Kingston HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSDs in RAID 0 – You Thought One Was Fast?

PCMARK VANTAGE X64 HDD SUITE

The SSD Review uses benchmark software called PCMark Vantage x64 HDD Suite to create testing scenarios that might be used in the typical user experience. There are eight tests in all and the tests performed record the speed of data movement in MB/s to which they are then given a numerical score after all of the tests are complete. The simulations are as follows:

  • Windows Defender In Use
  • Streaming Data from storage in games such as Alan Wake which allows for massive worlds and riveting non-stop action
  • Importing digital photos into Windows Photo Gallery
  • Starting the Vista Operating System
  • Home Video editing with Movie Maker which can be very time consuming
  • Media Center which can handle video recording, time shifting and streaming from Windows media center to an extender such as Xbox
  • Cataloging a music library
  • Starting applications

PCMARK VANTAGE RESULTS

As a result of our HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSD RAID 0 configuration the total PCMark Vantage score has increased, however not as much as you would think. Overall, it increased about 22K points to a total score of 159,030 points. Now, while the increase isn’t that much from a single SSD, this score absolutely demolishes any SATA based SSD out there. There were increases across the board, however, they were most notable in tests that favored sequential performance such as the “Windows Photo Gallery” bench where it reached 1.2GB/s and the “Windows Media Center” bench where it reached 1.5Gb/s. Therefore, these results reinforce why this SSD’s high performance is geared for the media professional and enthusiasts.Kingston HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSD RAID 0 PCMark Vantage

REPORT ANALYSIS AND FINAL THOUGHTS

Just when you thought that one of these bad boys were fast we brought you two in RAID 0! The Kingston HyperX M.2 PCIe SSDs provide you sequential speeds of up to 1.4GB/s and 1GB/s read and write. Pair two together and man do these HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSDs fly. In our RAID 0 testing they achieved a highest read and write speed of 2.6GB/s and 1.6GB/s respectively. On top of this, random 4K IOPS increased to over 244K IOPS read and 216K IOPS write.

Kingston HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSD RAID 0 X99

After testing we decided to give this configuration a go in our X99 platform just as we had done previously with a single SSD and yet again we saw faster sequential reads, as proven with an ATTO screenshot above. We were able to achieve 2.8GB/s read and nearly 1.9GB/s write! So, there you have it, some very nice performance!

Kingston HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSD RAID 0 FinalThere is no doubt that SSDs in RAID 0 deliver massive sequential speeds, doing reports like this make us giddy as a school boy on his first date. We get to push the boundaries as to what most will normally see and be able to try with storage, however, as we seen in testing, RAID 0 doesn’t always reflect much improvement in most real world scenarios. Just as we stated in our review last week, the HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSD is not for those who are going to use this SSD for light workloads under typical desktop usage. It is meant for those who can utilize high sequential speeds and whose workflow often enters into high queue depths, for example, media content creators or those who want to use it as a virtual machines storage volume. Our RAID 0 PCMark Vantage results point out that there wasn’t much improvement in a real world application based test in this type of configuration. Thus, a setup like this is really more for the grandeur than practicality.

Kingston HyperX Predator M.2 PCIe SSD RAID 0 Intel NUC

Bottom line, if you want to get a fast M.2 PCIe SSD, this one is awesome. Its small size is great for small form factor and mobile device designs, Kingston even showed it off during CES 2015 in one of Intel’s NUCs. If you need faster speeds over one of these bad boys, you can see here that we were able to achieve some pretty impressive results in RAID 0, so as long as you have free PCIe lanes you should be good.  Now that we have satisfied our curiosity and hopefully yours, we will leave you to decide whether or not this SSD is right for you, be it in RAID 0 or not.

Check out the Kingston HyperX Predator on Amazon Today!

User Rating: 3.85 ( 2 votes)

11 comments

  1. blank

    Is Toshiba’s A19 Toggle NAND The fastest or best nand because a lot
    of the fastest ssds seem to use it. And how come the ssds reviews some time
    leave out certain tests? like this one does not have consistency test.

    • blank

      And like the intel 730 one of the fastest ssds no consisteny test. And you can still buy a intel 530 its been out for over a year and theres no review on it. I would like to see how these stack up to these new ssds with the smaller nand size.

      • blank

        Our report testing and format may change over time (ie 730), and also, we may do specialized testing, as in this case, where we want to just have a bit of fun with the testing and report. We were fortunate to have 2 drives on hand and just thought we would throw together a quick and enjoyable report…nothing more. Also, yes Toshiba Toggle Mode memory is premium and has earned the reputation of being amongst the best there is.

      • blank

        Thanks for the fast reply! I hope they keep making it instead of trying to make it smaller. Nand seems small enough already. You can fit
        a few gigs on a 2.5 ssd. Samsung doesn’t even use a full pcb. If they make enough of it can’t it be just as cost effective as trying to keep making it smaller and smaller and then needing to have more error correction. And cache tricks for writing speed. It seems like companies stop making a good product just to make something new. it seems hard to find the same ssd after 12 months or so, just when the firmware is mature they create the new model and the process
        starts all over again. Bring back the classics. The tried and true.

      • blank

        Great addition Les. I like the out of the box thinking and great use of resources to challenge the minds of your readers. Great Job.

  2. blank

    I’m hoping when I buy a Motherboard next year that MBs have 4 M.2 Slots (like RAM) and that they will support _longer_ M.2 Slots with future capacity.

    When the day comes that we have 4 (or more) M.2 Slots and at least 1GB capacity then these ‘consumer toys’ (invented for the man on the street first?) will play a serious role in Server Farms; with their speedy access and much lower power consumption.

    Slogan: Built for the Laptop, but MADE for THE MACHINE !

  3. blank

    I can confirm it’s working with my X58 Asus P6E MB! I’ll be upgrading to Skylake this year, but got this drive to start.

  4. blank
    Jeffrey Michael de Smit

    i want one for my evga sr2

  5. blank

    Did you have to update BIOS for X58 ?

    How fast it is with x58 ?
    (because I’ve Rampage II Gene + Core i7-920/C0)

    What is best PCIe port to max its perf ?
    (because my MB is SLI able, but I don’t use second x16 port)

    Can you multiboot with it ?
    (such as SysLinux or Grub or BCD as a last solution)

    How many partitions ?

    Does UNIX run w/it ?
    (Linux, FreeBSD)
    If Linux ok, do you have any benchmark scores ? such as Kernel build time ?

    Best file system to use with ?
    > Ext4 or xfs or btrfs ?

    Best tweaks ?
    > journaling or not ? RT or scheduled discard (TRIM) ? tmpfs ? Alignment size ?

    Thanks for any answers

  6. blank

    Will it be possible to do a bootable raid 0 configuration for these rather than a software raid 0?

  7. blank

    I own the 480 gb hyper x and have it in 2 partitions. OS is about 1460 at it’s highest so far and the non OS I got to 1690mb/s !

    Excellent drive, windows 10 loaded in about 5 min.

    Waiting for my new 950 Pro to swap for the os. This 1 will be my backup, lol.

    System is as follows 5960x Gigabyte SOC Champ. RVE in for RMA…

    16gbs 4x4gb G Skill Ripjaws 3200 mhz Hyper X 480gb OS (partition 1) Benching software (partition 2)

    Plextor NvMe 256gb 770r/580w in m2 slot for backup.

    HDD WD Raptor 500gb

    Blue Ray LG

    Cooling EK CSQ Supremacy wb for the cpu and a 980 kpe with BitsPower full cover

    nickel plexi block.

    PSU Corsair AX1200i

    Custom wcing unit including water chiller.

    Case fans 3 140mm 122cfm fans, 2 intake, 1 for the gpus.

    92 cfm 120mm rear exhaust, 2 107 cfm top exhaust fans and 1 107 cfm 120mm

    additional intake from the top of the case.

    My favourite is the Lian Li PC V2120 all aluminum fully modular case with 11 expansion

    slots, a removable motherboard tray,…

    It will hold the EVGA SR-2 dual cpu board, dwarfs the 1st edition HAF X !!!

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