Kingston HyperX Predator PCIe SSD Is Insanely Fast And Now Available
At this point, we've pretty much seen what the best and fastest SATA 6Gbps-based solid state drives can offer -- transfer rates just shy of 600Mb/s. So what's the solution for even faster performance? To tap into the PCIe bus, of course! Enter Kingston's blazing fast HyperX Predator, an M.2 form factor SSD featuring a PCIe Gen 2.0 x4 interface.
This 'Marvell-ous' piece of hardware sports a Marvell 88SS9293 controller and is capable of hitting read and write speeds of up to 1,400MB/s and 1,000MB/s, respectively. Yeah, it's like that. These are best case scenarios, of course, and those metrics apply to the 480GB capacity drive.
There's also a 240GB model that can hit the same read speed and up to 600MB/s for writes, based on compressable data transfer benchmarks in ATTO. In IOMETER, Kingston says the 240GB model can hit up to 160,000 random 4K read IOPS and up to 119,000 random 4K write IOPS, while the 480GB reaches up to 130,000 random 4K read IOPS and up to 118,000 random 4K write IOPS.
Translation: This drive chews through data faster than a starving termite in a wood factory.
If you don't have an M.2. socket on your motherboard, there's a half-height, half-length (HHHL) adapter that comes with both standard and low-profile brackets, so even slim desktop owners can join the fun, provided they're willing to pony up the necessary funds. On Kingston's website, the drives are priced as follows:
This 'Marvell-ous' piece of hardware sports a Marvell 88SS9293 controller and is capable of hitting read and write speeds of up to 1,400MB/s and 1,000MB/s, respectively. Yeah, it's like that. These are best case scenarios, of course, and those metrics apply to the 480GB capacity drive.
There's also a 240GB model that can hit the same read speed and up to 600MB/s for writes, based on compressable data transfer benchmarks in ATTO. In IOMETER, Kingston says the 240GB model can hit up to 160,000 random 4K read IOPS and up to 119,000 random 4K write IOPS, while the 480GB reaches up to 130,000 random 4K read IOPS and up to 118,000 random 4K write IOPS.
Translation: This drive chews through data faster than a starving termite in a wood factory.
If you don't have an M.2. socket on your motherboard, there's a half-height, half-length (HHHL) adapter that comes with both standard and low-profile brackets, so even slim desktop owners can join the fun, provided they're willing to pony up the necessary funds. On Kingston's website, the drives are priced as follows:
- 240GB M.2 (SHPM2280P2/240G): $382
- 480GB M.2 (SHPM2280P2/480G): $764
- 240GB HHHL (SHPM2280P2H/240G): $400
- 480GB HHHL (SHPM2280P2/480G): $782
So basically the HHHL adapter adds $18 to the cost of the drive. If you're interested, you can purchase any of the above at Kingston's website. Amazon, Newegg, and TigerDirect should also carry them soon, while Rakuten.com (formerly Buy.com) has available the 480GB version standalone ($458.74) and with adapter ($469.74) now.
