Kingston SSDNow V100 vs. Patriot Torqx 2 128 GB SSD Review

Introduction

Solid state drives (SSDs) have been coming down steadily in price since they were introduced to the market a few years ago and are now more affordable than ever. We believe that 128 GB SSDs offer the best compromise between capacity, performance and price, so we will be putting two of the latest models head to head today.

Before going on, we’d highly suggest that you read our Anatomy of SSD Units tutorial which provides all the background information you need to know about SSDs. Both of the SSDs featured in this review use MLC memory chips.

Figure 1: The two SSDs on test

Most users who upgrade their PC with a 64 GB SSD will use it alongside a mechanical hard drive. This provides extra storage for media, programs and games. With a 128 GB unit, though, there is much more room for your programs and games which will give them a boost in performance thanks to the extra bandwidth of the SSD. Most users will still choose to add a mechanical drive for storage, though, as audio files and large video files will soon fill up the remaining space on a 128 GB unit.

Figure 2: Kingston Desktop Bundle

In the table below, we are comparing both of the units that we’re going to review. Both units use a SATA-300 interface and occupy the standard 2.5” form factor. Our sample of the Kingston V100 drive was supplied with the optional “Desktop Bundle” which is designed to simplify the process of transferring data from your old hard drive to the SSD. It contains SATA and power cables for the SSD alongside a 3.5” mounting bracket and some Acronis hard drive imaging software.

We researched the prices at Newegg.com on the day that we published the review and noted the following observations. The listed price for the Kingston drive is for the “Desktop Bundle” version that we have for review. The same drive is also available on its own or as part of a “Notebook Bundle” from Newegg.com. Both of these options cost USD 220.

In the table below we provide a more in-depth technical comparison between the two drives. Most chip manufacturers don’t detail the specifics of their chips on their websites, so we are only linking to those we found.