A Top-Tier Write Endurance
The DC600M is, in principle, nothing more than another 2.5-inch SATA SSD. Kingston is, of course, “limited” by this interface, which has now been around for more than two decades and, even in its third iteration, cannot exceed 560 MB/s of throughput. Clearly, this is not the product you would expect to push to the performance apex; the DC600M isn’t designed to break records, and it isn’t intended to work alone.
Its 2.5-inch format therefore makes it a standard-sized storage unit. It measures exactly 100 millimeters in length, 69.9 millimeters in width, and just 7 millimeters in thickness. That last dimension matters in the tightest spaces. Its weight of 92 grams is also perfectly standard. As Kingston tends to do, it ships in a small plastic shell, with no accessories to accompany it.
The DC600M relies on NAND chips signed by Kioxia. These are 112-layer TLC chips rated for a throughput of 1,200 MT/s. In the case of our 960 GB version, there are ten of these chips.
Note: the caption under the image reads: “The DC600M is a SSD primarily designed for the enterprise world. © Kingston.”
Indeed, is it really necessary to have any accessory at all for such a product? Probably not. Like any 2.5-inch SSD, the DC600M will simply join a PC or NAS to boost storage capacity. For this, Kingston uses NAND chips from Kioxia. These are 112-layer TLC chips rated for 1,200 MT/s. For our 960 GB model, there are ten of these chips. That’s enough for the physical presentation; now on to the tests and measurements.
Note, however, that Kingston sells versions with capacities of 480 GB, 960 GB, 1.92 TB, 3.84 TB, and, finally, 7.68 TB. All versions are equipped with a Phison PS31112-S12DC-27 controller, fabricated by TSMC in 28 nm. A DRAM cache accompanies this controller, which, on our test sample, is limited to 2 GB via four 512 MB DDR4-3200 chips. That’s the end of the physical presentation; time for the tests and measurements.
Notably, these speeds apply only to sequential tests. Naturally, random performance is considerably lower, though not to the point of complaint. With 152 MB/s in write, it’s fairly respectable. And the nearly 100K IOPS in both read and write are, too, convincing for a SATA model.
Test of linear write on AIDA64
To keep things simple, we’re not displaying a flood of measurements. The linear write test on AIDA64 remains a staple: it saturates all 960 MB of our SSD and records the slightest dip in performance. With only a tiny “blip” that isn’t representative, the results are excellent. Indeed, at an average of 508 MB/s, the DC600M is limited by its SATA interface, but the stability of performance across the entire drive capacity is impressive.
File copy speeds via Windows 11
Finally, to confirm these results, we present the outcomes of copying files via Windows 11 Explorer. We don’t quite match the CrystalDiskMark figures, but at an average of 534 MB/s read from the DC600M and 479 MB/s write to the SSD, Kingston delivers very solid performance.
Kingston DC600M 960: Clubic’s verdict
Conclusion
Overall rating: 8 / 10
Pros
– 2.5-inch form factor suitable for servers and NAS
– Wide variety of capacities (up to 8 TB)
– Good overall performance
– High write endurance
– 5-year warranty
– AES 256-bit hardware encryption
Cons
– Current NAND and SSD pricing
First-price recommendations
– Kingston DC600M — 3,987.05 € (amazon.fr)
– Kingston DC600M — 746.76 € (amazon.fr)
– Kingston DC600M — 513.95 € (Fnac)
– Kingston DC600M — 549.00 € (PC Componentes)
– Kingston DC600M 960 — 4,799.96 € (RDC)
Technical data sheet for Kingston DC600M
Summary
– Format: 2.5″
– Interface: Serial ATA 6Gb/s (SATA Revision 3)
– Storage capacity: 960 MB
– Read speed: 560 MB/s
– Write speed: 530 MB/s
Design
– Format: 2.5″
– Interface: Serial ATA 6Gb/s (SATA Revision 3)
– Flash memory type: TLC (Triple-Level Cell)
– NVME: No
– Controller: Phison PS3112-S12DC-27
– NAND Flash: NAND 3D (112 layers)
– Comes with a heatsink: No
Performance
– Storage capacity: 960 MB
– Write endurance: 1,752 MB
– Read speed: 560 MB/s
– Write speed: 530 MB/s
Physical characteristics
– Height: 7 mm
– Width: 69.9 mm
– Depth: 100 mm
– Weight: 92.34 g
What alternatives to the Kingston DC600M?
Samsung T9
– Design: elegant, almost luxurious
– Warranty: 5 years, drop resistance (3 meters)
– Hardware encryption: AES 256-bit
Best prices
– 184.99 € — Samsung T9 (amazon.fr)
– 509.00 € — SanDisk Desk Drive (amazon.fr)
– 7xx € — other options
Overall rating: 9 / 10
Note: The article also references a teaser: “Best SSDs: the 2026 comparison by our experts” with a date of February 20, 2026, at 10:00.
