480 GB HyperX Fury RGB SSD Review and Test. Some more RGB

Solid state drives have been successfully replacing traditional hard drives from the market for quite a long time due to their higher speed, simplicity of the device and increased reliability. The final and irrevocable victory over outdated magnetic recording technologies is hindered only by high prices for devices, a relatively small volume (compared to HDD) and, as a result, the high cost of data storage in terms of money per GB of information.

But if you look more broadly exclusively at the SSD market, then there has also been a small revolution, with the advent of NVMe interfaces, which removed the traditional restrictions imposed on SDD by their legacy SATA 3.0 interface. The practical data transfer rate limit of 600 MB/s, as well as access time problems, were successfully overcome. However, traditional SATA 3.0 SSDs are still in high demand among buyers for a number of reasons. After all, they are relatively inexpensive, do not require exotic connectors on the motherboard, and they can be used as a portable drive without problems.

The question immediately arises, how can you attract a buyer to such devices besides the price? After all, almost all such drives are now almost the same, you can’t squeeze the speed out of them anymore, an increase in volume immediately affects the cost, and games with controller and memory variations are also fraught with either an increase in price or a decrease in quality with subsequent losses from warranty repairs. And here, as always, RGB lighting comes to the rescue of marketers. No one was left behind, and the HyperX Fury RGB SSD belongs to just such a class of devices, generally ordinary, but with a “chip” in the form of a backlight. Let’s consider it in detail.

The HyperX Fury RGB SSD family today consists of three models that differ in capacity of 240, 480 and 960 GB, and, as a result, the allowable amount of rewritable information. In addition, these drives may have different delivery sets: standard or upgrade. Therefore, before purchasing, it is worth clarifying which one you will get. It is quite easy to distinguish a more advanced configuration option – at a higher price.

In terms of appearance or color, the drives do not differ from each other. The same can be said about speed characteristics. With these amounts of memory, there is practically no difference in performance. All discs are backed by a three-year limited manufacturer’s warranty. For detailed information about the status of the device, you can use the proprietary Kingston SSD Manager utility.

In addition, it is worth noting that since the second quarter of 2017, all Kingston and HyperX SSDs intended for the domestic market and officially imported into Ukraine are marked with a special holographic sticker with a serial number on the package. Only such drives can qualify for warranty service in our country. SSD drives purchased at foreign trading floors or stores in Ukraine are not subject to warranty replacement, but are subject to warranty replacement from the seller or through one of the company’s RMA hubs in the UK, USA or Taiwan. In this case, the buyer pays for the shipping of the warranty drive.

HyperX Fury RGB SSD 480GB (SHFR200/480G)

The subject of this review comes to the market in a small cardboard package, decorated quite simply and tastefully in the company’s red and white colors. Inside the disk and parts to it are in a transparent plastic form. On the reverse side, through the window, you can see the branded sticker of the device with the serial number.

We reviewed the basic package of the device, which, in addition to the drive itself, has an RGB cable for connecting the backlight, a logo sticker, instructions, a leaflet with congratulations on the acquisition and a catalog of the company’s products. For retail customers, a coupon with an Acronis True Image program code will also be available, and the improved bundle will additionally include a SATA 6Gb / s cable, an external USB 3.1 connection cable, a screwdriver, an external drive pocket and an adapter for mounting a drive in 3.5 ″ compartment.

A few words about the RGB lighting cable. It is devoid of braid, has a length of 750 mm between the main connectors and another 50 mm to the additional connector. A mini-USB connector is connected to the disk, and for the motherboard there is a female connector for four 12V GRB pins. Another similar male connector can be used to connect another RGB device. However, there is no protective cap on the second connector, and if it shorts out on something conductive, then there will be trouble. It is a pity that no one took care of such an important trifle.

The disc itself turned out to be quite weighty (it’s no joke – 165 grams), mainly because its body is made entirely of metal and painted gray. On the front side there is a black insert in the shape of the letter X, on which a hole is cut in the form of the HyperX brand logo. The name of the series is inscribed in white at the bottom right. The elements of RGB lighting are cutouts at the top and bottom, covered with transparent plastic, and the logo itself. In general, if you decide to purchase this drive, you should make sure that its front side is in a prominent place in the case.

I especially liked the design of the HyperX Fury RGB due to the treatment of the silver metal edge of the case, which is only noticeable from a certain angle. Looks very aesthetic.

The ports for connecting the signal cable and power are in their rightful place, prescribed by the 2.5″ standard. To the right of them is the RGB connector for the backlight sync cable. The overall thickness of the device is 9.5 mm.

On the reverse side there is an information sticker with a serial number and four mounting holes. One of the screws tightening the case is closed with a warranty seal.

After connecting to the corresponding RGB connector on the motherboard using the supplied cable, you can set this device to any color, shade or effect. If the cable is not connected, then by default the disk will be constantly lit in red. And everything would be fine, but the backlight diodes emit quite a lot of heat during operation. Of course, the operating temperature range is declared by the manufacturer in the range from 0 to 70 degrees Celsius. But, you see, 55 degrees on the case at idle, just because of the backlight, it’s a bit too much. Therefore, if it becomes necessary to use an SSD in a complete box from an extended delivery, then the LEDs will have to be forcibly turned off through the software.

In an attempt to look inside the SSD, we ran into an obstacle in the form of four miniature star screws with a pin in the center. For disassembly, you will need a special screwdriver, which is unlikely to be found by an ordinary user. As if the warranty seal is not enough, because its removal already means a rejection of the manufacturer’s repair obligations.

After removing the four mounting screws, the HyperX Fury RGB SSD folds easily into two halves. A plastic translucent plate is inserted under the top panel, which scatters light from the diodes. And the RGB LEDs themselves on the front side of the printed circuit board, there are 75 pieces – a very considerable amount.

On the back of the full-sized PCB, everything is organized more rationally. A thermal pad is glued between the microcircuits and the metal wall of the case, which also acts in parallel and acts as insulation against accidental short circuits. The storage capacity is filled with four 128 GB 3D TLC NAND chips, labeled Kingston FB12808UCT1-61, four more memory spaces are empty in our 480 GB version.

As a controller, the Marvell 88SS1074-BSW2 chip, which is already well known to us from previous reviews of Kingston products, is used – a completely normal, albeit already budgetary microprocessor by modern standards. Let’s move on to performance measurements.