Home > Reviews > Storage (HDD/SSD) Reviews > Silver Award > HyperX Savage 240GB SSD Review

HyperX Savage 240GB SSD Review

May 25th, 2015 James Leave a comment Go to comments

Overview

It would appear that the world of SSDs has come to a bit of standstill, mainly due to the limitations of the SATA 3 6GB/s interface. Most modern high end SSDs now push the limits of this interface, meaning that on face value, and when it comes to Gaming, many SSDs are effectively the same. So what can the manufacturer do to inject that little bit of sparkle back in to the product. Well maybe HyperX has the answer (well at leat they’re trying!) as the HyperX Savage 240 GB (SHSS37A/240G) is surely one of the coolest looking SSDs around.

The Savage comes in a variety of capacities including (120GB, 240GB, 480GB & 960GB), all drives except the 120GB version feature Compressible Data Transfer (ATTO) speeds of: Read 560MB/s and Write of 530MB/s.

‘HyperX® Savage solid-state drive offers extreme performance for the  extreme performer. The fastest HyperX SATA-based SSD, it’s powered by a quad-core, 8-channel Phison S10 controller that delivers incredible speeds of up to 560MB/s read and 530MB/s write, with read/write IOPS up to 100k/89k. The result is ultra-responsive multitasking and an overall faster system that maintains performance even as the drive fills up. With its low profile and slim, 7mm form factor, HyperX Savage SSD fits in most notebooks, desktops and HTPC builds.’

The HyperX Savage 240GB SSD arrived at pcG in a smart looking box that’s primarily black ‘n red, with a large image of the Savage SSD on the front. In the top right corner we see the Capacity and the Claimed Read/Write speeds (560MB/s & 530MB/s). In the bottom right corner we can see that the Savage comes with a three year warranty and HyperX offer FREE technical support.

As you can see the back of the box is awash with text in many languages, but the important text is: ‘Improved system responsiveness and faster load times for an enhanced gaming experience’. In addition to this there’s a small set of images (that you can hardly see!) letting you know what’s in the box.

Opening the lid of the box allows us to see that the Savage SSD is nicely packaged and well presented, with the SSD surrounded and protected by a soft cell foam tray.

There’s more in the box than you would think too, as some of the items are hiding beneath that foam tray. In the box, other than the SSD itself there’s a 3.5mm bracket, mounting screws (two types), 7mm – 9.5mm adapter, Acronis True Image HD Software Activation Key, Getting Started Guide and a HyperX sticker.

At the time of writing the HyperX Savage 240GB is retailing for approximately £93 on Amazon or £115 at Overclockers UK and comes with a three year warranty.

Specifications/Features

courtesy of HyperX

Form factor: 2.5″

Interface:
SATA Rev. 3.0 (6Gb/s) – with backwards compatibility to SATA Rev. 2.0 (3Gb/s)

Capacities¹: 120GB, 240GB, 480GB, 960GB

Controller: Phison PS3110-S10

Baseline Performance²

Compressible Data Transfer (ATTO)
120GB — 560MB/s Read and 360MB/s Write
240GB, 480GB, 960GB — 560MB/s Read and 530MB/s Write

Incompressible Data Transfer (AS-SSD and CrystalDiskMark)
120GB — 520MB/s Read and 350MB/s Write
240GB — 520MB/s Read and 510MB/s Write
480GB — 520MB/s Read and 500MB/s Write
960GB — 520MB/s Read and 490MB/s Write

IOMETER Maximum Random 4k Read/Write
120GB — up to 100,000/ up to 84,000 IOPS
240GB — up to 100,000/ up to 89,000 IOPS
480GB — up to 100,000/ up to 88,000 IOPS
960GB — up to 99,000/ up to 89,000 IOPS

Random 4k Read/Write:
120GB — up to 93,000/ up to 83,000 IOPS

240GB — up to 93,000/ up to 89,000 IOPS

480GB — up to 92,000/ up to 89,000 IOPS

960GB — up to 97,000/ up to 89,000 IOPS

PCMARK® Vantage HDD Suite Score:
120GB, 240GB, 480GB, 960GB — 84,000

PCMARK® 8 Storage Bandwidth:
120GB, 240GB, 480GB — 223MB/s, 960GB — 260MB/s

PCMARK® 8 Storage Score:
120GB, 240GB, 480GB — 4,940, 960GB — 4,970

Anvil Total Score (Incompressible Workload):
120GB, 240GB, 480GB — 4,700, 960GB — 5,000

Power Consumption:
0.39W Idle / 0.5W Avg / 1.4W (MAX) Read / 4.35W (MAX) Write

Storage temperature: -40°C~85°C

Operating temperature: 0°C~70°C

Dimensions: 100.0mm x 69.9mm x 7.0mm

Weight:
120GB, 240GB, 480GB — 96g, 960GB — 92g

Vibration operating:
2.17G Peak (7–800Hz)

Vibration non-operating:
20G Peak (10–2000Hz)

Life expectancy:
1 million hours MTBF

Warranty/support:
3-year warranty with free technical support

Total Bytes Written (TBW)³:
120GB: 113TB 0.89 DWPD⁴
240GB: 306TB 1.19 DWPD⁴
480GB: 416TB 0.81 DWPD⁴
960GB: 681TB 0.66 DWPD⁴

* Additional details available here

First Impressions

Hopefully the image above says it all, the HyperX Savage is one good looking SSD! But it’s only available in Red ‘n Black…

As you can see the front of the HyperX Savage 240GB SSD features a metallic red insert with both the sides and the HyperX logo accentuated in raised metallic silver. Then in the centre on the edge there’s a subtle black on black HyperX logo. It looks good…

Flipping the HyperX Savage over onto its back we can see very little (as one would expect) other the the main information sticker, the warranty sticker (Warranty Void if Removed) and the standard (power/SATA) connections at the far end.

Testing Methodology/Setup

Our Test Rig for this review (shown below) was treated to a fresh install of Windows 7 Professional N 64Bit (Service Pack 1) with all associated Drivers installed. I also ensured that AHCI was set in the UEFI (although this is now the default settings for most modern MBs). The drive was connected to the Intel SATA 3 (6GBs) port (SATA3_1) of the ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer motherboard. No special or other BIOS/UEFI options are required…

Test Rig Setup

Case	Cooler Master HAF XB	Power Supply	Corsair Professional Series AX 760i
Motherboard	ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer	CPU	Intel Core i5-4690K
CPU Cooler	Raijintek Themis	RAM	HyperX Savage 2400MHz 8GB Kit
Graphics Card	XFX AMD Radeon R9 290X DD Black Edition	SSD	HyperX Savage 240 GB

Hardware Performance

We use PCMark 8 to help ascertain Gaming performance. The test used measures the performance of the drive while loading real game data for both World of Warcraft and Battlefield 3. In addition to this we will also use ATTO Disk Benchmark to confirm the drives claimed performance levels.

BENCHMARKS

Crucial MX200 – 250GB

HyperX Savage 240GB

Kingston HyperX Fury – 120GB

ATTO Disk Benchmark

What we can see from the ATTO Disk Benchmark is that the HyperX Savage 240GB beats the manufacturers claimed figures of Read:560MB/s and Write 530MB/s with a Read speed of 563MB/s and a Write speed of 544MB/s. This is always nice to see and what’s also nice to see is the fact that the graph is devoid of any oddities at specific Transfer Sizes. This (from the data shown above) looks very promising, let’s throw is some game loading benchmarks to see how it performs…

PCMark 8 Storage Test

PCMARK 8 – Results

Drive	Type	World of Warcraft (Load Time)	Battlefield 3 (Load Time)
Crucial MX200 250GB	SSD	57.8 s	132.8 s
Crucial MX100 256GB	SSD	57.8 s	132.9 s
Toshiba HG6 512GB	SSD	57.8 s	132.9 s
Crucial BX100 250GB	SSD	58.5 s	133.6 s
Kingston M.2 120GB	M.2	58.5 s	134.0 s
HyperX Savage 240GB	SSD	58.8 s	134.5 s
Kingston Now 60GB	mSATA	58.9 s	136.2 s
HyperX Fury 120GB	SSD	58.8 s	136.4 s
ADATA SX300 64GB	mSATA	59.0 s	136.7 s
Kingston HyperX Na’Vi Limited Edition 240GB	SSD	59.2 s	137.6 s
Kingston 200V+ 60GB	SSD	59.8 s	138.2 s
Seagate 2TB SSHD	SSHD	99.2 s	260.5 s
Toshiba 1TB Hybrid	SSHD	91.6 s	285.0 s
Western Digital Black 1TB	HDD	123.6 s	303.9 s

We use the PCMARK 8 benchmark to test real world loading times for both World of Warcraft and Battlefield 3. The HyperX Savage performs well but it can’t seem to match the speeds of the Crucial drives at the top of the table. With a loading time of 134.5s the HyperX Savage is almost two seconds shy of the Crucial M200 250GB drive, while in the World of Warcraft test the HyperX Savage is just one second behind. To be fair in Game these differences are unlikely to be perceivable. Also worth noting that HyperX supplies a PCMARK 8 Storage Bandwidth result of 223MB/s, we managed 224MB/s so all good there then…

Final Thoughts

The world of SSDs has become a little stagnant as of late, but the HyperX Savage 240 GB (SHSS37A/240G) delivers great performance for the Gamer and adds a little bit of bling too! 😉

The HyperX Savage 240GB SSD arrived at pcG nicely packaged and well presented, there’s even more in the box other than just the SSD itself. HyperX have included a 3.5″ bracket and mounting screws, a 7mm – 9mm adapter and a free activation key for Acronis True Image HD.

But the HyperX Savage is all about looks, because as we know SSDs are a dull to look at (normally), but HyperX have tried to address this. The Savage is a good looking SDD, as long as yo like red as that’s the only colour available. But it would have been nice (especially as we asked them a year ago (nudge, nudge)) to see a little illumination perhaps, maybe we just need to wait a little longer! But for now the HyperX Savage is one of (if not the) best looking SSDs on the market.

Luckily HyperX didn’t forget the performance that us Gamers seek either, as the HyperX Savage performed well in our loading time benchmarks. But unfortunately it couldn’t quite catch the Crucial drives at the top of the chart.

Overall then the HyperX Savage 240GB SSD is a good SSD for Gamers and for the first time the drive looks good too! But the high price and the fact that some other drives are a little quicker just prevents the Savage from walking away with a Gold award this time…