Kingston preps new budget-friendly M.2 SSD
Kingston has listed the NV3 as the company’s new PCIe 4.0 SSD. The company advertises the upcoming NV3 for “high-speed, low-power storage needs” with storage capacities between 500GB and 4TB.
Currently, Kingston hasn’t provided any information regarding the components used in the NV3. It succeeds the previous-generation NV2, which we reviewed, but wasn’t recommended for its bad performance and running hot, making it not ideal for laptops or use as a primary drive. While such SSD models are sold in the retail market, several OEMs often use specific variants for systems, including gaming consoles, notebooks, PCs, mini-PCs, and NUCs.
However, to be used in slimmer form factor devices without any heatsink or access to cooling, the SSD and other components would need to give the best possible performance while staying cool. The previous NV2 pairs the Silicon Motion SM2267XT controller with QLC NAND, contributing to its poor performance.
The NV3 delivers sequential read and write speeds up to 6,000 MB/s and 5,000 MB/s, respectively, at the 2TB and 4TB models. The 1TB variant has 1,000 MB/s lower sequential writes. Meanwhile, the 500GB is the lowest-performing capacity with 5,000 MB/s sequential reads and 3,000 MB/s sequential writes.
The NV3’s endurance rating isn’t bad. Kingston rates the 500GB model for 160TBW, whereas the 1TB and 2TB units are certified for 320TBW and 640TBW, respectively. The 4TB model, on the other hand, flaunts an endurance rating of 1,280TBW.
| Specifications | Kingston NV3 |
|---|---|
| Form factor | M.2 2280 |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe |
| Capacities | 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB |
| Sequential read/write | 500GB – 5,000/3,000MB/s |
| Row 4 – Cell 0 | 1TB – 6,000/4,000MB/s |
| Row 5 – Cell 0 | 2TB – 4TB3 – 6,000/5,000MB/s |
| NAND | 3D |
| Endurance (total bytes written) | 500GB – 160TB |
| Row 8 – Cell 0 | 1TB – 320TB |
| Row 9 – Cell 0 | 2TB – 640TB |
| Row 10 – Cell 0 | 4TB – 1280TB |
| Storage temperature | -40°C~85°C |
| Operating temperature | 0°C~70°C |
| Dimensions | 22mm x 80mm x 2.3mm |
| Weight | 7g (all capacities) |
| Vibration non-operating | 10G (10-1000Hz) |
| MTBF | 2,000,000 hours |
| Warranty/Support | Limited 3-year warranty with free technical support |
It would be interesting to see where Kingston NV3 stands, though the company didn’t reveal any information regarding the NAND (apart from using 3D NAND). Given that such drives tend to be picked up for low-cost builds and even by OEMs, it would be beneficial if the NV3 addressed the issue from its previous generation drive while providing the value and low-power consumption it is advertised to be.
According to rumors, Kingston will launch the NV3 on August 5, so the company probably just listed the SSD in advance. Nonetheless, several retailers, such as CDW and CDW-G, have listed the 500GB and 1TB variants for $49.99 and US $69.82, respectively. However, these could be placeholders, so we should probably wait until the official announcement to look at the NV3’s MSRPs for the different capacities.
