Kingston HyperX Savage 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review

TweakTown's Rating: 92%

The Bottom Line

Kingston's HyperX Savage is a high performance flash solution for those in the market for the very best, although I would opt for a bit more capacity and the performance it brings.

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It's been awhile since we have looked at any real high performance flash drive solutions. It seems high capacity portable SSDs have taken over for the moment, but that should begin to shift as USB-C enabled flash drives hit the market.

Kingston has long been a name synonymous with memory and flash storage. HyperX started as branding on DDR memory way back when I was still playing with socket 939 systems, the last time AMD held the performance crown. The HyperX Savage is the latest in high-performance flash solutions from Kingston.

Capacity options start from the 64GB model which we have in house through 128GB, 256GB and ending at 512GB. Marketing performance sits at up to 440 MB/s read and 180 MB/s write for the 64GB solution while all other capacities include 250 MB/s write performance.

Compatibility includes Windows, MacOS, Linux, and Chrome, and the MSRP of the 64GB Kingston HyperX Savage comes in at $49.99 with a five-year warranty.

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Packaging shows off the drive itself. Capacity is listed at the top right along with performance numbers with warranty information at the bottom right.

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The back of the packaging contains features of the drive along with warranty information down below.

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The scope of delivery includes the drive, small lanyard, and HyperX sticker.

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The design of the drive has a black exterior with a red X with HyperX branding.

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The drive is a capped design and USB 3.0 as the port color designates.

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From the factory, the HyperX Savage carries the FAT32 filesystem with 58.5GB usable.

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Starting out, we have sequential performance for the Savage. Read performance topped out at 443 MB/s while reaching 225 MB/s write.

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Price Performance put the HyperX Savage at 72%

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Going through our USB Flash Benchmark, the Savage did quite well with 350 MB/s from 16M to 512k. Write performance was a bit erratic from 210 MB/s to 140 MB/s becoming more steady towards the end.

The HyperX is a surprisingly well-built flash solution. Coming from our last HyperX solution, the Fury, this new solution carries a more aggressive aesthetic with the black and red design and X embossed on top of a rubberized plastic enclosure. It is a capped design, so there is a risk you will lose the cap, but Kingston has designed the Savage with a detent to hold the cap in place.

Performance met all marketing expectations with 443 MB/s read and 225 MB/s write. Price Performance wasn't the kindest to the HyperX Savage with it hovering around the 89 cents per GB mark, but it did steal away third in the charts at 72.8%.

Overall, for those in the market for a high-performance solution, the Savage, especially in the higher capacities, is possibly the highest performing flash drive we have tested. In this 64GB capacity, it's certainly a top-three drive.

Tyler's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Maximus IX Hero (buy from Amazon)
• CPU: Intel Core i7 7700K (buy from Amazon) / (Read our Review)
• Memory: G.SKILL TridentZ DDR4 3200 (buy from Amazon)
• Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Hybrid (buy from Amazon)
• OS Storage: Intel 730 480GB SSD (buy from Amazon) / (Read our Review)
• Secondary Storage: MyDigitalSSD BP5 512GB SSD (buy from Amazon)
• Case: EVGA DG-86 (buy from Amazon)
• Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 P2 (buy from Amazon)
• Networking: ASUS PCE-AC88 AC3100 (buy from Amazon)
• Networking: ASUS ROG 10G Express
• Networking: ASUS Thunderbolt EX3 (buy from Amazon)
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 (buy from Amazon)