Kingston KC600

Makes the upgrade process a cinch, although look elsewhere if you’re after raw speed

SCORE

PRICE 1TB, £94 (£113 inc VAT) from pcpro.link/324kc6

READ SPEED 530MB/ SEC

WRITE SPEED 484MB/ SEC

Kingston’s KC600 is a standard 2.5in SATA drive, and that immediately tells us it’s not going to break any performance records, owing to the limitations of the SATA interface. Indeed, the KC600’s sequential read speed of 530MB/sec proved effectively identical to the three other SATA drives on test in this month’s Labs.

Not all SSDs are created equal, however. The KC600 lagged slightly in AS SSD’s sequential write and multithreaded random-access tests, and ended up with worst-in-class scores in the PCMark 10 storage benchmarks. That’s not very encouraging if you’re looking for an SSD to serve as a system drive.

The KC600 does have its plus points, though. There’s hardware encryption, which the Adata lacks, and a solid write endurance of 600TBW – much better than the 360TBW offered by the 1TB Samsung 870 QVO.

And while the price above is for the bare drive, Kingston also offers a convenient upgrade bundle for an extra £16. This includes a bracket for mounting the drive in a 3.5in desktop bay, plus all of the required cables and connectors. You even get a copy of the Acronis True Image HD cloning software thrown in, and a 2.5in USB enclosure. This makes it a breeze to migrate your system across to the new drive and gives you the option of then repurposing your old drive as extra external storage.

If you’re seeking an easy SATA upgrade, the Kingston KC600 is a fine choice. If you’re happy with a bare drive, however, the Adata is a little snappier while the Samsung 870 QVO is a lot cheaper.