Configuration:

The Kingston 30GB solid state drive was tested in a system with the following other components:

» Intel Core i7-920 quad-core processor
» Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R Motherboard
» 6GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer 1600MHz triple channel memory kit
» Nesteq Silent 700W modular power supply
» Windows 7 Pro operating system

The disk included in the bundle was used to clone an existing system drive to the SSD, and the process was extremely quick and easy. Once completed, the system booted in to Windows and I proceeded to see what CrystalDiskInfo had to say about the drive...



What we see is that TRIM is enabled, and perhaps for the first time in my experience with SSDs, there is data provided regarding the drive's temperature. Additionally, no confirmation is provided regarding the cache memory size, but according to the published specifications it has an ample 64MB onboard.



Testing:

The testing portion of the review will have the 30GB Kingston solid state drive matched up against two other SSDs and one traditional 2.5" SATA hard drive.

» 320GB Western Digital Scorpio 2.5" SATA-II hard drive [review link]
» 60GB OCZ Technology Agility [review link]
» 32GB Super Talent UltraDrive FTM32GX25H SSD [at eWiz.com]

The tests to be executed on the six drives include benchmarks from four pre-packaged applications, as listed below.

» PassMark Performance Test Advanced Disk Test (64-Bit)
» AS SSD Benchmark 1.4.3704.27281
» PCMark Vantage x64
» CrystalDiskMark 2.2 (5, 100MB)