Kingston HyperX Savage SSD Review: SATA Beast Mode
M.2’s might get all the ink lately but SATA is still here to stay for a while as a storage staple in modern PC systems. With many budget models now able to reach 500MB sequential read/writes, it might seem like there is little room for improvement but that is hardly the case. For many users, consistency and reliability is just as important, especially if reaching top speed is rare. Although Kingston has had their share of drama and outrage from some users last year with their unannounced switching of the V300 from using Toshiba 19nm toggle-mode NAND to Micron 20nm asynchronous NAND, they aim to put that behind them now with the release of a new HyperX model that not only offers faster performance over their Sandforce SF-2281 drives (which is not relegated to the HyperX Fury for their budget offering), but it also boasts consistent performance even as it fills up.
The HyperX Savage SSD is available in stand-alone drive package or in upgrade bundle kit form and it replaces the Kingston Hyper 3K in the HyperX lineup. Capacity options range from 120GB to 960GB, all of which utilize a Phison PS3110-S10 controller with promised sequential speeds of 560/530 MB/s (read/write).
The bundle kit box is understandably thicker than the stand-alone package and the contents of which are printed at the back of the box for a quick preview. Inside, two separate compartments hold the contents within a high-density foam enclosure.
For the upgrade kit bundle, Kingston includes a USB 3.0 enclosure, 3.5″ adapter, two sets of mounting screws, SATA data cable, Multi-bit screwdriver with an interchangeable flat-head and philips tip, 7mm to 9.5mm adapter with adhesive, HyperX sticker, and a key for a copy of Acronis data migration software printed on a sheet.
The USB 3.0 cable can be found inside the USB 3.0 enclosure. This case has a sliding lock at the top while the USB 3.0 port and activity LED is located at the bottom side. It is very lightweight with a sleek brushed aluminum looking faceplate.
Specifications:
| Form Factor | 2.5″ |
| Interface | SATA rev. 3.0 (6Gb/s) with backwards compatibility to SATA Rev. 2.0 (3Gb/s) |
| Capacities | 120GB, 240GB, 480GB, 960GB |
| Controller | Phison 3110 |
| Power Consumption | 0.39W Idle, 0.5W Avg, 1.4W Max(read), 4.35W Max(write) |
| Dimensions | 100 x 69.9 x 7mm |
| Weight | 96g |
| Total Bytes Written | 240GB: 306TB 1.19 DWPD |
| Warranty | 3-year warranty with free technical support |
The HyperX Savage SSD housing is fancier looking than most with an anodized red inlaid plate and embossed metallic accents. It is only ~7mm thick as is expected from the latest SSDs to optimize notebook compatibility.
A small sticker at the back is present as is a warranty-void sticker on top of one of the screws but otherwise, the rest of the SSD body is black.
The Phison PS3110-S10 in the HyperX Savage SSD is a quad-core, eight-channel storage controller. It supports TRIM, static and dynamic wear leveling, ECC, SmartFlush, hardware-based AES-256 encryption and end-to-end data path protection. The S8 version can be found on a lot of the current budget SATA SSDs such as the Silicon Power S80 previously reviewed.
