Kingston uses a solid metal casing for the SSDNow V+200, which is very durable and should provide a good level of protection for the PCB inside. It’s quite heavy compared to equivalent drives on the market, so it isn’t ideal for use in a laptop.

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Figure 2: The Kingston SSDNow V+200 60 GB

All eight of the 8 GB Intel 29F64G08ACME3 memory chips are located on the top side of the printed circuit board. These contain asynchronous NAND, which doesn’t deal as well with compressible data as the synchronous NAND used in more expensive drives like the Kingston HyperX series. The Sandforce SF-2281 controller is located on the underside of the PCB.

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Figure 3: The Kingston SSDNow V+200 60 GB PCB (top)

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Figure 4: The Kingston SSDNow V+200 60 GB PCB (bottom)

Zalman has constructed the drive casing of the F-Series from black anodized aluminum, which gives it a very attractive appearance.It’s also much lighter than the Kingston drive so is better suited for use in a laptop. It should also provide a good level of protection for the PCB inside.

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Figure 5: The Zalman F-Series 60 GB

The only significant item located on the top of the PCB is the Sandforce SF-2281 controller. We found the eight Intel 29F64G08ACME3 memory chips located on the underside of the PCB. As the model numbers of the memory chips are identical to those of the Kingston drive, we expect the performance differences between these drives to be dependent only on the firmware.

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Figure 6: The Zalman F-Series 60 GB PCB (top)

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Figure 7: The Zalman F-Series 60 GB PCB (bottom)