Kingston uv500

[helpmepls]

Is this dramless ssd?

https://www.kingston.com/us/ssd/consumer/suv500

 

[cbn]

No.

It has Marvell 88SS1074 controller.

 

[helpmepls]

Is kingston ssd reliable nowadays? I'm choosing between this and sandisk ultra 3d, this is a bit cheaper, I think sandisk will perform better?

 

[daveybrat]

Is kingston ssd reliable nowadays? I'm choosing between this and sandisk ultra 3d, this is a bit cheaper, I think sandisk will perform better?

The UV500 is a DRAM-less SSD drive. I would go with the Sandisk Ultra over the Kingston.

 

[Glaring_Mistake]

No.

It has Marvell 88SS1074 controller.

While this is rare sometimes controllers usually used with DRAM are used without DRAM however; for example Toshiba's TC358790 controller is believed to be a DRAMless version of one of Marvell's controllers (88SS9187 or 88SS9189).

Is kingston ssd reliable nowadays? I'm choosing between this and sandisk ultra 3d, this is a bit cheaper, I think sandisk will perform better?

Yes, the SanDisk Ultra 3D is going to perform better.

The UV500 is a DRAM-less SSD drive. I would go with the Sandisk Ultra over the Kingston.

As far as I know the UV500 is not a DRAMless drive - its performance is not all that impressive but that is not due to a lack of DRAM.

 

[daveybrat]

While this is rare sometimes controllers usually used with DRAM are used without DRAM however; for example Toshiba's TC358790 controller is believed to be a DRAMless version of one of Marvell's controllers (88SS9187 or 88SS9189).



Yes, the SanDisk Ultra 3D is going to perform better.



As far as I know the UV500 is not a DRAMless drive - its performance is not all that impressive but that is not due to a lack of DRAM.

Nothing in the tech specs indicate that the UV500 has any DRAM buffer on it just as the UV400 before it. This is Kingston's budget drive.

 

[Glaring_Mistake]

Nothing in the tech specs indicate that the UV500 has any DRAM buffer on it just as the UV400 before it.

Correct.
However; in at least three reviews of the UV400 they clearly state that it uses DRAM: http://www.thessdreview.com/featured/kingston-ssdnow-uv400-ssd-review-480gb/
https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7943/kingston-ssdnow-uv400-480gb-sata-iii-ssd-review/index2.html
https://www.nordichardware.se/test/test-kingston-uv400-stromtorstig-men-rekordbillig.html/2
So just because the DRAM is not mentioned in the specs does not necessarily mean that it is DRAMless
Not that I would think Kingston above excluding DRAM from the specs so they would be able to later remove it from the drive.

This is Kingston's budget drive.

Like, what isn't a budget drive from Kingston?
But I think that the A400 which is confirmed to be a DRAMless drive is probably a bit more deserving of that than even the UV400/500.
If they didn't have the A400 I could see it being more likely for Kingston to silently remove the DRAM from the UV400/500 but there's less motivation when they already have a DRAMless budget drive.

 

[daveybrat]

Correct.
However; in at least three reviews of the UV400 they clearly state that it uses DRAM: http://www.thessdreview.com/featured/kingston-ssdnow-uv400-ssd-review-480gb/
https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7943/kingston-ssdnow-uv400-480gb-sata-iii-ssd-review/index2.html
https://www.nordichardware.se/test/test-kingston-uv400-stromtorstig-men-rekordbillig.html/2
So just because the DRAM is not mentioned in the specs does not necessarily mean that it is DRAMless
Not that I would think Kingston above excluding DRAM from the specs so they would be able to later remove it from the drive.



Like, what isn't a budget drive from Kingston?
But I think that the A400 which is confirmed to be a DRAMless drive is probably a bit more deserving of that than even the UV400/500.
If they didn't have the A400 I could see it being more likely for Kingston to silently remove the DRAM from the UV400/500 but there's less motivation when they already have a DRAMless budget drive.

Thanks for the links, i guess they do have DRAM on them. Too bad the drives are still too slow for the price they charge.

But thanks for the clarification.

 

[Glaring_Mistake]

Thanks for the links, i guess they do have DRAM on them. Too bad the drives are still too slow for the price they charge.

Agreed.

I think one part of the Tweaktown review of the UV400 partly explains why that is: "The UV400 pairs the Marvell 88SS1074 controller with super-low-cost Toshiba 15nm 3-bit planar flash in TSOP packages and an LPDDR3 cache package. By going with super-low-cost TSOP packaged flash, Kingston sacrifices performance for cost. The UV400 is not as fast as similarly configured SSDs that employ higher bus speed BGA packaged flash, but it is cheaper, and that's exactly what Kingston is aiming for."

But thanks for the clarification.

You're welcome.

 

[leexgx]

(what is up with the hovering ads on the forum its impossible to use chrome as 30-70% of the screen is taken up with 1 or 2 floating ad's that I couldn't close, I have to use mobile edge just so I could read and post this, i thought chrome was supposed to be blocking floating ads that did this disruptive ad layout, guess I just report it see if they do anything about it sorry, in line ads are fine, floating ads are not)

With kingston if it has 1 letter parts it's normally a dramless ssd (like the spammed a400's on ebay I had to create a -a400 just so they go away from Search) 2 letter parts its a dram based ssd

But kingston will change the NAND type but not make a new sku (so could be slower type NAND that the controller supports or) they don't norm change the controller and dram specification, just the NAND based on price (as there is 2-3 different types with different performance and bandwidth)

I buy the uv400 often never had one fail (only ever had 4 ssds fail below), they are not the fastest out there compared to other ssds but still many times faster then a hdd and for home/office use they are perfect

other plus is they are rated 1A max power draw so you won't have any issues using the uv400/uv500 ssds in a external 2.5 hdd cady that only uses one USB port to power it

only had 1 personnel 840 evo fail outright witch I was tad annoyed about (system was left on unattended for 30-40 days came back and Jim it was dead on post smart failed on reboot data not accessible)

Had 3 SanDisk ultra plus (I think) 2 got stuck in Infinite read fail ECC read retry state (it wouldn't give up trying to read the data it couldn't actually read any more so made data recovery bit more tricky) on random parts of the SSD so data was mostly Recovered at least, and the last one unformatted it self after 1 minute of been formatted (very bezare that one)

 

[NewMaxx]

The UV500 definitely has DRAM. It's listed as such on my spreadsheet. It utilizes the Marvell 88SS1074 as cbn stated; this is also used on their HyperX RGB (notorious for LED overheating) but other prominent drives as well like the WD Blue/SanDisk Ultra 3D. In general it underperforms and seems oriented at encryption (SED or self-encrypting drive).