Kingston UV400 SSD Review – A Good Budget Option
It’s 2018 & you should not buy a new computer these days without SSD storage. So, no matter if you’re building a new PC or upgrading your old one, SSD is important. Now, you can buy either SATA3 or NVMe SSDs. SATA3 SSDs are comparatively slower, less expensive supported by almost all systems available right now so, until your system is way too old, SATA3 SSDs should be supported. NVMe SSDs on the other hand are way faster, more expensive & requires newer hardware. If this makes you confused, you may want to check compatibility on your system Manufactures website.
However, this isn’t a SSD explanation article at all but, why I had to start with that introduction is because the product we’re reviewing here is a 2.5″ SATA3 SSD from Kingston “Kingston UV400″ which promises on delivering good transfer speeds across the board. We’ve tested out the 120GB variant so, let’s start with the specifications.
Kingston UV400 Specifications
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| Type | 2.5 inch SATA3 |
| Capacities | 120GB, 240GB, 480GB & 960GB |
| Sequential Read | Upto 550 MBPS |
| Sequential Write | Upto 500 MBPS |
In Amazon India, I wasn’t able to find the 960GB variant but, the 120GB, 240GB & 480GB variants were available & as I’ve mentioned previously, all of our tests have been performed on the 120GB variant so, we’ll move to the performance segment from here.
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Performance
The Kingston UV400 is the higher end variant of Kingston’s new 2.5″ SATA3, consumer 400 line of SSDs which also includes another variant called the A400. Kingston’s consumer level UV400 SATA3 SSD costs comparatively less than the Samsung EVO 850 but, the transfer speeds are slightly slower as well. But, the difference in price does make that reasonable so, through all our testing, we’ve compared the UV400 to the faster EVO 850 to see how significant that difference is.
System Details![Kingston UV400 SSD Review]()
*A similarly powered MAC system has also been used for testing, just in case you're not using Windows 10
Performance Benchmarks
Durations![Kingston UV400 SSD Review]()
Transfer Speeds (Windows 10 Pro)![Kingston UV400 SSD Review]()
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Transfer Speeds (MacOS High Sierra)![Kingston UV400 SSD Review]()
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Simplified Understanding
If you belong to that category of people who don’t want to get into Benchmark speed comparisons then, let me make the understanding a little bit easier for you guys. But, first keep in mind that, in terms of SSD storage, transfer speeds are supposed to increase with the increase in the storage capacity. So, the 240GB variant of the UV400 should be faster (mostly in Write speeds) compared to the 120GB variant. So, those speeds mentioned in the specifications actually belong to the higher 960GB variant. But, we didn’t have a 120 Gig variant of the Samsung 850 Evo so, we had to compare with the 250 Gig variant instead.
Now keeping comparisons aside, for the Windows system the Kingston UV400 pulls off 433 MBPS in Sequential Read & 266 MBPS in Sequential Write speeds on our CrystalDiskMark test. On the Mac side, we were able to get around 481 MBPS in Sequential Read & 356 MBPS in Sequential Write speeds on our AS SSD Benchmark test.
Considering the lower price tag, these speeds are actually quite impressive & yes we did experience faster speeds in Benchmarks while using the SSD with the MAC. However, in real life, we could not notice any huge differences in performance or transfer speeds.
If Windows installation feels like a Nightmare with your traditional Hard Drive, then these SATA 3 SSDs do make that time a lot shorter. The responsiveness of the System also improves a lot if we move from a traditional HDD to a SSD, no matter what ECO System you are using.
The UV400 is no exception here. Neither the Windows Installation Time nor the System Responsiveness felt slow or sluggish. Yes, it’s not as fast as a M.2 NVMe drive but, those also cost a lot more & not all Motherboards (of both Desktops & Laptops) have support for that interface. Also, if you have a SATA 3 supported system with a 3.5″ HDD slot or maybe you want to replace your Laptop’s Optical Disk Drive with a 2.5 inch SSD, there are adapters available for both of these configurations.
Our Final Verdict
The Kingston UV400 SATA3 SSD offers some really good performance for the money. Yes, it’s not as fast as the more expensive Samsung 850 EVO but, in real life use case scenarios, the difference was not that much noticeable in terms of performing day to day tasks & system snappiness. However, demanding tasks will definitely benefit from the faster speeds on the 850 EVO & that’s what you’re paying that extra money for.
At the time we’re writing this review, the Kingston UV400 costs about ₹3399 for the 120GB variant & ₹5830 for the 240GB variant on Amazon India while the Samsung 850 Evo costs around ₹6783 for the 250GB variant.So, if you don’t need that extra speed & you want to save your money instead, we have no problems recommending the Kingston UV400. In case that speed isn’t enough for what you do, then you can have a look at the 850 EVO or the new 860 EVO or even NVMe options depending on your requirements.
Buy Kingston UV400