-Fi HomeTheater HD
Optical Drive: LiteOn iHAS224-06 24X DVD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional x64
Compared Hardware:
- Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 64GB (USB 3.0)
- Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate G2 32GB (USB 3.0)
- OCZ Rally2 Turbo 4GB (USB 2.0)
- OCZ Vertex 2 60GB 34nm (SATA 3Gb/s)
- Patriot Supersonic Magnum 64GB (USB 3.0)
Page Index
1. Introduction and Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
4. Benchmark: ATTO Disk Benchmark
5. Benchmark: Crystal Disk Mark 3.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tach 3.0.1.0
7. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 4.60
8. Conclusion
