Kingston is continuing its push into NVMe SSDs with its new A1000 series. The budget parts are positioned as mechanical drive alternatives. These drives use a lower cost PCI-E x2 interface and are single sided with the M.2 2280 (80mm) form factor. Kingston is using the four channel Phison E8 PS5008-E8 controller with DRAM cache along with Kingston branded TLC 3D NAND flash (SSD Review's sample reportedly used Toshiba's BICS3 256Gb flash).
The A1000 series (PDF) comes in 240 GB, 480 GB, and 960 GB capacities. They offer up to 1500 MB/s sequential reads across all capacities and the other performance characteristics varying according to the capacity and number of flash dies used. The 960 GB drive is the fastest with up to 1,000 MB/s sequential writes, 120,000 random read IOPS, and 100,000 random write IOPS. The 480GB drive is a bit slower at 900 MB/s sequential writes, 100,000 random read IOPS, and 90,000 random write IOPS. Finally, the lowest capacity 240 GB SSD hits up to 800 MB/s sequential writes, 100,000 random read IOPS, and 80,000 random write IOPS. As far as endurance, Kingston rates all three capacities at the same 1 million hours MTBF and 150 TBW for the 240 GB, 300 TBW for the 480 GB, and 600 TBW for the 960 GB solid state drive. Kingston warranties the drives for five years which is nice to see on a budget drive.
| 240 GB | 480 GB | 960 GB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sequential Read | 1,500 MB/s | 1,500 MB/s | 1,500 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 800 MB/s | 900 MB/s | 1,000 MB/s |
| Random Read | 100K | 100K | 120K |
| Random Write | 80K | 90K | 100K |
| Endurance Rating | 150 TBW | 300 TBW | 600 TBW |
| MSRP | $119.99 | $219.99 | $402.99 |
Kingston's A1000 SSDs use the NVMe 1.3 protocol but they are limited by the x2 PCI-E interface, especially where reads are concerned. Kingston is pricing the drives at MSRPs of $119.99 for the 240 GB, $219.99 for the 480 GB, and $402.99 for the 960 GB drive which does seem a bit on the pricier side of things but we'll have to wait a bit to see how retail pricing shakes out to say for sure. For example, looking on Amazon, the MSRPs of the A1000 drives are close to the retail pricing of Kingston's faster KC1000 SSDs which makes me think the street prices may come in lower than shown above (hopefully). In any case, the A1000 drives should be available soon as reviews have already begun popping up online.
960EVO-level pricing… quite
960EVO-level pricing… quite optimistic some may say
It needs to be significantly below the 960EVO in cost/GB, otherwise what’s the point.
Um…..X2 PCIE for 219? That
Um…..X2 PCIE for 219? That pricing makes zero sense when the WD Black that was posted for review today is X4 and 239 for the same capacity. I’ll gladly pay $20 for the speed difference