Kingston Introduces A1000 NVMe SSD at CES 2018

Kingston had quite a bit of success with their KC1000 SSD and at CES 2018 they presented the A1000. Kingston’s A1000 is an NVMe PCIe SSD aimed at the entry-level market.

Kingston A1000 NVMe PCIe SSD

Kingston’s A1000 NVMe SSD is an M.2 module and doesn’t have a lot of visual features. It is built with 3D TLC NAND which allows it to perform up to 1623MB/s when reading and 1040MB/s when writing. The random performance comes in at 190K IOPS when reading and 200K IOPS when writing. That’s not bad, that’s not bad at all.

The M.2 form factor and 2280-size make the drive compatible with most systems. Where most NVMe SSDs use a PCIe x4 interface, this one only uses an x2.

Benchmark Presentation

Kingston didn’t just showcase the A1000 SSD, they also had benchmark numbers from the most common applications with them. That’s always welcome as it gives us comparable numbers. The first set of numbers come from CrystalDiskMark 5.

Kingston also shows us PCMark 8 and AS SSD results.

Capacity Options

Kingston will make the A1000 NVMe SSD in three capacity options. The smallest will be with 240GB, there’s a middle version with 480GB, and the largest version with 960GB. A size for everyone, whether your budget is scraping or you have plenty to spare.

Pricing and Availability

Kingston didn’t reveal an MSRP or an availability date yet. One thing we can say for sure is that it won’t be expensive. The components and speed ratings place it in the entry-level NVMe market. As such, it will be priced accordingly. Even if it isn’t a drive that breaks any performance records, it is a big step up for those who have SATA-based drives in their systems now. We will keep you updated with more information as it becomes available.