Today we’re reviewing another SandForce SF-2281 based SSD product – the Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD. You might be wondering what makes one SandForce-driven SSD different from the rest, but so far we have seen quite a bit of variance in the products we’ve tested. This includes the Intel 335, which uses 20nm flash, the Vertex 3 Max IOPS which uses 32nm Toggle flash, providing plenty of channels to saturate the controller, the Intel 520 with its 5 year warranty, and others. The fact is, there is more to an SSD than its controller chip.

Kingston have two SSDs that carry the HyperX name – the original HyperX (blue), and the HyperX 3K we’re looking at here. If you’re wondering what is the difference between the HyperX and HyperX 3K, they are actually almost identical. It all comes down to the original blue HyperX having hand-picked extra durable NAND. It is rated for 5000 Program/Erase cycles, while the HyperX 3K is rated at 3000 P/E cycles. This is similar to what Intel is doing with their 520 series and 335 series drives (although the original HyperX only had a 3 year warranty).