INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   M.2 NVMe SSDs (solid state drives) may offer the highest possible read and write performance currently but thanks to their compatibility with both old and new systems 2.5 inch SATA models still "occupy" a large chunk of the consumer market. On top of compatibility with both new and old systems there's a brand new reason as to why 2.5 inch SATA SSDs will not be going anywhere anytime soon and that's the addition of RGB illumination. Of course, as you're all aware RGB hardware components and gaming peripherals have taken over the PC and console markets and so it was just a matter of time really before we saw RGB illuminated 2.5 inch SATA SSDs (as a matter of fact we're surprised this hasn't spread to 3.5 inch HDDs and external PHDs and SSDs - yet that is). The very first such product to land on our test bench was the DELTA-R RAINBOW RGB model by Teamgroup/T-Force and since many of you seemed to like the concept with us today we have yet another such product the FURY RGB 480GB SSD by HyperX.

   HyperX is the gaming division of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the world’s largest independent memory manufacturer, with the goal of providing gamers, PC builders, and power users with high-performance components. For 15 years, the HyperX mission has been to develop gaming products for gamers – high-speed memory, solid state drives, headsets, keyboards, mice, USB flash drives, and mouse pads – to the gaming community and beyond. The award-winning HyperX brand has carved its name atop the leaderboard by consistently delivering products that deliver superior comfort, aesthetics, performance, and reliability. HyperX gear is the choice of pro gamers, tech enthusiasts, and overclockers worldwide because it meets the most stringent product specifications and is built with best-in-class components. HyperX has shipped over 3 million headsets worldwide.

   HyperX currently lists the FURY RGB SSD in three different capacities (240/480/960GB) all of which feature an MTBF (meantime between failures) of 1 million hours and are covered by a 3-year limited warranty. Excluding its internal RGB LEDs (compatible with ASUS AURA Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light and ASROCK Polychrome Sync) under the hood of the new FURY RGB SSD we also find a rather familiar configuration which includes the 88SS1074 quad-channel NAND flash controller by Marvell, Toshiba’s 64-layer 3D TLC NAND Flash (3-bits-per-cell technology) memory and 512MB LPDDR3 cache. The Marvell 88SS1074 NAND controller is among the highest selling ones in the industry to date and sports several technologies including SLC cache (pseudo-SLC), partial power loss protection, active garbage collection, redundant array of independent NAND (RAIN), LDPC error correction code (ECC), adaptive thermal protection, data-path protection, multistep data integrity algorithm, full DevSleep (power save) support, TRIM, SMART, AES 256-bit hardware encryption and support for both TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 (fully compatible with Microsoft's eDrive and EU's GDPR). Also according to HyperX the 480GB capacity model of the FURY RGB series is verified for a TBW (total bytes written) of up to 240TB (120TB for the 120GB capacity and 480TB for the 960GB capacity).

 

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FURY RGB arrived inside a white and red box that has a large product picture at the front along with the company, RGB and 3D TLC logos.

 

 

Moving on the left side of the box we find the package contents printed in two languages.

 

 

Some words about the product are placed at the rear of the box right beneath three product pictures showcasing the RGB feature and above a small opening from where you can see part of the rear of the SSD.

 

 

Along with the FURY RGB SSD HyperX also bundles a mainboard RGB header to micro USB cable, ACRONIS True Image HD key, HyperX sticker, HyperX product catalogue, HyperX welcome note and a quick start guide.

 

 

 

THE FURY RGB 480GB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The FURY RGB SSD features a thick gunmetal grey aluminum enclosure which actually makes it the heaviest 2.5 inch SSD we've ever used.

 

 

At the top of the drive we find two openings which along with opening inside the HyperX logo placed in the middle allow light coming from the internal RGB LEDs to "leak" outside.

 

 

Turning the drive over we see the sticker which was visible from the rear of the box.

 

 

Taking a look at the rear of the drive we find the typical SATA data and power connectors and a micro USB port.

 

 

Accessing the interior requires a Torqx screwdriver.

 

 

 

The FURY RGB has a total of 75 RGB LEDs on the top side of its PCB.

 

 

On the other side we find 4 NAND flash modules (128GB each), 4 empty areas for NAND flash modules (populated in the 960GB capacity model), the 512MB LPDDR3 cache module and the 88SS1074 NAND flash controller by Marvell.

 

 

Even if your system doesn't support RGB lighting (our test rig does not) the drive still lights up red (you don't have to connect it via micro USB).

 

 

However, if you do have a compatible system and you do connect the drive via micro USB with your mainboard RGB header it will change colors as seen above.

 

 

TEST BED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   After just over 10 years of testing solid state drives (SSDs) we’ve concluded that it's almost impossible for any single benchmark suite to accurately measure their performance and that's why in certain benchmark suites we see amazing read/write performance numbers with some drives while in others things are quite different. The reason behind this is that some benchmarking suites are configured to read and write random chunks of data while others read and write constant (sequential) ones. So that's why i always use a very wide selection of benchmarking suites including AIDA64, HD Tach RW, HD Tune Pro, Crystal Disk Mark, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, AS SSD, IOMeter and ATTO. To get the most accurate results each test gets repeated a total of 6 times with the average performance numbers recorded into our charts*. Also as of February 25th 2015 our results will also include the Storage Networking Industry Association’s (SNIA) IOMeter tests. These tests include a 12 Hour write test used to “simulate” performance degradation over time and a mixed workload test which basically shows what you can expect when using an SSD continuously for roughly two hours. Unfortunately due to the time required for these tests we repeat them a total of 3 times and not 6 as the above.

   Many people have made inquiries about our charts in the past so once again please do keep in mind that the Charts have the average performance numbers of each drive recorded and not the peak (highest) ones. Also although every single one of these programs can help potential buyers choose the right drive for their needs you should also remember that from any kind of benchmark up to real world usage the gap is not small (and usually most differences will go unnoticed by most people). All tests were performed in a fresh Windows 10 Pro x64 installation with every update installed up to November 21st 2018.
 

* Since November 2018 our SSD comparison charts have been divided to 2.5” and M.2 ones to reduce their growing size.

 

 

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – AS SSD / IOMETER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEST RESULTS – IOMETER SNIA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Once again HyperX has released a great looking product aimed primarily towards gamers who like to own peripherals and hardware that really stand out. Of course, 2.5 inch SSDs have nothing special to offer in terms of performance (which is why we expect M.2 NVMe SSDs with RGB illuminated heatsinks to pop in the market eventually – or standalone RGB M.2 heatsinks) but they are still much faster compared to regular HDDs and that combined with the RGB feature should be enough to overcome the issue of performance for some consumers. Still we need to point out that the FURY RGB is not meant for use in laptops due to the fact that the 75 RGB LEDs tend to raise the temperature of the drive’s interior components. We didn’t actually encounter an issue with that during our tests (temperatures in the lab are at 23 degrees when we perform performance related tests) but that would most certainly be an issue with a laptop (so do keep that in mind – although I doubt anyone would pay for the RGB premium just to install it inside a laptop).

   The sole drawback of the FURY RGB 480GB SSD by HyperX is its current price tag since it retails for USD108.46 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 115Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) meaning almost twice as much compared to many 2.5 inch 480GB models. Honestly we were all expecting this since aside the RGB sync feature the FURY RGB SSD also features superior build quality but the fact remains that for many people its price tag may be a deal breaker. That being said the FURY RGB SSD by HyperX is still one of the most impressive 2.5 inch models in the market today and that coupled with its good read and write numbers are enough to secure our Golden Award.

PROS

- Overall Performance
- Build Quality (Heavy Aluminum Enclosure)
- Endurance (240TBW For The 480GB Model) 
- Supports RGB Sync Mainboards (75 RGB LEDs)
- Features (AES 256 Bit Hardware Encryption / SLC Caching / DevSleep/ eDrive Support)
- 3 Year Warranty

CONS

- Price (For Some)