Kingston shows HyperX USB 3.0 SSD prototype at Computex

Earlier, this blog reported on OCZ’s Enyo USB 3.0 SSD and now at a private event held at this week’s Computex show in Taiwan, memory vendor Kingston has shown a prototype USB 3.0 SSD (as reported by Tom’s Hardware and Softpedia). Slated for August availability, the HyperX SSD will reportedly be offered in capacities of 64, 128, and 256 Gbytes. The USB 3.0 connection gives the drive peak read and write speeds of 195 and 160 Mbytes/sec respectively. These performance numbers are somewhat lower than those OCZ claims for the Enyo drive (260 and 200 Mbytes/sec for read and write) but are similar to those measured and reported for OCZ’s Enyo drive by PC Perspective’s hands-on testing (201 and 179 Mbytes/sec for read and write). More comprehensive performance tests await the product’s introduction.

Kingston previewed its prototype USB 3.0 SSD in a fairly conventional looking aluminum external HDD case, albeit sporting a HyperX logo and finished in a nice shade of HyperX blue that position the product in Kingston’s high-performance product line, which currently seems to include only DDR SDRAMs and an associated memory-specific cooling fan lit with blue LEDs. However, hands-on reviews of OCZ’s drive have almost always started out with comments on the look of OCZ’s Enyo SSD and the box it’s packaged in. Because external PC accessories these days sell as much on styling and packaging as on function, Kingston may well be seeking the help of a slick industrial-design firm to help the HyperX SSD compete with the sleek product lines and Apple-styled packaging of OCZ’s Enyo USB 3.0 SSD.