Everything that decides whether the Kingston A400 is the right drive: controller, DRAM, NAND, rated endurance, PS5 and laptop fit, and how it compares with the obvious alternatives. Hardware facts are taken from the reviews and datasheets listed at the bottom; capacities and speeds come from our comparison of 60 drives.
Who it’s for: Reviving an old laptop or desktop with a hard drive at the lowest cost: any SATA SSD is a large step up from a hard drive. Skip it for: Heavy or sustained writing and business use — DRAM-less SATA slows under load, and the components can change between batches.
| Controller | Varies by batch (Phison S11 or Silicon Motion SM2259XT reported) |
| DRAM cache | No — DRAM-less |
| NAND | TLC (supplier varies by batch) |
| Interface | SATA 6 Gb/s, 2.5-inch |
| Heatsink version | Not in our data — sold bare |
| Capacity | Seq. read | Seq. write | Endurance | Warranty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 480 GB | 500 MB/s | 450 MB/s | 160 TBW | 3 yr |
| 960 GB | 500 MB/s | 450 MB/s | — | 3 yr |
Rated endurance is 40 TBW at 120GB, 80 TBW at 240GB, 160 TBW at 480GB. We could not confirm the rating for the 960GB model from a primary source, so it is left blank. Speeds are the manufacturer’s sequential ratings.
Every Kingston A400 capacity in our comparison, smallest first.
| $/TB | $/GB | Price | Capacity | Interface | Gen | Read | Write | NAND | Warranty | Cond. | Product |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $184.48BEST | $0.184 | $88.55 | 480 GB | 2.5 SATA | SATA | 500 MB/s | 450 MB/s | TLC | 3 yr | New | |
| $138.74 | $0.139 | $133.19 | 960 GB | 2.5 SATA | SATA | 500 MB/s | 450 MB/s | TLC | 3 yr | New |
The Kingston A400 is a SATA drive: it fits a 2.5-inch drive bay. It will not work in an M.2 slot that only supports NVMe, and it does not meet the PS5’s NVMe requirement. If your machine has an NVMe slot, an entry NVMe drive is many times faster for about the same price per terabyte.
How to identify your slot: cheapest SSD for a laptop · all SATA SSDs.
Crucial MX500: a SATA drive with DRAM that keeps its speed when full.
Crucial BX500: Crucial's DRAM-less budget SATA drive.
We show retail prices only while we can refresh them at least every 24 hours. For market context: TrendForce’s 16 Oct 2026 retail sample runs $133–$250 per TB for mainstream 1–2TB drives, and NAND contract prices are forecast +15 to +20% for 4Q26. Check any listing against that range with the price per TB calculator, and see the SSD price chart for the trend.
Hardware facts on this page come from:
Where reviews disagreed (for example on NAND layer counts or a capacity’s endurance rating) we state only what the sources agree on.