Computer Shopper - UK (2019-12)

ISSUE 382|COMPUTER SHOPPER|DECEMBER 2019 31

KINGSTONA2000

★★★★★

£136•From http://www.kingston.com

KINGSTON’SLATESTM.2SSD hasn’t
launched with anything approaching the
amountof fanfare as PCI-E 4.0 drives, but
hype can be deceiving, and this seemingly
humble sliceof storage is actually oneof the
best SSDs–ofa ny kind–tol aunch in months.
In fairness, it hasacouple of tricks that
keep it from being just another PCI-E 3.0 drive.
It ditches 64-layer 3D NAND,used by the vast
majorityof NVMe SSDs, and uses newer
96-layer memory instead,amuch denserform
of NAND that crams in more memory per
stack. The main advantageof this –the
possibilityof higher capacities in the same

form factors –won’t be felt muchby adrive
that only comes in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB
models, but 96-layer NAND also happensto
be cheaperto produce.The benefit, in theory,
is that those savings are passed onto the
customer,resulting in cheaper SSDs.

POCKET PROTECTOR

Sure enough, the A2000’s second trick is its
competitive pricing. Not so muchforthe
250GB model, which isamiddling 22.1p per
gigabyt e, but the 500GB works out at 17p per
gigabyt eand the 1TB model wetested is just
13.6p.That’s even less than theAdata XPG
SX8200 Pro (Shopper374), an SSD that was
notableforits greatvalue.
Look closer at the specs, and you’ll see
another reason why it might be so cheap.The
500GB and 1TB models both haveamaximum
stated read speedof 2,200MB/s, andawrite
speed of 2,000MB/s; milesoff the XPG
SX8200 Pro and the Samsung 970 Evo Plus
(Shopper375). The 250GB model aimseven
lower,listed ata2,000MB/s read speed and
just a1,100MB/s writespeed.

VERDICT

TheA2000isn’tjustfastforacheapSSD;inreal-worlduse,it’samongthefastest ever

1TB SSD

We can’t speakforthe slowest and

smallest versionof the A2000, but the good

news is that at least the 1TB model shows

those numbersto be on the cautious side.

CrystalDiskMark recordedasequential read

speed of 2,281MB/s andasequential write

speed of 2,183MB/s, both slightly above

Kingston’s own estimates.

This would pointtowards the A2000 being,

if nothing else,adecent budget SSD.However,

we think thattoowould be underselling it. In

CrystalDiskMark’s 4K randomtest, it managed

aread speedof 572MB/s andawritespeed of

505MB/s: bothfaster than we’d expect from

the premium endof the market.Writespeed,

in particular,isn early twice what the XPG

SX8200 Pro achieved in the sametest.

This wasn’t an outlier result, either.Our file

transfertests indicatethe A2000 really is that

fast in realistic conditions,even if it doesn’t

hugely impress in synthetic sequentialtests.

In the huge-filetest, it breezed past both the

XPG SX8200 Pro and the 970 Evo Plus with a

1,621MB/s read speed anda1,480MB/s write

speed, bothof which also showcaseamuch

smaller proportional drop from maximum

speeds than we typically see.

COMPETITIVE SPIRIT

Somehow,ite ven producedahigher average

writespeed in the large filestest, with

1,525MB/s; read speeds had no such luck, but

still came in at an excellent 1,572MB/s.At this

kind of pace,the A2000 iseven nipping at the

heels of the GigabyteAorus NVMe Gen4 SSD

(opposite), which hasawhole generation’s

advantage in its PCI-E 4.0 support.

Things slowed down considerably in the

small filestest, but the A2000 still performed

well above its price range.Again, writespeed

was the star,averaging 739MB/s, while read

speed ended up at 572MB/s.Adata’s SSD

recordeda426MB/s read anda439MB/s

writespeed, so the gap was narrower,but it’s

still aclear victoryforthe A2000.

The performanceof this SSD is

unprecedented; not inasense of pure speeds,

as there are plentyof PCI-E 3.0 drives that are

faster in sequentialtests, but in the waythat it

defies underwhelming sequential speedsto

sprint past its rivals in more true-to-life

file-transfertests. We’ve tested plentyof SSDs

that wowed in CrystalDiskMark onlyto

crumble in our owntests, but never one that

essentially does it the other wayaround.

A-RATED

It’s decently durable,too.Even the runt-of-

the-litter 250GB model hasarespectable

150TBW (terabytes written) rating, while the

500GB model sits at 350TBW and the 1TB

model at 600TBW.Most users will reach the

end of their five-year warranty well before

having to worry about writing damage.

Maybe it’s the 96-layer NAND,maybe it’s

the Silicon Motion SM2263ENG controller,

but whatever the true causeof the A2000’s

data-shuffling prowess, it’sasuperb performer

forvery little money. And since it’s bothfaster

and even more affordable than the XPG

SX8200 Pro,it’s our new M.2 SSD Best Buy.

JamesArcher

Smallfiles

Largefiles

Hugefiles

0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100

Seepage84f orperformancedetails

CAPACITY1TB•COSTPERGIGABYTE£0.14p•INTERFACE

NVMe•CLAIMEDREAD2,200MB/s•CLAIMEDWRITE

2,000MB/s•WARRANTYFiveye arsRTB•DETAILSwww.

kingston.com•PARTCO DESA2000M8/1000G

SPECIFICATIONS

659MB/s

1,548MB/s

1,551M B/s

The performanceofthis SSDisunprecedented; it sprinted

pastits rivals in moretrue-to-lifefile-transfertests