INTRODUCTION

   No matter how far back i look in the end i have to admit that things have never been better in the market for people who are dealing with massive amounts of data on daily basis weather because of their work or hobbies (me included). You see not only does the consumer base have access to massive 10TB hard disk drives now but it also has access to solid state drives with capacities way up to 4TB (8/16TB models have also been announced) and of course USB flash drives with capacities up to 1TB. Well if all of those weren't enough to validate my point of view USB 3.1 (Gen2) has just arrived to further improve things in the performance segment of the market. A couple of months ago the HyperX branch of Kingston announced their brand new Savage USB 3.1 Gen 1 flash drive which is here with us today.

   HyperX is the high-performance product division of Kingston Technology, the world’s largest independent memory manufacturer. Started in 2002, HyperX began with one line of high-performance memory and has grown over the years to encompass multiple product lines of memory modules, solid-state drives, USB Flash drives, headsets and mouse pads. Featuring best-in-class components that deliver superior performance, quality and aesthetic design for more than a decade, HyperX products are the choice of top-rated gamers, tech enthusiasts, and overclockers worldwide. From setting memory world records to achieving the most stringent product certifications, HyperX is committed to delivering reliable products with the highest performance standards. In addition, HyperX is the proud sponsor of more than 20 gaming teams globally and the main sponsor of Intel Extreme Masters and Dreamhack festivals. HyperX products are designed to meet the most rigorous demands of professional gamers to give them the winning edge and help gamers stay on top of their game.

   Before we continue with our review of the HyperX Savage 128GB USB 3.1 Gen 1 flash drive i feel we need to clear some things about USB 3.0 and USB 3.1. Now although it's true that USB 3.1 was released for good in 2015 and can achieve speeds of up to 10Gbps things are not as simple as they sound/look. The reason for that is a recent decision by the USB-IF organization which basically reclassifies/renames USB 3.0 devices capable of 5Gbps bandwidth (SuperSpeed) as USB 3.1 Gen 1 while the more advanced 10Gbps bandwidth (SuperSpeed+) devices are in fact USB 3.1 Gen 2. Now i haven't got the slightest clue as to the why the USB-IF organization decided to do such a thing especially since it will undoubtedly confuse many consumers but in the end all that matters is that they did. So with that out of the way the HyperX Savage line of USB 3.1 Gen1 flash drives (currently available in 64/128/256/512GB capacities) should be yet another high performance line of USB 3.0 flash drives (or is it now?).

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

As usual this Kingston USB flash drive arrived inside a clear plastic package which allows you to check the product from the front.

A few words about the product are printed at the rear in several languages and right next to its barcode, serial number and country of manufacture (Taiwan).

Along with the HyperX Savage USB 3.1 Gen 1 flash drive you will also get a short lanyard.

THE HYPERX SAVAGE 128GB

Kingston has outdone themselves with the Savage USB flash drive since it looks and feels great (soft touch coating). Size-wise the drive measures 76.3mm in length, 23.48mm in width, and 12.17mm in height/thickness and weighs just 26g.

To showcase its size we placed the HyperX Savage right next to some of the USB drives we have here in the lab currently.

Although the drive capacity and HyperX logo are clearly visible at the front the rear only has some certification logos which are not very easy to spot (right next to the lanyard area).

The HyperX Savage line of USB flash drives features a removable cap design but worry not since you can mount the cap at the rear when you're using the drive.

If you’re worried about getting a fake product you can always check the top of the USB connector to check the capacity of the drive and its serial.

The HyperX Savage line may not be USB 3.1 Gen 2 but regardless we got our hands on a PCIe USB 3.1 card from our friends over at Lycom to test our sample with.

This card is based on the asmedia ASM1142 chipset (Gen 2/10Gbps compatible) and as expected it requires a SATA power connector to work at full speed.

So the time has come to check and see just how fast the Savage 128GB USB 3.1 Gen 1 flash drive really is.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Since flash drives are basically plain storage media devices just like solid state drives and hard disk drives we are using almost the same testing methodology to successfully record the achieved performance numbers. The benchmark suites used are HD Tach RW (Read Speeds / Long Bench 32mb Zone Testing), HD Tune Pro (Read speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read / Write speeds), AIDA 64 Engineer Edition (Average Linear Read / Random Read speeds), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB-1000MB Read / Write speeds) and finally ATTO (Max Read / Max Write speeds). Every test is repeated a total of 6 times after which the average performance numbers are recorded into our charts (0 = we were unable to complete that test).

   All tests are performed with our main rig running Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Service Pack 1 complete with every update until February 2nd 2016 (UASP compatible models are tested using a fresh Windows 8.1 installation on a Plextor m6e). As always for comparison purposes in the charts you will also find many other flash drivers which have been tested using the same exact test bench as the one in this review (we really can't keep every flash drive we get forever and also even if we could testing them all again and again would simply not be possible).

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

CONCLUSION

   When we received the HyperX Savage 128GB USB 3.1 Gen 1 flash drive by Kingston roughly 2+ months ago although we all knew it was basically a renamed USB 3.0 drive we didn’t feel it’d be right to test it on a USB 3.0 compatible mainboard so although we finished a round of tests with it we informed Kingston that we’d like to wait until we got a USB 3.1 Gen 1/2 compatible PCIe card. Why am I even mentioning this? Well it so happens that by using the Lycom USB 3.1 card we recorded a performance boost of 10-15% across all tests (for example 272MB/s vs 336MB/s read average in HD Tune Pro and 294MB/s vs 325MB/s read average in ATTO) so although the drive doesn’t really need a USB 3.1 Gen 2 compatible card there’s definitely some benefit in using it with one (of course once we update our test rig with the upcoming Intel Core i7-6930k I’m very curious to see how that onboard USB 3.1 Gen 2 controller will compare to early ones like the one used in the Lycom card).

   Kingston has currently set the price of the HyperX Savage 128GB USB 3.1 Gen 1 flash drive at USD84.66 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and at 70Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) so it doesn’t really cost much. Certainly you can currently find many lower cost 128GB USB 3.0 flash drives in the market but let’s face it, leaving the entire renaming of USB 3.0 to USB 3.1 Gen 1 there aren’t that many models that can even come close to the performance of the HyperX Savage 128GB and that’s why it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Top Of The Charts Performance
- Design
- Also Available In 512GB
- Overall Size
- Price/Performance Ratio
- 5 Year Warranty

CONS

- None