Kingston SSDNow UV400 (120GB)
The 120GB drive you want for peace of mind.
The Kingston SSDNow UV400 120GB still suffers from the lower capacity performance deficit compared with the 240GB version; however, it picks up the slack compared with the Kingston SSDNow V300 (over the page), which, like the Intel 540s 120GB, suffers from low write speeds. However, it’s worth noting that, during testing, the UV400 120GB achieved 360–380MB/s write speeds across CrystalDiskMark 5 and AS SSD and an overall write score that leads the 120GB pack. The reported write speed is above the manufacturer rated 350MB/s, though the drives were all tested empty and that performance degrades as a drive is filled.
The SSDNow sits at a justifiable price point, though some may be tempted to take the SanDisk SSD Plus route. We suggest sticking with the Kingston option as we experienced a pitifully low random write IOPS in Anvil’s Storage Utilities benchmark for the SanDisk SSD, albeit at a mega queue depth of 64.