Kingston is a staple brand when it comes to offering high-performance storage solutions at budget-friendly prices, aimed at both consumers who want to use them as a primary drive, as an additional storage drive for their systems, and as a viable upgrade for laptop users.
KC600
A2000
Today, we’re looking at two of the company’s affordable but capable solid-state drives, the KC600, a 512GB 2.5-inch SATA 3 variant, and the A2000, a 500GB M.2 NVMe PCIe variant.
Specifications
| Kingston KC600 | Kingston A2000 | |
| Form Factor | 2.5″ | M.2 2280 |
| Interface | SATA Rev. 3.0 (6Gb/s) | NVMe PCIe Gen 3.0 x 4 Lanes |
| Capacities | 256GB | 250GB |
| 512GB (Unit) | 500GB (Unit) | |
| 1024GB | 1TB | |
| 2048GB | ||
| Controller | SM2259 | |
| NAND | 3D TLC | 3D |
| Encryption | XTS-AES 256-bit | XTS-AES 256-bit |
| Sequential Read/Write | 256GB – Up to 550/500MB/s | 250GB – up to 2,000/1,100MB/s |
| 512GB-2048GB – Up to 550/520MB/s | 500GB – up to 2,000/2,000MB/s | |
| 1TB – up to 2,200/2,000MB/s | ||
| Maximum 4K Read/Write | Up to 90,000/80,000 IOPS | |
| Random 4K Read/Write | 250GB – up to 150,000/180,000 IOPS | |
| 500GB – up to 180,000/200,000 IOPS | ||
| 1TB – up to 250,000/220,000 IOPS | ||
| Power Consumption | 0.06W (Idle) | .0032W (Idle) |
| 0.2W (avg) | 1.7W (avg) | |
| 1.3W (MAX) read | 1.7W (MAX) read | |
| 3.2W (MAX) write | 4.5W (MAX) write | |
| Dimensions | 100.1mm x 69.85mm x 7mm | 80mm x 22mm x 3.5mm |
| Weight | 40g | 250GB – 6.6g |
| 500GB – 6.8g | ||
| 1TB – 6.6g | ||
| Operating Temperature | 0°C~70°C | 0°C~70°C |
| Storage Temperature | -40°C~85°C | -40°C~85°C |
| Life Expectancy | 1 million hours MTBF | |
| Warranty/Support | Limited 5-year warranty | Limited 5-year warranty |
| Free technical support | Free technical support |
Test System
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
- Cooler: ASUS ROG Strix LC 240 AIO
- Motherboard: ASUS TUF Gaming X570 Plus
- RAM: 16GB TForce Nighthawk 3200MHz CL16
- Storage: 512GB AORUS RGB M.2 NVMe SSD, 1TB Seagate 7200RPM HDD, Kingston KC600 512GB SATA3 SSD, Kingston A2000 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD.
- PSU: Seasonic Prime 750W 80+ Gold
- GALAX RTX 2070 Super WTF Edition
- OS: Windows 10 Pro 2004
Performance
Using a number of popular benchmarks, we’ll take a look at how the KC600 and the A2000 will fare against other SSDs we’ve tested in the past.
CrystalDiskMark is a popular benchmark tool that measures how fast files can be read from and written to the drive.
- CDM SEQ1M Q8T1 1GB
- CDM SEQ1M Q8T1 16GB
- CDM Random 4K QD32 1GB
Using a 1GB and 16GB file as a sample, the KC600 managed to beat its only competitor in the chart, the Micron 1100 SATA SSD in both sequential read and write speeds. It does fall behind when it comes to random read and write speeds using a 1GB file sample.
The A2000, on the other hand, falls behind most of the competitors in the list in both read and write speeds with a significant performance drop when there are multiple requests to access data (4K QD32).
AS SSD Benchmark
AS SSD Benchmark is a tool that not only measures access time (how responsive the SSD is), but also the time that it takes to copy certain types of files (Game, Program, ISO).
When using a 1GB file sample, the KC600 did better against the Micron 1100 in both read and write, though only slightly on the latter.
The A2000 managed to go toe-to-toe with the AORUS RGB M.2 SSD, in read performance but fell behind the Plextor, the TForce, and the Adata models in write performance.
Switching the sample file size to 10GB, the SX8200 Pro still manages to come out on top, with the A2000 coming in fourth fastest in read performance, while placing third on write performance.
The KC600, on the other hand, manages to pull ahead of the Micron 1100 in both read and write performance.
IOPS (Input/Output Operations per Second) determines the number of inputs and outputs that an SSD can do in a short period of time.
In this instance, the KC600 fares better than the Micron 1100 in read performance and falls behind in write performance. The A2000 is, unfortunately, the slowest of the bunch, in read performance, and is second to the slowest in write performance.
In this test measuring the speed at which the SSD copies a particular type of file, KC600 is a bit slower than the Micron 1100 when copying an ISO, but is faster when copying a game or a program (10GB file size).
The A2000, on the other hand, is second fastest when copying an ISO file, and a program, but goes last when it comes to copying a game file.
As for how long it takes to copy 10GB of a certain type of file, the KC600 is just a bit slower than the Micron M1100 for ISO files but is faster for games and programs. The A2000 ranks second fastest for ISO files and programs, and last for Games.
Temperature
As for temperatures, the A2000 ran the hottest of the bunch in idle, but performed better at load, besting both the SX8200 Pro and the AORUS RGB M.2 SSD.
The KC600, on the other hand, ran almost at the same temperature as the Micron 1100 on idle but ran hotter at load.
Conclusion
While certainly not the cream of the crop, the Kingston KC600 and A2000 still offer decent performance, especially considering the price. Both are more of a hit and miss, at least as far as numbers are concerned.
In everyday use though, I personally cannot tell the difference. It would most likely only be when dealing with a large chunk of data. Anyone looking into a decent storage solution with good pricing should have these on their list.
Kingston not only offers high-end SSDs but also a complete lineup for different usages.
Kingston SSD Lineups
- Made for Upgrade (Entry Level): A400 (SATA)
- Powered-Up Performance (Advanced Level): A2000 (PCIe) / KC600 (SATA)
- Extreme Gaming (Highest Level): KC2500 (PCIe)
KC600 512GB and A2000 500GB are priced at PhP 4,500 and PhP4,790 respectively.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
