Computer Shopper - UK (2020-04)

ISSUE386|COMPUTER SHOPPER|APRIL2020 33

Small files

Largefiles

Huge files

0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100

Seepage84forperformancedetails

CAPACITY1TB•COST PERGIGABYTE14.5p•INTERFACE

NVMe•CLAIMEDREAD3,200MB/s•CLAIMED WRITE

2,200MB/s•WARRANTYFiveyearsRTB•DETAILSwww.

kingston.com•PART CODESKC2000M8/1000G

SPECIFICATIONS

471MB/s

1,262MB/s

1,211MB/s

KINGSTONKC2000

★★★★★

£145•Fromwww.amazon.co.uk

THEKC 2000 ISbuiltforthosewhoKingston
calls‘powerusers’–workstationowners,PC
professionalsandanyoneelsewhoneedsthe
fullcollectionofspeed,featuresandpower.
Providedthatthey’rewillingtopay alittle
moreforit,of course.
TheKC2000ispricierthanmostNVMe
SSDs,evenifithasn’tquiteteeteredinto silly
money. Thereare2TB,1TB,500GBand250GB
modelsavailable, andtheycalculateto15.5p,
14.5p, 17.2pand21.4ppergigabyterespectively.
The1TBmodelwe’retesting,then,ismore
affordablethananequivalentSamsung970
EvoPlus(Shopper375),butstillabout45%
pricierthantheWDBlueSN550onthe
oppositepageandcostlierthanKingston’s
ownA2000(Shopper382)aswell.

PACE MERCHANT
Fortunately,you’llalsobegettingmorefor
yourmoney. TheKC2000’spromisedspeeds
starthighonthe1TBand2TBmodels–read
speedsupto 3,200MB/sandwrite speedsup
to 2,200MB/s–andonlyseriouslydroponthe
lowest250GBcapacity,with3,000MB/sreads
and1,100MB/swrites.The500GBmodelstays
comparativelystrong,witha3,000MB/sread
speedanda2,000MB/swritespeed.
KingstonhasconstructedtheKC2000
usingathoroughlymodern96-layerNAND
design,basedontherecentBiCS4TLC
memoryfromToshiba,whilethecontrolleris
anup-to-dateSiliconMotionSM2262EN.
The focusonheavyusersisalsoevidentin
the endurancefigures,especiallyinthe2TB
model’scase:thiscansupposedlysurvive
1.2PBW(petabyteswritten).Theother
capacitiesareratedmuchlowerbutarestill
competitiveintheirclass,withthe1TBmodel
ratedatastill-high600TBW(terabytes
written),the500GBmodelat300TBWand
the250GBmodelat150TBW.
That’sallgoodnewsintheory,asthe
combinationof highwritespeedsandintense
workstationusageisoneofthefewthatcould

VERDICT

Awell-featured NVMe SSD that’s better suited to work than pleasure

1TBSSD

feasiblydegradeamodernSSDbeforeits

warrantyrunsout,althoughtheKC2000’s

five-yearguaranteeisprettygoodinthat

regardaswell.Inpractice,however,

performanceismoreof amixthantheofficial

figureswouldsuggest.

Notjustinabadway, admittedly.In

CrystalDiskMark’ssequentialwrite test,

our 1TBdriveblazedto 2,782MB/s,nearly

400MB/sfasterthanthespecssuggested.

It alsoedgedpastitsreadspeedestimate,

managing3,250MB/s.

Italsoperformeddecentlyinthetougher

4Krandomtests,witha300MB/sreadspeed

anda245MB/swritespeed.The970EvoPlus

wasquicker,butnotbymuch,althoughthe

A2000breezedpastbothwithits572MB/s

readspeedand505MB/swritespeed.

LETTING IT SLIP

It’severyday, WindowsExplorerfiletransfers

wheretheKC2000startsto lookrather

humdrum.Itstartedoff wellinourhugefile

readtest,averaging1,348MB/s,butits

1,176MB/swritespeedisfarmoreaverage.The

970Evo,bycomparison,managed1,334MB/s,

andtheA2000anoutstanding1,621MB/s.

TheKC2000alsofellbehindinthelargefile

test,endingupwithareadspeedof1,181MB/s

anda1,240MB/swritespeed.FormostSSDs

thissetofresultswouldbemorethanfine,

buttheKC2000isapremiumdrive,andsothe

factthatboththe970EvoPlusandA2000

arefaster–onreadandwriteperformance

alike–onlystandsoutmore.

Thatsaid,theKC2000hitback,to its

considerablecredit,inthemostdifficultsmall

filetest.Withanaveragereadspeedof

438MB/sandanaveragewrite speedof

503MB/sit’sstillsignificantlyslowerthanthe

A2000,butitedgesaheadof Samsung’sdrive

onreadspeedandhandilybeatsthe970Evo

Plus’swritespeedresultof 414MB/s.

Still,anyoneneedingmaximum

performanceoutof theirstoragewouldbe

wisertobuytheA2000.Despitebeing

cheaper, whileit’sslowerinsequential

benchmarks,it’sconsistentlyquickerin

the kindof non-sequentialjobsyou’refar

morelikelyto performonaday-to-daybasis.

It doesn’thavea2TBoption,butits250GB

and1TBmodelsalsomatchtheKC2000on

endurance,andits500GBmodelisactually

slightlytougher,beingratedat350TBW.

WORK MATE

LuckilyfortheKC2000,however,ithasafew

tricksthatcouldmakeitmoresuitablethan

theA2000asaworkstationand/or

professionalSSDspecifically.Thefirstisits

superiorsecuritycredentials.Thisisa

self-encryptingdrivethat’snotonly

compatiblewithTCGOpal2.0security

software,buthastherarerqualityofeDrive

compatibilityaswell.Thatmeansitwillwork

withBitLocker,thefulldriveencryptiontool

includedinWindows10Pro.

Thefive-yearwarrantyalsoincludesaccess

to freetechsupport,soyoumightbeableto

gethelpfixingaseeminglyfaultyKC2000

withouthavingto senditinforareturn.

Mostwillstillbebetterservedby the

A2000,butifyou’reahomeofficeworkeror

contentcreatorlookingto getseriouswith

yourPCbuild,theKC2000’sextrafeatures

couldwellbeworthsacrificingabitof speed.

JamesArcher