SSD by stefan @ 2014-06-16
Despite the fact that we are dealing with a 240GB SSD, KingFast is proposing a very low price point of $124 for the drive and for this we get 20nm Micron MLC NAND Flash, a JM667H controller which is able to provide decent read/write performances but also 256MB of DDR3 for caching purposes.
At first we would like to thank KingFast for offering a sample of their latest F8 240GB SSD for testing and reviewing.
“KingFast, is a leading and Professional manufacturer of High-tech SSDs Solid State Drive Products since 2008. Our company specializes in the development, manufacturing and selling of SSDs Solid State Storage Products.
Our SSDs are extensively used in mainstream PCs market and industrial market. our products are widely recognized and trusted by users and can meet continuously developing economic and Customer needs.
Our factory is equipped with the most advanced manufacturing facilities, having received the International ISO9001 Certification with computerized QA systems strictly to all European and American testing standards such as CE, FCC and ROHS. And, all of our SSDs products are provided with 3-year warranty.
Our motto is that quality is our life. For this, we firmly promise our customers with competitive price, top quality, timely delivery and the good after-sales-service. Therefore, we have had many valuable customers throughout Europe, America, Asia, Australia and the Middle East etc.We welcome new and old customers worldwide to contact us for more business cooperation and mutual success.”
SATA3 6Gbps transfer interface, backwards compatible with SATA2
Built-in JM667H SSD Controller technology
Built-in high-speed MLC Flash
3 years warranty and 7 days 24hours service
Exclusively supporting firmware update online
NCQ/TRIM/SMART Support
No mechanical components, no noise; anti-shock, anti-vibration
Excellent ECC capacity -> ensures higher reliability and longer SSD life
9-step strict testing procedures and 100% traceability
Affordable prices as always
Product Name: F8 SSD
Brand: KingFast
Series: F8
Device Type: Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Form Factor: 2.5"
Capacity: 60GB/120GB/240GB
Memory Type: MLC
Interface: SATAIII
Size: 100*70*9/7 mm
Performance: Sequential Read/Write (Max): 450/290MB/s; IOPS Read/Write (Max): 39808/21220
Power Consumption: Input Voltage: 5V±5%; Consumption (Idle): 0.3W; Consumption (Active): 2W
Reliability: M.T.B.F.: >2,000,000 hours
ECC: 16/24/40 bits for 1024Bytes
Environment: Operating Temp.: 0??70?; Storage Temp.: –55?95?
Anti-shock operation: 1500G (@0.5ms half sine wave)
Warranty: 3 years
With the release of the new KingFast SSD series, the company has performed a full redesign of the external packaging, but also of the SSD itself, modifications which are very welcome. On the frontal side of the packaging we will get to see the product code name along with the total drive capacity:
On the back side we will get to see a small product description, along with a comparison between the 60GB variant, 120GB and the 240GB in terms of sequential and random transfer speeds:
For additional security, the box is fully sealed on both sides:
As we have seen with other manufacturers, the SSD along with the rest of the bundle is included in a separate cardboard box:
The product is also accompanied by a manual in English language as opposed to the previous iterations which had supplied instructions only in Chinese:
The top cover houses the KingFast logo and is made of Stainless steel:
On the side of the unit we will be able to spot a small warranty sticker:
The bottom side of the enclosure is made of aluminum, similar to what we have found at Intel SSDs; here we will also spot a small sticker with the product serial number, full product code name and power rating:
After removing the top cover with a little bit of difficulty, we will be able to reveal the PCB, which features no less than seven mounting holes, six which are used and this method is advertised to increase durability in case of extreme vibration:
While the bottom side of the PCB was mostly empty, the front houses the controller, DDR cache memory and also four MLC NAND Flash chips. On the board we will be also able to spot no less than 5 tantalum capacitors which will be able to store a bit of power in cause of an outage, so data won’t be lost:
For the first time we are spotting the JMF667H controller inside a SSD which contains inside a high-speed ARM9 CPU with 4K page file and 20nm ONFI Flash support. The maximum supported NAND capacity is 256GB:
A single 256MB Nanya NT5CB128M16BP-CG 1333MHz DDR3 memory chip is used as flash:
Each 64GB Micron NAND employs 20nm IMFT technology:
CPU : Intel I5 3750K Retail
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
Motherboard : ASRock Z77 Extreme6
RAM :GeIL PC3-17000 2133MHz 8GB EVO Leggera
Video : Sparkle X560 Calibre
Power Supply : Cooler Master 850W
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200.10
Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840
The drive has arrived pre-formatted. Here is the total free space reported by Windows 7:
With the help of AIDA64, we can extract more information regarding the drive:
Blank SSD
Filled SSD
Blank SSD
Filled SSD
Blank SSD
Filled SSD
Blank SSD
Filled SSD
Blank SSD
Filled SSD
Blank SSD
Filled SSD
The F8 SSD from KingFast was not designed to break any records and as a matter of fact provides mainstream read/write performance, while settling at a very low price point of about $124. As main components we could remind the JM667H controller which is mostly found in Asian brand SSDs along with Micron 20nm MLC NAND Flash (20nm technology) and 256MB of DDR3 which is used for caching purposes.
The drive chassis is a combination between Stainless steel (the removable cover), along with a solid aluminum chassis on which the PCB is fixed. KingFast has also revised the documentation so now we can find an English language manual instead of the Chinese-only we have found with the previous models.
KingFast F8 supports TRIM, but also sudden power-off recovery thanks to the included tantalum capacitors.
We would like to thank again to KingFast for making this review possible!