Packaging and Contents:
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The HyperX 3K comes in an attractive black and red box. Along with a picture of the drive, the front advertises many of its key features including its 240GB capacity, rated speeds, SATA Rev 3.0 (6Gb/s) interface and SandForce controller. The back of the box provides a bit more information as well as pictures of the box's contents.
The upgrade kit that Kingston sent us for this review includes a number of accessories. Along with the HyperX 3K SSD you'll find a 2.5" SATA enclosure with a USB-to-mini-USB cable, multi-bit screwdriver, Serial ATA data cable, 3.5" adapter bracket with screws, screwdriver and a CD containing hard drive cloning software.
Physical Features:
Like Kingston's previous SSDs, the HyperX 3K SSD is very well constructed. The top of the outer casing is made out of black plastic which is covered by a brushed aluminum panel with "HyperX" and "Kingston" logos on it. The bottom of the HyperX 3K isn't nearly as flashy. The casing is made out of metal. However, instead of brushed aluminum, Kingston opted for a rough, matte finish.
Like Kingston's KC100 and V+200 series SSDs, the HyperX 3K uses SandForce's SF-2281 controller chip. The SF-2281 can be found in a number of other SSDs including the ADATA S511, Corsair Force Series 3, OWC Mercury 6G, OCZ Vertex 3, Patriot Pyro SE and the SanDisk Extreme.
For the 240GB HyperX 3K, Kingston opted to use Intel's 16GB 25nm 29F64G08ACME2 synchronous NAND flash chips. Looking at the pictures above, you can see that there are eight of these chips on either side of the PCB. If you do the math, you'll see that this equals 256GB and not the 240GB of storage the drive advertises. The SandForce controller uses this extra 7% (16GB) to maximize read and write performance and extend the endurance and overall reliability of the drive.
