The Kingston HyperX Fury RGB SSD Review: Bright Idea, Dimmed Performance
by Billy Tallis on September 24, 2018 8:35 AM ESTConclusion
Most users can give the HyperX Fury RGB SSD an immediate pass due to using a laptop or one of the vast majority of desktop cases that don't allow for showing off an illuminated SATA SSD. For users who are putting together a fully-illuminated build to show off, the Fury RGB's dark gray case can blend in with most surroundings and leave the drive's LEDs to add an accent to what might otherwise be a bare spot in the computer.
When it comes to actual storage duties however, the Fury RGB is not as versatile, and the LED lighting itself is responsible for most of the drive's problems. The LED lighting on the Kingston HyperX Fury RGB SSD drives up the price of this SATA SSD to NVMe levels and draws enough power to make the drive more prone to overheating than almost any M.2 NVMe SSD out there—and we tested with only one of the three color channels illuminated! Kingston's design for this drive uses probably twice as many LEDs as necessary to provide the backlit logo and narrow highlights, though a lot of light is blocked as it passes through the translucent plastic diffuser sheet and metal grating.
Kingston's inclusion of a large thermal pad between the metal case and the SSD components probably helps keep the overheating from being a catastrophic problem, but the real problem is the pile of 75 RGB LED modules on the back of the PCB. Kingston should have opted for a thicker drive case that allowed for either a better diffuser solution that blocks less light, or permitted the LEDs to be isolated and insulated from the SSD.
Since the Fury RGB uses the 12V power supply for the LEDs and the 5V supply for the SSD side of things, we are able to analyze the power efficiency of just the storage portion of the drive in isolation from the LED power draw. Even here the Fury RGB comes up short, likely due in part to increased leakage currents caused by the drive's high operating temperature.
The HyperX Fury RGB's performance on our benchmark suite is disappointing. It usually maintains a clear performance lead over entry-level DRAMless SATA SSDs, but the Fury RGB has the internals of a mainstream SATA drive and fails to perform at that level. Kingston's own entry-level NVMe SSD offers much higher performance at lower prices. The only way the HyperX Fury RGB makes sense in a high-end enthusiast build is if it is complemented by the inclusion of a faster but probably unobtrusive NVMe SSD. In a more modest build that does not need the highest performance storage, the Fury RGB does still provide a huge performance advantage over hard drives, but there are still better performing drives for the price.
| SSD Price Comparison | |||
| 240-280GB | 480-512GB | 960GB-1TB | |
| HyperX Fury RGB | $74.99 (31¢/GB) | $124.99 (26¢/GB) | $219.99 (23¢/GB) |
| Crucial MX500 | $59.99 (24¢/GB) | $89.99 (18¢/GB) | $159.99 (16¢/GB) |
| Samsung 860 EVO | $57.99 (23¢/GB) | $97.99 (20¢/GB) | $167.99 (17¢/GB) |
| Team Group Delta RGB | $74.99 (30¢/GB) | $119.99 (24¢/GB) | $209.99 (21¢/GB) |
| NVMe SSDs: | |||
| Kingston A1000 | $56.99 (24¢/GB) | $99.99 (21¢/GB) | $219.99 (23¢/GB) |
| ADATA XPG SX8200 | $72.99 (30¢/GB) | $124.99 (26¢/GB) | $249.99 (26¢/GB) |
| HP EX920 | $83.99 (33¢/GB) | $139.99 (27¢/GB) | $229.99 (22¢/GB) |
They HyperX Fury RGB is not the only SATA RGB SSD option on the market. We will have a review of the Team Group T-Force Delta RGB SSD very soon. It's a bit cheaper than the Fury RGB and takes a very different approach to the lighting. But both are still much more expensive than good mainstream SATA SSDs that outperform the Fury RGB across the board. And at the same price level as the RGB SSDs, there are some very nice NVMe options.
Ultimately the HyperX Fury RGB seems to have been designed as a lighting solution first and an SSD second. And in that respect it would seem to be doing what Kingston set out to do. But unless you really want that lighting, as an SSD there are better options out there.
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PeachNCream - Monday, September 24, 2018 - link
Form over function. All show and no go. - Those are the first things that pop into my mind after seeing the bottom drawer performance and high power consumption. We now have reached the point where there's a component that burns more electrical energy feeding pointless LEDs than it does actually fulfilling its duties as a component in a computer. Here's to enthusiasts and gamers! Good going people. You've really made the world a better place by making LEDs on everything marketable.rrinker - Monday, September 24, 2018 - link
Most make me an old fogey, but I totally agree. I'm not sure why any gamer or enthusiast would even buy this thing, do the flashing lights actually make up for the reduced performance - considering it's supposedly 'performance' these people are after. Perhaps this may be the jump the shark moment for RGB on everything - it's now gone so far that is actually affects the performance of the peripheral the lights are supposed to be 'enhancing'.melgross - Monday, September 24, 2018 - link
No, lighting is very important to a segment of that market. Lit DRAM, feet, strings of LEDs and neon inside, and out. Replacing the cover with a clear plastic one(violating the FCC protocols), is very important to them.Stupid cases such as the ones from Alienware, and others, show what these in the gaming community want. Not all of them are like that, but a big enough percentage are, and it’s a VERY big market. They get over 100,000 people to some of the ComicCons around the country.
rrinker - Monday, September 24, 2018 - link
The difference being, this one actually reduces performance. At least with most anything else up til now, it was just added cost and some increased power consumption, but the LEDs on the RAM don;t make the actual chips hotter, or the LEDs controllers on the mobo don't make the VR modules or chipset run hotter and throttle. I could probably run a lot of LEDs and still use less power than my system was when it had a GTX480, which I replaced with a GTX970. But that's just power draw, even if my system wasn't half buried in a stand under my printer next to my desk, gaudy case lighting wouldn't cause my CPU or GPU to throttle. This thing - this is just all-around fail. I guess this does not apply to the serious performance nut - the ones who swear they can tell the difference between 1MHz differences in clock speeds to the CPU or RAM, because they probably wouldn't be running SATA SSDs anyway, but this is just beyond insane, reducing performance and increasing cost for the sake of a bunch of flashing lights. I have a bridge to sell the people that go for this, too. Oh wait, I better add lots of LED lights to it first.melgross - Monday, September 24, 2018 - link
RAM runs hot as it is. Adding LEDs doesn’t help. Does it damage performance? I don’t know.qlum - Tuesday, September 25, 2018 - link
DDR4 doesn't run that hot and adding leds on the edge of the memory sticks doesn't impact the temperature of the ram much. Heat from the top of the sticks is pretty easy to dissipate. Besides that this sdd uses way too much leds and blocks most of their light.dromoxen - Tuesday, September 25, 2018 - link
The telling point is that you can use this without the data storage functionality (and excess cables) getting in the way of its true purpose, which is to light the way to the Promised LandTitanX - Tuesday, September 25, 2018 - link
indeed..i want not a single light on my PC except for the HDD activity and power indicator. no glass..no view panels..just an inconspicuous black box.MrSpadge - Monday, September 24, 2018 - link
At least the naming is adequate: it makes you hyper furious while waiting for your data and wondering about your electricity bill!TitanX - Tuesday, September 25, 2018 - link
dude..its 2 watts...dont think that makes more than a nickel a year on the ole bill..